Need help in breaking from my contract please

sysprogrammer

Hi Folks,

I'm looking for some help on Wording ,with regard to my contract of employment.
I work as an IT consultant and have done so for some 10years now, for the last two years I have been based in a position that I love within a fantastic company ,the work is challengin,g but the people I now work with are even better, I've never felt so part of a team as I do now. I can fix computers anywhere, but people really make a place.
So the reason I came to work here was to fill a temporary position, and basically an IT recruitment consultancy rang me up one day and asked if I would go on to this client site(big Insurance company) on behalf of this IT agency and work away.


As I say earlier, for two years I've been here and received nothing but a lunch at contract renewal time, I feel I owe the agency nothing and vice versa, so I spoke with the Director in this insurance company and said that I would like to go out alone, and he replied that he wants to retain my services once I leave the agency.


What I am asking today is how do I tell my agency to get stuffed in a nice way ? that they have been taking a cut from my daily wage for two years and enough is enough ?
I'm looking for a way to make that last sentence more professional sounding, as the agency still continue to sell hardware and services into this insurance company , so a big dramatic shouting match is to be avoided if at all possible.


This contract is 90% of my business as an IT consultant, and I'd like to ask the question in this forum as I feel business owners here may have removed themselves from a contract before, and have some sage like advice for me, or better yet , perhaps you can tell me how you'd like to be dumped from a contract.
any other advice (like where to shop for the new insurance I'll need etc) is greatly appreciated

Many thanks for taking the time to read this post, this issue has been causing me some stress, the planning before the arguement that is, and I'd welcome any advice (more than one sentence long)
Thanks,
Sysprogrammer

Dr.Silly

Not matter what way you word it, the agency is going to look for compensation.

Are you looking to stay contracting with the company or to go permanent.
Either way, I'd say you're looking at between 6k to 12k to get out of it.
I'm getting these figures based on you been in the industry for 10 years.

If you're getting say 300 or 350 per day (which today is a good contracting rate), the agency may be billing you out at 425 or more per day.

If you were to go permie, and you landed say 70k as a salary, the agency would get around 8 to 10k.

I take it your contract has a clause in it to say you can't join the company within 6 months after leaving the agency or something like that ?

sysprogrammer

Thanks for such a good response Dr Silly , this is exactly what I'm looking for.

I am hoping to break away from my agency and go out on my own and stay contracting,
The contract has been guaranteed to me by my IT Director.

I currently charge 285per day + VAT , and the best way to increase this rate is to loose the agency overhead. I had no idea they would charge so much on top of this daily rate , I genuinely thought they were getting about 30-50 quid a day from me , very enlightening Dr Silly, thanks

I will check my contract this evening , but effectively the director does not want me going anywhere, and he said once I tell my agency this , then he can sign me up straight away.

The agency will want to continue their good relationship with our company so I think they may be happy to walk away after two years of taking money off me. They ( the agency) sell about 750k + of hardware in here each year so I hope I'm just a drop in the ocean to them.

appreciate your help on this Dr , much obliged

SysPrg

Dr.Silly

sysprogrammer wrote: »

Thanks for such a good response Dr Silly , this is exactly what I'm looking for.

I am hoping to break away from my agency and go out on my own and stay contracting,
The contract has been guaranteed to me by my IT Director.

I currently charge 285per day + VAT , and the best way to increase this rate is to loose the agency overhead. I had no idea they would charge so much on top of this daily rate , I genuinely thought they were getting about 30-50 quid a day from me , very enlightening Dr Silly, thanks

I will check my contract this evening , but effectively the director does not want me going anywhere, and he said once I tell my agency this , then he can sign me up straight away.

The agency will want to continue their good relationship with our company so I think they may be happy to walk away after two years of taking money off me. They ( the agency) sell about 750k + of hardware in here each year so I hope I'm just a drop in the ocean to them.

appreciate your help on this Dr , much obliged

SysPrg

It sounds like you're in a great situation.
I could almost guarantee that the agency would be charging a min of 350 per day for you.
The fact that you're not the only business within the company that the agency is making money from is a big plus.
Although, 750k worth of hardware is not much as the margin on this stuff is minute, how&ever, it's still money and turnover.

Have a good read on your contract, and if you're on such good terms with your IT director, maybe ask him/her, if there is a clause within his contract to say he can't take you on directly within a certain time period. I would be shocked if this wasn't in the contract to be honest.

Maybe offer the agency a couple of grand and split it with the insurance company, looking at it like a long term investment, where you get a few extra quid a day, and the insurance company save a few extra quid a day.

Best of luck with it, let us know how you get on.

amen

why not get the IT Director to terminate the contract with the Agency ?
that way there is no work for you (with the agency) and you can just leave.
The IT Director then can hire you.

I would think if there is a contract between the Agency and IT Director then if you leave the Agency could replace you with anothere person.

I don't think you should be paying the agency anything to leave the job.
Do the Agency pay you for bank holidays, days off etc?

Dr.Silly

amen wrote: »

why not get the IT Director to terminate the contract with the Agency ?
that way there is no work for you (with the agency) and you can just leave.
The IT Director then can hire you.

I would think if there is a contract between the Agency and IT Director then if you leave the Agency could replace you with anothere person.

I don't think you should be paying the agency anything to leave the job.
Do the Agency pay you for bank holidays, days off etc?

Yeah, paying the agency would be last resort, but is an option if the company is not willing to break away from the contract.
I doubt that sysprog is getting paid for days or bank holidays if he's contracting, I assume he's only getting paid for the days he works

FusionNet

Is there not a get out claus on renewal of the contract? Id love a contract like that can I have it!!!!

Seriously though is the contract based on a yearly renewal? If so there must be a claus that says you can bow out or they can on that date, if thats the case can you wait for that point?

sysprogrammer

Hi Again,

thank you all for your thoughts, I'm genuinely amazed at the level of response here, nothing short of fantastic.

To answer some of the questions :

I only invoice and get paid for days I work,
bank holidays and sick days are not paid for.

I will re-read the contract later and check for a get out clause, at the moment though it is just renewed as a matter of course (I believe I'm on my third contract now)

Dr Silly, many thanks , I never realised the markup these agency guys were getting ( for ten minutes work over 2 years ago I may add), I will check the get out clauses and of course let you all know the wording.

@amen : I think that the director wants me to sort this out ethically, as do I. My agency will continue to supply hardware and two other contractors into this company, none of us see any reason to lie either, as the agency will find out if I 'leave' and rejoin.

Ideally I'd like my agency to acknowledge that they have made a hefty fee off my back , and bow out gracefully, failing that I can only imagine there will be a bit of a spat and then my director will have to tell them he wants to keep me.

I shall check the contract out this evening and post any relevant info.

@Fusion net : I cannot confirm about the renewal time opt out of the contract, in fact I'm not sure when this current contract is due to expire (I know that sounds a bit mad , just the way it is here) I will however , find out this info and come back to the thread

Thank you all for your replies, legendary, I'm actually smiling here knowing there are people I can talk to about this ,

Rgds,
Sysprog

FusionNet

Thats why we all love boards, you can talk about anything.. I read a post a while back about a girl that had her heartbroken and you know people were genuinely doing everything they could to advise and cheer her up.. Our country might be financially a disaster and we might be a lazy people when it comes to systems and paperwork but we're a great people!!!

It might be worth bringing the contract to a solicitor, Im sure they'd only charge 50-100 euro to have a look over it and advise.. well worth it if the penalty would be thousands if you broke the contract...