Yeah. 18 weeks new dad leave, plus my normal leave, plus we've been given ~10 'company' days off.
Permanent consultancy vs contract?
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Oh right, so that's not a typical year unless you are going to have kids every year.
10 company days off sounds interesting though? Were they actual days off for personal use? Or days to do company stuff? I don't count the latter as days off.
We get 4 (or 5) wellness days, we can use them whenever we want. I usually use mine between bank holiday weekends. The company also shuts down between Christmas and NYE. We also get a further 4 or 5 days off sporadically throughout the year which coincide with major events in the companies history, such as founding date etc.
Soldato
There are changes coming for corporation tax.
The point about clients being liable for tax if IR35 is found to have been applied incorrectly didn't used to be true and now that it is means it is much harder to get outside contracts.
Company days off can be very useful. I worked for an orthodox Jew once so in wintertime, Friday afternoons were off and of course all the Jewish holidays on top of the UK and Christian ones. I worked for a Chinese company once so Chinese New Year and lots of other holidays off. On the other hand, I worked in Thailand once and had to work Christmas Day.
The point about clients being liable for tax if IR35 is found to have been applied incorrectly didn't used to be true and now that it is means it is much harder to get outside contracts.
Company days off can be very useful. I worked for an orthodox Jew once so in wintertime, Friday afternoons were off and of course all the Jewish holidays on top of the UK and Christian ones. I worked for a Chinese company once so Chinese New Year and lots of other holidays off. On the other hand, I worked in Thailand once and had to work Christmas Day.
No, there are about 22 week days per month. So more like 44 vs 38 (unless you are unlucky enough get really sick, in which case the balance goes much more in favour of perm). And of course no job security, bonus.
Anyway the point was what sounds great contracting isn't always that great when you actually work through it. It might also be worth evaluating what things look like as a perm at a better company and/or if you move up the career ladder over the next few years.
Soldato
To be fair, if you are looking to join a large consultancy,None of the above then.
accenture pay quite well and have very good benefits
Cap are good in parts
Deloitte never looks bad on your CV. It definitely adds a certain halo. I worked for Deloitte Digital which was a very cool fun place to work.
Of the big companies Deloitte is arguably the hardest to get into and the one with the best reputation.
That's crazy. So you're getting 35-38 days off plus bank hols!
I was only joking. My experience of working with consultants provided by said companies has been mixed. Why we continually use them as preferred partners for their talent pool is a mystery. You can get better just going out to market generally I find. You get some gems, but a lot of the ones I have experienced have been poor. Just my experience. My place used one of those big three to completely lead a massive project, providing 20+ people. What happened was that we led them, and they ended up just being a burden and expense.
Yup, it's great. We can also book 40h a year to charitable work.
As a contactor you could pay for illness cover insurance?
Regarding job security, I think this is a bit of a red herring for pem jobs, you're effectively on a 3 month contract, I guess it's 6 months for some but still.
Where do you work? VMware iirc?
Correct.
Income protection isn't nearly as attractive as sick leave policies at decent companies (have to wait weeks or months for it to start paying out, doesn't pay out at full pay), plus it's another cost.
I don't think job security is a red herring. 3 months notice is much better than a few weeks or whatever your contract termination agreement is, plus there are much stricter rules about when you can be terminated and how as a permanent employee. When redundancies happen for permanent employees, good employers tend to give generous packages.
Soldato
Shouldn’t that money be paid from your business account rather then your personal account?
When you work inside, the money gets taxed and deducted before it hits your personal account
For me, all of that would/could be offset within a couple of years of contracting due to the pay difference.
I guess it's due to the pay ceiling I mentioned.
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That was a good few years ago, I don't know the ins and outs, I just now he didn't go out or have holidays for a good while!
Totally get that, I do think it's worth figuring out what the equation would be like if you moved to a better employer though - unless you think you can't.
Things like potentially better pay, more paid time off as above, bonuses, equity can make a big difference. Plus potential career progression that you might be giving up as a contractor.
Yeah, I have a few ideas and plans for the year ahead for sure.
I think it depends a bit on the consultancy/client nowadays. I've worked at a couple recently and the travel required was less than when I worked directly for an employer pre-covid, where I'd go to an office 5 hours away every 1-2 months. I've spent about 20 months at two different consultancies and only needed to go to client site once, which was a similar commute to the office anyway, didn't require an overnight stay. We did however work with Deloitte who had people posted to our office I guess 4 days a week for a couple of years, big commitment for those who weren't local.
I do agree however that it's probably best suited to someone young because it can offer fast progression. I look at my current employer and wish I could have joined an equivalent 15 years ago. Stuff like paternity leave doesn't hold value for me anymore as we aren't planning any more kids.
I earned a lot more as a contractor than a perm however, so there are times I regret going back to perm.
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