Comments on: Do you have an employee in contractors clothing? http://blog.shaneandpeter.com/2007/07/18/do-you-have-an-employee-in-contractors-clothing/ Bridging People & Technology Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:38:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Téa B http://blog.shaneandpeter.com/2007/07/18/do-you-have-an-employee-in-contractors-clothing/comment-page-1/#comment-291 Téa B Mon, 13 Aug 2007 05:07:48 +0000 http://blog.shaneandpeter.com/2007/07/18/do-you-have-an-employee-in-contractors-clothing/#comment-291 Here in Australia, the status of "contractors" is not as strict as what you outline here, even though there are some similarities. We have had a problem with employers who actually abuse the independent contractor status (as well as casual employment) to avoid paying particular entitlements etc and to be able to dismiss employees at will. Which, as long as there is a reason, its fine, but I have seen it being abused. I would also suspect that the reason the workforce percentage of contractors is so high is because of the number of government employees that are on fixed term contracts (ie not permanent) but are still employees in every other sense other than their status. It really only comes into play if there is a dispute. Its kind of messy is what I am trying to say ;) Here in Australia, the status of “contractors” is not as strict as what you outline here, even though there are some similarities.

We have had a problem with employers who actually abuse the independent contractor status (as well as casual employment) to avoid paying particular entitlements etc and to be able to dismiss employees at will. Which, as long as there is a reason, its fine, but I have seen it being abused.

I would also suspect that the reason the workforce percentage of contractors is so high is because of the number of government employees that are on fixed term contracts (ie not permanent) but are still employees in every other sense other than their status. It really only comes into play if there is a dispute.

Its kind of messy is what I am trying to say ;)

]]> By: shane http://blog.shaneandpeter.com/2007/07/18/do-you-have-an-employee-in-contractors-clothing/comment-page-1/#comment-38 shane Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:32:21 +0000 http://blog.shaneandpeter.com/2007/07/18/do-you-have-an-employee-in-contractors-clothing/#comment-38 Thats an interesting questions. Some neat stas I found: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 9.9 Million Self Employed http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t05.htm Though that does not cover anyone who owns a corporation such as Peter & I, so I assume it is much higher. Breakdown of who are ICs: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.t06.htm In Australia it seems contracts make up about 20% of their workforce, though how accurate these numbers are I don't know: http://www.contractworld.com.au/reloaded/ica-numbers.php Thats an interesting questions. Some neat stas I found:

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 9.9 Million Self Employed
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t05.htm

Though that does not cover anyone who owns a corporation such as Peter & I, so I assume it is much higher.

Breakdown of who are ICs: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.t06.htm

In Australia it seems contracts make up about 20% of their workforce, though how accurate these numbers are I don’t know: http://www.contractworld.com.au/reloaded/ica-numbers.php

]]> By: Brandon http://blog.shaneandpeter.com/2007/07/18/do-you-have-an-employee-in-contractors-clothing/comment-page-1/#comment-36 Brandon Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:58:14 +0000 http://blog.shaneandpeter.com/2007/07/18/do-you-have-an-employee-in-contractors-clothing/#comment-36 That's actually a really interesting read - and a problem that I suspect that will get more and more relevant as open-ended contractor networks begin to take on more importance in the changing marketscape in the next 10 years. It'd be even more interested to see a study of how many highly-educated contractors (non-manual-labor types) are working today compared with 15 years ago. That’s actually a really interesting read – and a problem that I suspect that will get more and more relevant as open-ended contractor networks begin to take on more importance in the changing marketscape in the next 10 years. It’d be even more interested to see a study of how many highly-educated contractors (non-manual-labor types) are working today compared with 15 years ago.

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