Why do companies hate FTE's?

Why do companies hate FTE's?

by SouthernFriedInfidel | Published on May 20th, 2010, 7:18 am | Life

I got the news last week. My job is being "outsourced." Handed to a contractor from India. There are over a dozen full-time employees who were gathered and told "You will no longer be working with the company. You will stay here 8 more weeks to train your contracted replacements."

This company has been shedding full time employees for years. The quality of the IT work has gone down, as contracted developers and project managers who do not know the business get the work assignments. It seems daft to me. They appear to be replacing me with 2 or 3 contracted people. It doesn't seem to compute...

And I am sure I will be right behind you. Rumors are already starting to fly that my dept is next. Bottom line is they look at the paper and see double or triple the bodies for the cost of one of you, PLUS they dont have to worry about Capital or Risk, so it looks great to Wall Street.

Thats Capitalism at its finest. More profit for less overhead to remain competitive or attractive to potential buyers. And as we all know, Capitalism is PERFECT and AWESOME!

Damn. Sorry to hear that.

Speaking as a consultant/contractor I know why companies prefer to use me rather than hire FTEs. Although I'm relatively expensive I have no overhead and they can unload me at a moment's notice. But then I'm not competing with India where they are not relatively expensive.

If it's any consolation I've been laid off twice and although it was stressful at the time, in retrospect it was good for me and my career.

SFI, I'm so, so sorry.....

I was expecting a similar scenario at my ex-employer... luckily I got out of there in time.... The good news, is with all the unemployment extensions.... if there is an upside to all this.... it's a little bit of financial security.... at
least short-term....

Meanwhile.... I say we all get together and build a boat.... Mayflower II, we will go the opposite way.

I just pressed 'Submit' and then I got a call to the CFO's office. Where the conversation started "We have to seriously cut our IT expenditures over the next few months"

At which point I felt sure I was going to have a lot more spare time this summer ... but she then continued "I want you to work on that"

Phew, dodged a bullet. Now to load up MY gun and go hunting ...

I spent 6 months between contracts. Money was tight but I did some temp work for a friend and supplemented it with a small draw on unemployment. This break ended up being a change that I would not have made for myself, and it was a much needed break that I wouldn't have taken. It helped me to focus in on what is important not just in work/career but also in life. And it even gave me some time to do things that I ordinarily didn't make time to do. I think you, SFI, might like to have just a tad more time to do some of your writing. :wink:

As for FTEs vs contractors/outsourced teams, I've been both in the last 10 years. I was a contractor in state government before I took the job that I've held the last five years. They reverted to FTEs within a year after I left, The contractors who were already in the role could apply for the jobs they were already doing (and had been doing for years), and the folks who preferred not to be state employees walked away. I guess they were lucky if they had bench time or if their employer had a job available for them.

Anyway, my point there is I hope you deal with the incoming contractors okay. It's nothing personal. It's just a job, and eventually they'll have their turn with the one way exit.

Serendipitous wrote:I think you, SFI, might like to have just a tad more time to do some of your writing.

I've taken too long to admit to myself that I can't write anything worth selling. I have no desire to re-visit that ridiculous dream

It appears that I have no choice but to get back into the contracting world. And not as a programmer, at least for the coming year or two, while I try to find a way to train myself. If I have to go back to traveling, I will end up with a divorce.

Now you did write that virus to insert into the company's software right before you leave right? The one that takes the 1/10th of a cent from each transaction and funnels it into a secret account? Oh and grab your red stapler!

Woah, Liv! You cracked it! I bet SFI's performance had nothing to do with it. He simply didn't wear enough flair.

Serendipitous wrote:Woah, Liv! You cracked it! I bet SFI's performance had nothing to do with it. He simply didn't wear enough flair.

Well in my defense, no one told me what the minimum amount of flair was for good standing in the company.

Are you satisifed with only doing the bare minimum?

It IS an interesting question. I asked myself that for many years, in all seriousness. And really, I saw no point in going above the bare minimum, other than keeping the job. Because here's the real point -- there's an official bare minimum, and an actual bare minimum, the point where you no longer are worth having on the payroll. In a sane world, these limits would be the same. The world is NOT sane.

But what reward does someone get for busting his buns and working extra hours to fulfill the promises made by clueless management with no real idea of what they promise? Nothing but more clueless promises... oh and an earlier death due to heart disease. Geez, what a great life we lead here in the heart of capitalism!

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:But what reward does someone get for busting his buns and working extra hours to fulfill the promises made by clueless management with no real idea of what they promise?

The opportunity to become clueless management yourself?

A Person wrote:
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:But what reward does someone get for busting his buns and working extra hours to fulfill the promises made by clueless management with no real idea of what they promise?
The opportunity to become clueless management yourself?

I have yet to see that happen in ANY company I have worked for. Access to management positions has always been reserved for personal friends and relatives of existing management.

So bottom line is you weren't willing to give oral, so you got fired?

Wow me too!

I haven't read this yet, but saw the link when I went to check my mail.

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-be_the_one_who_gets_the_promotion-1260

Liv wrote:So bottom line is you weren't willing to give oral, so you got fired?

Wow me too!

heh heh... "bottom line"

Good advice... we're trying to get Shan a "promotion" to Belgium right now... we're taking all the tips....

Myself -- I wish I had the guts to strike out and start my own business. Sadly, I'm a pathetic little coward... :cry:

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote: Sadly, I'm a pathetic little coward...

Stop that right now!!! You're amazing! Just because some ass-hole company is trying to save a dollar doesn't mean they have any clue as how wonderful you are.... now you can do anything you want now....

Just take some time... and do some stuff you want to do.... and then later figure out what you have to do....

Just think, this could be your kairotic moment!!! You might look back and go "that was the point in my life when everything changed for the better!"

Liv wrote:Just think, this could be your kairotic moment!!! You might look back and go "that was the point in my life when everything changed for the better!"

: Anybody who ever built an empire, or changed the world, sat where you are now. And it's *because* they sat there that they were able to do it.

Whatever. lol

Very sorry to hear SFI. I don't have any advice for you and I'm sure you really aren't up to hear any either. It sucks. Really does. And to force you to train your replacements is insult to injury. That would kind of hard to put your heart into that kind of training.

Good luck on finding a good replacement.

BecauseHeLives wrote:Very sorry to hear SFI. I don't have any advice for you and I'm sure you really aren't up to hear any either. It sucks. Really does. And to force you to train your replacements is insult to injury. That would kind of hard to put your heart into that kind of training.

Good luck on finding a good replacement.

Wow, some humanity is left after all.

In all seeiousness, im sure sfi appreciates that.

Liv wrote:So bottom line is you weren't willing to give oral, so you got fired?

I suppose this is the main reason for my downfall. I stayed around too long without becoming a crony for some director or veep. You need a protector at this stage, because actual performance -- particularly in the field of software quality assurance -- was demonstrated not to be of interest to the company. I never missed a deadline, and so far as I can recall, I never heard of more than one bug that escaped my detection in the last 2 to 3 years.

But I never encountered a director or veep in that company that I could develop any sort of friendship with. Not a one of them was anything short of an employee-hating, greedy bastard that I simply could not connect with socially. So yeah -- no one ever requested a blow job, but what they seemed to want from me was simply not something I could provide.

So very true.

Interesting story on NPR last night, about a web design company that converted all its employees to contractors. It's starting to look as though this is the wave of the future. But of course, its success is predicated on the need for spouses to remain in jobs that provide the benefit of insurance.

I need a vacation. :cry:

Isn't that the joke... here we are living in America.... and our jobs are being given out around the world, to people in India, to call centers in Britain, to engineers in China... and yet we can't (well the majority of us can't) move anywhere else besides the U.S. for a job. Silly America....