My LOB has announced the on boarding of contractors to fill open positions and additional support. Is this generally a good sign or a bad sign of things to come?
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Marketing has contractors who have been here for years. I don’t know how they get away with it, but they do. They don’t get hired on and they don’t get cut.
Some work hard because they want full time and some skate while good FTEs get let go.
It must have to do with payroll taxes. WF saves a bundle on those.
Definitely not a good sign, gives them leverage to have contractors in place when they start laying off people and need to transition the work to another area. Be weary of contractors, some may be brought in to analyze the workload and determine the next steps in a reorganization. If the workload is too heavy, they would be hiring more people, not bringing in temporary employees. Contractors aren’t cheap, they’ve got something up their sleeve for sure.
Some of our contractors are amazing and some get hired on permanently and did horrible work and were a joke to begin with. I’m on the fence as we hire more and more contractors. CEOs don’t even hesitate to say that they hire the contractors to save overhead cuz they can end the contract and re-hire them again (less pay, no benefits) I see a trend here. Why else would they be so beating about it. But I think I’m just sour with what has been going on lately. Ok break is over back to work.
They aren't offshoring to WFIP instead?
WCHV was using a lot of contractors in the year they were merging with AG Edwards. They knew they were going to be cutting people, so rather than hiring employees, they brought in short-term contractors. And then they went belly-up 🙄. Not suggesting WFC is going belly-up, but it makes me think that they are wanting some flexibility in your LOB because there could be some shake-up coming.
We just got done offloading tons of contractors in Saul's org (Head of IT)...
Agree with @lpd
In my area, getting more contractors means your workload is recognized and they understand you need help. That would be considered a good sign. I've heard other rumors that validate this interpretation.
It means that your area is paying for foolish decisions and trying to salvage it.
So much for their big cost savings. Contractors cost more. But they can write it all off so the bean counters are happy in their efforts to reduce that corporate tax to zero.
The “employees” are all part of their game to fleece the company then scram before it all crashes down.
Probably not a good sign since they’ve wanted to reduce FTE to Contract ratio.
It means they are using flex labor to hold it together until they can reorg.
Contractors have only been a good thing so far. They have proper motivation to perform in terms of obtaining a full time position, show up to work because they don't have PTO, can be release on a whim if they aren't performing (try that with a full time employee...) or showing signs of progress, etc.
Not enough information to say for sure.
It ain't good.