By The Hour

If you've ever been on both sides of the fence, you know the differences all too well. Having been blessed with a long and interesting work life I have spent some of that career as an employee and much of it as a contractor.

When I first started, contracting was less common and the distinctions were clear. Employees were expected to be loyal to the company and contractors had their own agenda: they served their current assignment without any expectation of extended loyalty.

Contracting, or gig-working, has become so common that many people within a company will assume that they can expect the same behaviors from a contractor that they would from an employee. Some do everything they can to lock in a gig worker without actually providing any of the benefits of being committed that they have to hire lawyers to ward off lawsuits and organizing. That does not create an engaged workforce.

Expecting loyalty from a temporary worker is the silliest of assumptions. You know they aren't loyal, they know they aren't loyal, so who's pretending what?

The tradeoffs a company decides to accept when they "go temporary" with staffing are huge, high-impact, and long lasting.

Pay someone by the hour and you get an hour of work at a time, and not the best hour available.

-- doug smith

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How's Your Reputation

How important do you think it is to sustain a positive leadership reputation? It matters to your team. It matters to any future team that you might be leading. Your reputation tells a story about how you operate, how you facilitate and how you achieve your results. Leading positive change builds credibility. Making a difference right now builds credibility. Keeping your promises and showing care for others establishes the kind of character that people want to work with and maybe even follow. What positive change are you currently working on? -- doug smith

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Tough Choice

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