Multiple Contracts From Home

DKLS

My record is 4.5 FTE contracts at once and I managed that successfully for about 9 months before dropping back to 2 contracts and kept all clients happy. I wouldn't recommend it, in my case this was just to achieve a particular financial goal.

dranzer01

DKLS said:

My record is 4.5 FTE contracts at once and I managed that successfully for about 9 months before dropping back to 2 contracts and kept all clients happy. I wouldn't recommend it, in my case this was just to achieve a particular financial goal.

Isnt it always....?

DullGreyGuy

dranzer01 said:

DKLS said:

My record is 4.5 FTE contracts at once and I managed that successfully for about 9 months before dropping back to 2 contracts and kept all clients happy. I wouldn't recommend it, in my case this was just to achieve a particular financial goal.

Isnt it always....?

No, most are not for a particular goal but a more general desire to increase their income or simply because they think they can get away with it

Nebulous2

I knew someone who was doing more than one job, who was forced into it by his employer. Worked in IT support for a company as an employee for years and was outsourced. The company who previously employed him anticipated he would be available for them full-time. His new employer started off asking him to do bits and pieces for other clients, and this gradually grew until he had 3 laptops and 3 mobile phones. 

He found the whole situation, the moral bit, the risk of being caught, and the workload too much and left. 

DullGreyGuy

Nebulous2 said:

I knew someone who was doing more than one job, who was forced into it by his employer. Worked in IT support for a company as an employee for years and was outsourced. The company who previously employed him anticipated he would be available for them full-time. His new employer started off asking him to do bits and pieces for other clients, and this gradually grew until he had 3 laptops and 3 mobile phones. 

He found the whole situation, the moral bit, the risk of being caught, and the workload too much and left. 

That sounds like 1 job (ie contract) thats just overworked... Its not too uncommon for those working for a service provider may be working for multiple clients on behalf of their employer and that may require them to have access to the ultimate client's systems etc depending on their job. Thankfully I've only done this in a call centre environment where clearly you can only be on one call at a time and work doesnt back up... the worst was a company that provided out of hours services to others and you had a manual of 50+ companies and when a call came in you had to repeat the salutation the phone told you whilst frantically looking up in the manual what you are supposed to be doing for this particular client - most was take notes and email someone but a few were different.

What we are talking about here is someone not having 1 contract but having 2-4 contracts with different clients who arent aware of each other for 40 hours a week and either finding ways to deliver the required work in under 40 hours or working 160/week. 

Nebulous2

DullGreyGuy said:

Nebulous2 said:

I knew someone who was doing more than one job, who was forced into it by his employer. Worked in IT support for a company as an employee for years and was outsourced. The company who previously employed him anticipated he would be available for them full-time. His new employer started off asking him to do bits and pieces for other clients, and this gradually grew until he had 3 laptops and 3 mobile phones. 

He found the whole situation, the moral bit, the risk of being caught, and the workload too much and left. 

That sounds like 1 job (ie contract) thats just overworked... Its not too uncommon for those working for a service provider may be working for multiple clients on behalf of their employer and that may require them to have access to the ultimate client's systems etc depending on their job. Thankfully I've only done this in a call centre environment where clearly you can only be on one call at a time and work doesnt back up... the worst was a company that provided out of hours services to others and you had a manual of 50+ companies and when a call came in you had to repeat the salutation the phone told you whilst frantically looking up in the manual what you are supposed to be doing for this particular client - most was take notes and email someone but a few were different.

What we are talking about here is someone not having 1 contract but having 2-4 contracts with different clients who arent aware of each other for 40 hours a week and either finding ways to deliver the required work in under 40 hours or working 160/week. 

I'm talking of someone who was paid one wage, but three different clients believed he was offering exclusive support to them. His previous employer thought they had his undivided time for the full week - while the outsourcing company added in more and more - with at least one other company believing they had the exclusive use of his time in working hours. 

Effectively he was doing what you are describing for a single wage, with his employer gaining from the extra billing rather than him.... 

DullGreyGuy

Nebulous2 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Nebulous2 said:

I knew someone who was doing more than one job, who was forced into it by his employer. Worked in IT support for a company as an employee for years and was outsourced. The company who previously employed him anticipated he would be available for them full-time. His new employer started off asking him to do bits and pieces for other clients, and this gradually grew until he had 3 laptops and 3 mobile phones. 

He found the whole situation, the moral bit, the risk of being caught, and the workload too much and left. 

That sounds like 1 job (ie contract) thats just overworked... Its not too uncommon for those working for a service provider may be working for multiple clients on behalf of their employer and that may require them to have access to the ultimate client's systems etc depending on their job. Thankfully I've only done this in a call centre environment where clearly you can only be on one call at a time and work doesnt back up... the worst was a company that provided out of hours services to others and you had a manual of 50+ companies and when a call came in you had to repeat the salutation the phone told you whilst frantically looking up in the manual what you are supposed to be doing for this particular client - most was take notes and email someone but a few were different.

What we are talking about here is someone not having 1 contract but having 2-4 contracts with different clients who arent aware of each other for 40 hours a week and either finding ways to deliver the required work in under 40 hours or working 160/week. 

I'm talking of someone who was paid one wage, but three different clients believed he was offering exclusive support to them. His previous employer thought they had his undivided time for the full week - while the outsourcing company added in more and more - with at least one other company believing they had the exclusive use of his time in working hours. 

Effectively he was doing what you are describing for a single wage, with his employer gaining from the extra billing rather than him.... 

If the employer was gaining from it will depend on the commercial arrangements between them and their clients which I imagine you are not privy to. 

In my experience some fairly bright people can make some fairly stupid assumptions. A former client told me they had two resources fully allocated by an outsourcer to them however this isnt what the contract said at all... for one of them their role was just part of a £50k a month service charge for doing processing, there was no guarantee how many people would be involved for what percent of their time just that all work would be done within the SLA for at least 95% of the time. He simply wasnt needed 40 hours a week and so no way he was being charged out on a full time basis. The other guys was an additional support resource and looking over the bills they were being charged an average of 8 hours of his time a month and yet they thought he was exclusively theirs (so presumably twiddling his thumbs for th eother 38 hours a week). 

If they are charging 40 hours a week to three clients and he isnt doing 120hrs weeks then this is simply fraud. More likely the pricing is either outcome based or T&M and therefore not unfair to the client as long as the outcomes are being delivered within SLAs.