The Social Hierarchy of Contractors & Employees
I am a contingent worker, also known as a contractor.
I have been doing contract work {by choice} for the past 3 years. To do so, I left a job as a full-time employee for several reasons; amongst which was the potential to earn more money and pay off my stagnant debt {which I did 2 years ago *take a bow*}.
However, that is not what this post is about.
This post is about a thought that traipsed through my mind a couple days ago when I was explaining to my hubby {a life-time employee} that, although I’ve gone to work in the same department with my team for the past 18 months, I never really know what is going on. By that I mean, I’m often not included in conversations, meetings, announcements, celebrations, perks, plans etc. etc. A portion of that could be attributed to the fact that I started this job a week after hurting my legs so they met me at the HEIGHT of my 2-year experience with chronic pain, and I could not have been a joy to be around LOL. Another reason could be that the nature of my work tends to be non- or low-collaborative, so I haven’t been presented with opportunities to be included. All that considered, I do believe a large portion of it is just part and parcel of being a “contingent” worker.
Beyond that conversation with my husband, I started to think about why that actually is. I speculate it has something to do with the human need for hierarchy and the common corporate culture distribution of employees on top and contractors on bottom. I say this based on my 9 years as an employee for 2 different Fortune 500 companies, followed by my current 3 years as a contractor for another Fortune 500 company. The “understood” social hierarchy seems to always be:
- Upper level executives {determined by title and pay scale}
- Employees
- Contractors
- Janitors & Food Service workers
The further irony is, I talk more to the janitors and food service workers at this current gig more than I talk to anyone else … because I relate to them more than anyone else … but I digress.
Another theory is that the valid difference in the positions easily translates to a social hierarchy by definition, and when people are put into a situation that so easily lends itself to that structure they don’t do much to counteract it.
I remember when I first started working in corporate environments; I always seemed to not “get” that the contractors were not given the same privileges, information etc. as the employees were. As an employee I figured everyone sitting at a desk working with me for years was equal, especially at my first company where, before they changed the policies, some contractors had been there for 16 years or more. I was always being reminded {which is the way with social contracts} that the contractors were different, whether it be for a company picnic, a town hall meeting, a perk etc. that the employees had access to and contractors did not. I’ve never been too good at classism {read I don’t get star-struck} and I often had trouble keeping track of the hierarchy {especially when I had a boss who we all swore was a legitimate sociopath and the treatment gap and expectation to uphold it was even bigger … but I digress again #focus}.
Before signing off I’d like to add that this is not a rant or vent post, far from it. It’s more like my usual “thinking out loud” post {remember, no therapist visits = ya’ll get to hear my brain swirl in blog post format HA!}. I’d be lying if I said that some of the isolation at play in the role of contractor wasn’t appealing to me in the first place and part of why I intentionally chose the role in the first place. Something about the unattached freedom gives me a sense of adventure, a reduction in psychological weight, and a lone ranger swag. No more digressing. LOL!
Are you a contractor or an employee? Do you notice a difference in how each is treated? Do tell.
Until next time Glam Fam I wish you
Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Nappyness,
@Glamazini | facebook.com/IamGlamazini | youtube.com/Glamazini | Google+
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Roshini Cope
Roshini Cope, aka Glamazini, is a life coach and video creator who gained a following for her natural hair tutorials, which evolved into authentic personal stories of healing with a consistent dash of humor. She is a black woman healing helping other black women heal, expand their self-awareness, reclaim their joy, and create the life they want. Work with Roshini 🤎✨🤎
40 Things By Age 40
14 Comments
Aisha G
I am an employee and I totally see the difference. I saw it when I was practicing law but now that I am on the administrative end I see it more and also see why there are differences though I do not agree with them.
In my world, contract attorneys are considered to be less committal and definitely the bottom rung of attorneys when in reality, they are usually people that just take more control over their schedules. They are scrutinized harshly, not given offices and dismissed easily and quickly. It is sad to watch…
glamazini
” and dismissed easily and quickly”
That was the part the scared me the most about being a contractor. I tended to get “settled” into employee positions and quite comfortable {an attribute of my personality I don’t honestly care for}, so when I was vetting life as a contract worker I remembered seeing people let go so swiftly in the past and that scared me. My 1st contract position was for 18 months. I finished paying my debts off at 13 months and planned on leaving anyway at the 18 month mark so when they let me go at 16.5 months I was actually happy not to have to explain why I was leaving. This contract was for 2 months and I’m on month 18. Go figure.
Chandra
So I was typing my legal response and the site kicked me out. 🙂
Anyway- there may be some legal reasons behind the way contractors are treated or perceived to be treated differently than regular full-time company employees. For us, co-employment is a big issue. At my site we have 700 contractors or BPO/ 3rd party vendor employees. We have to have very clear lines around their status. We don’t hire, fire, or discipline them because they work for the vendor/contract agency and not our company even though in some instances we may direct their daily work activities.
So in addition to the 3 basics (hire/fire/discipline) there are some other areas where the lines can become blurred if orgs are not careful. That has to do with benefits and perqs both tangible (lunch discounts, etc) and intangible (attending launch meetings, town halls, etc). If a reasonable person could say that they were treated or received the same benefits as the actual employees when faced with a legal issue the company could be facing whatever the legal problem that the contractor’s agency is facing and have to assume co-employment liability.
Again- in our organization it’s a big issue and we are very specific about what contractors can and can not participate in. Some organizations (Microsoft) had issues with this once before and learned a hard lesson.
Personally I don’t think it’s a class issue mainly because I have to make sure we are aware of the areas of risk in my org. It’s just a way of doing business for us.
Uncommon Chick
Ditto Chandra!! I am an employee as well and when I first started there I couldn’t understand why the couldn’t go to outings with us (unless they took time off), couldn’t join particular (seemingly innocent) team calls, etc. until I was told exactly what Chandra said.
Honestly, sometimes I think about contracting because some of those guys (yes mostly guys in my office) get paid way more to do the same job!
~Kesha
Uncommon Chick recently posted..50 Ways to Feed Your Soul
glamazini
Kesh, I guess what I notice is that, beyond the necessary legal difference in treatment, the people in the office just tend to fall into the hierarchical behavior. I’ll say this, getting married and having a 2nd person paying bills made the choice to scrap the employee life probable for me. For example, I opt for no insurance via my contracting company to get a higher pay. I can only do that because I’m on dude that lives in the house’s insurance.
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Uncommon Chick
ROTFL at “dude that lives in the house”…girl, u are silly! #thatisall 😉
Uncommon Chick recently posted..50 Ways to Feed Your Soul
glamazini
Chandra thanks for elaborating on the legal ramifications. I totally agree and understand. That is part of what I was attempting to say by “the valid difference in the positions easily translates to a social hierarchy by definition” and then adding on the human choice after that with “when people are put into a situation that so easily lends itself to that structure they don’t do much to counteract it.”.
I can see how the nature of the beast makes people ultimately treat you different, because inherently you are.
glamazini recently posted..The Social Hierarchy of Contractors & Employees
Mia
I am an employee at a hospital and whenever we have contract workers they are included in personal celebrations but not hospital functions/meetings. I live in the country so we’ll invite dang near anyone to anything LOL.
On a side note…I just wanted to say thank you. I’ve stalked this blog since ’07 ( I went natural in ’08) and you’ve really been a postive influence on my life. Your posts are so thought provoking and helpful. You are a really beautiful person and I just felt compelled to tell you.
glamazini
Mia, thanks for sharing your experience and for the kind words *blush* :).
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Lisa
At every place that I’ve worked, contract employees were “socialized” with full time employees whereas they were able to participate in office celebrations. In my current position, contract workers, depending on their role, are privy to certain information if that info is needed to perform their job. They are under NDA. They don’t get the monetary gifts that are given but you best believe that we celebrate their milestones (marriage, baby, birthday) and support them in tough times (surgeries and bereavement). The company I work for thinks that kind of treatment lends to a better working environment for all and I agree. And if your extra special, they’ll find a way to reward you monetarily as well.
glamazini
“The company I work for thinks that kind of treatment lends to a better working environment for all and I agree”
Nice! Do you mind sharing what field you work in? I have never worked for a company that valued/socialized contractors with employees.
glamazini recently posted..40 Things By Age 40
Natasha N.
Am I the only one that noticed that you need an escort to go to work? :headscratch:
Carry on.
glamazini
I was wondering when someone would comment on that! LOL!
Actually, I did that on purpose. That’s not my badge {which I took a photo of then decided to use the one above instead}. That is the temporary “badge” the give you when you forget your actual badge and can’t get in and out of the building. I removed my company name, and escort name {my boss}. Come to think of it, I wonder if the employees have ESCORT REQUIRED on their temp badge? I’m gonna check the next time one of them forgets their real badge.
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Beautifulguyana
I’m not a contractor but work two part-time jobs and can relate to feeling like the stepchild. I understand why it happens–hierarchy and whatnot but this class of worker still has important ideas/contributions that employers are overlooking. I also have to admit that stepchild status helps me sidestep all the politics (thank you Jesus).