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:

1. Upper level executives {determined by title and pay scale}
2. Employees
3. Contractors
4. 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.

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