Permanent or Contract?

For the first twenty-odd years of my career, I was a Permie - a salaried employee of the company I served. It didn't really occur to me to do anything else - I was a Project Manager, and Project Managers are professionally risk-averse. And I saw contracting as a risky business - you couldn't know where the next job would come from, or how much you would earn from it.

Being made redundant for the first time didn't really change that view. This wasn't a time of recession, it was simply because my employer wanted to reorganise and relocate, and I didn't want to move. I cast around until I found a new permanent position.

The second time was in a recession. The outlook appeared bleak. I was lucky - I called a client I'd previously worked for as a consultant, and he wanted me back - as a contractor. And so I had my 'road to Damascus' moment'.

Now I have several years' experience as a contractor - or as it is now more politely referred to, an Interim Manager. I can look at both types of role, and have some observations to make from the resource side of the fence.

Firstly, it is clear that the decline in job security has eroded the difference in risk between permanent and contract. It is no longer 'safer' to be in a permanent role - as soon as the company hits choppy waters, over the side goes anyone now seen as 'non-essential'. Nor indeed are the benefits any longer compelling - nobody now expects an employer to provide a generous pension scheme, and most employees find a company car is a tax liability.

Secondly, as I hit the latter stages of my career, I find there is a difference in approach by companies for permanent or contract staff. When I go for a permanent job interview (and I still do from time to time) I get the impression they are disappointed that I am nearing retirement age. They seem to seek someone either aiming to step up for the role, and so keen to prove themselves, or else they are looking not for the current role but for some future one not yet available. Often the job description requires someone who is 'ambitious' - but for what? I am no longer ambitious, if that means wanting to get there and immediately seek advancement. I don't want to work my way up to CEO, but that's not the same as not wanting to do as good a job as I can in the role I was hired for. On the other hand, for contract work, companies do indeed require experience - they want the grey hairs and battle scars, and are much less inclined to take a punt on someone keen to make a name for themselves. This is one reason why I've focused more on the contract market as I get older.

Thirdly, contractors seem to be more self-reliant. We have to be - we don't have an employer taking care of national insurance, taxation, health cover, life insurance, car allowance and the rest. Employees sometimes look at contractors' fee rates and think we are pampered - but take into account the costs they don't have to bear and the periods between contracts, and the higher remuneration isn't significant. But I have noticed that the contractor community is stacked with individuals who have the 'make it happen' attitude - an attribute our clients generally really need.

Fourthly, most of the contractors I have worked with take tremendous pride in their work. We all seem to work hard - often harder than the permanent staff - and derive great satisfaction from a job well done. That in some ways runs contrary to popular opinion, that contractors are 'only out for themselves' - but the real truth is that a contractor lives by his or her reputation, and so must constantly prove their worth.

It is clear to me that for the resourcing of projects, which are by definition finite in duration, employers are well advised to look at the contract market. The overall costs of such staff are certainly comparable to those of permanent staff (particularly if it comes to redundancies), and it is easier to get a resource which is closely matched in experience and capability to the new project in hand. Furthermore, the issue of what to do with the resources at the end of the project is no longer a concern!

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