Re: Consultants who have to work on junk equipment

I thought it was obvious. The "real" people are familiar with billable rate.
Most contractors start out not knowing what they are billing at; only what
they take home. This is even company policy at some major consulting firms.

So, when the billable rate starts making the rounds at a client site, there is
a double whammy of the locals getting irate at how much the consulting group
is taking, and the contractos getting irate about how much more they are
beingg billed for than what they make.

The "leak" in this system - I have found - is in an IS manager's handling of
the paperwork. I've seen invoices laying on their desks for all to read
(upside down, of course). A programmer goes in to talk about an aspect of
their project, and comes out with more information than you want them to. One
alternative is to send out invoices with no details, but you know how popular
that is with the accountants.

Now, with my own contractors, I make sure they understand their rate, the
billing rate, and why there is a difference. We are a team, after all. The
greedy ones I usually promote to someone else's firm.

Hank Heath

In a message dated 11/17/98 2:03:32 AM Eastern Standard Time,
PaulMmn@ix.netcom.com writes:

<< Of course, the big question is:  did they let loose the Billable Rate or
 the rate actually -paid- to the contract programmer?  In many cases, the
 contract programmer may not -know- the rate being billed for his/her
 services... >>
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