Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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wellington womble
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Consultancy pricing help..........Due to sooner-than-forseen circumstances (it was inevitable that my lovely boss would leave) I have to take a gamble on handing in my notice and offering my services on a freelance basis at work sooner than I'm ready for. I was planning on an autumn resignation/part time ultimatum, when I should be able to manage without the work if need be. I'm don't have enough income on stream yet, so I need to bluff and hope.
I know how much my job is worth, and I can set up a daily rate for that - I just don't know how much I should add for being freelance. Any ideas?
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Frewen
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No idea - but I wish you luck 
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LynneA
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Work out how much money you need per week to survive on. Divide it by how many hours you want to work.
Then double it.
That's your rate before expenses 
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gil
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What's their budget ? How much can they pay ?
You need to factor in a percentage of your admin time, and the cost of professional fees, insurances etc
I'd say double what you're thinking at the moment (at least)
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alison
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Why do you have to hand your notice in, when it is your boss who is leaving?
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RichardW
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Will they go for that or just employ some one to take your place?
Justme
PS contractor prices depend more on need & avaliability than any thing else. During the run up to the 2000 bug IT contractors could & did charge what they wanted x 2 or more
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wellington womble
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| alison wrote: | | Why do you have to hand your notice in, when it is your boss who is leaving? |
Because, for lots of reasons, my boss is the only reason my job is viable. It was hell before she came, and I'm not going back to that. I knew she would leave, but I was hoping to get the business up and running first - as it is, I'm not ready, and need an income, to pay the mortgage. Without her there will be no adequate clinical supervision and constant clashes with someone who is technically my senior, but who I do not consider to be clinically competent, capable of professional conduct and abuses her authority. She made my life hell for twelve months, and I won't put up with it happening again - my boss (also hers) keeps her in line, but no-one in management has the clinical knowledge to trump her, athough they are aware she is a problem - I would rather pull pints than work under her. If I went freelance it would be to do things she is not qualified to do, and I would make it clear that she has no authority over me. She would refer patients to me, and I would treat (or not) according to my professional assessment, untill I have enough work elsewhere to dump them altogether.
They can employ someone to take my place, but not with my experience at the rate they pay me. If they pay more, I will sue for constructive dissmissal, as they have consistently refused to upgrade my duties. If they put someone in my bosses post, I will negotiate re-insourcing happily.
I like LynneA's formula - I was planning on doubling my current hourly rate, adding a bit and making my minimum unit 1 day, giving me about half a week's pay over one day, expandable by negotiation. I need to add a little bit more than that, but still make it feasible for them (there is a lot of routine maintenence stuff that needs doing, and I would effectively be responsible for the safety of equipment, so I should probably add some for that too.) I just don't know how much it is worth to them to not emply someone.
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vegplot
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As a freelancer you will not have the job hours security you have in a salaried position. If you're lucky you might be able to invoice for 2 billable hours per day on average.
I wouldn't double my hourly rate I'd make it a factor of 4 or 5 times higher. If you can get 6-8 hours billing hours per day you have the room to allow your hourly rate to be negotiated down down to say 2-3 times what you're getting now. They have the kudos you have the dosh.
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orangepippin
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When I used to do freelance work the general rule of thumb was the freelance rate would be double the salary, so if you were on £20K salary you would need to charge the equivalent per hour of £40K. As vegplot says though, probably best to start as high as possible and prepare to negotiate down.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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sounds an exciting time for you WW. Can you not do some research and see what others might charge; it would be best all round if you charged the market rate- which may be more than you think ( is there an agency for that sort of thing that you could find out rates from?)
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snozzer
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Also, work on no more 200 chargeable days a year (40wks) to cover holiday sickness and general admin that will reduce you billable time, then anyday above 200 is gravy 
So if you need 40k a year to live you need to bill £1k a week (£200 a day or nearly £27/hrs)
As other have mentioned work out the overheads and benefits simple things like pension, insurance, accounting fees, professional fees, association memberships etc etc.
Then make sure you get a formal contract for services, detailing the terms for provision of service, rates (including minimum). Notice I used provision of service not part time employment. Stay well away from a part time employment contract or you will be taxed as an employee and likely to come under IR35 which is not good.
Perhaps negotiate a sliading scale of charges 1-9hrs week £x/hr, 9-19 £x-10% and then 20+ £x-20% with a miminum of bill of x hrs per use.
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orangepippin
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Good point - make very sure you do not fall into the clutches of IR35.
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Chez
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I agree with Mrs Fiddlesticks about doing some research about the market rate. Being too far under is as bad as being too far over.
In our industry too, the 'double it and add a bit' rule seems to be roughly right, just from people I know about.
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wellington womble
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I don't think there really is a market rate. It's sort of a niche of one. As far as I know, it is the only unit of it's kind. The only thing that would be comparable is locum rates, which are not specialist. I've added up an hourly rate, which while terrifyingly ambitious to me, isn't all that scary in the world of locum/consultant rates. It is a little bit low, in terms of income (although not for time spent) but I'd rather keep the work and use the extra time to concentrate on other income streams.
I've basically taken my current hourly rate (which is what I need to live on, as I already do!) and multiplied it by four and half (two to account for the fact that I am already criminally underpaid, and two for being freelance and a bit for admin) to come up with an hourly rate so I can work one longish day a week for the same money. It's roughly what they would pay for a locum of my level, although a general one, not a specialist one. I have drawn up terms of service, stating my hourly rate, a minumum unit, who I will see and what I will do. With lots of 'additional services by seperate negotiation's I'm meeting with my boss on Thursday to see what she thinks of in her capacity as manager - Management will presumably ask her what she thinks, so if she will support it, I will propose it. If not, then I'll have to think again.
Now all I have to figure out, is how to word the agreement that the problem senior will not have any authority over me. Any suggestions?
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wellington womble
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks wrote: | | sounds an exciting time for you WW. |
I'm not sure 'exciting' is quite the word I would have chosen. Exhausting and bloody terrifying might be closer!
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Rosemary Judy
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I have such an agreement - I could email it to you.......
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wellington womble
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Gah - they just gave me a payrise. Too much to go, not enough to stay. Now I don't know what to do. I'll see what else I can get.
It's clearly damage control, and exactly what I would have done in their position. And they have dangled promotion at me. I'm awaiting the finer points of the deal to see.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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| wellington womble wrote: | Gah - they just gave me a payrise. Too much to go, not enough to stay. Now I don't know what to do. I'll see what else I can get.
It's clearly damage control, and exactly what I would have done in their position. And they have dangled promotion at me. I'm awaiting the finer points of the deal to see. |
tricky. Got to see the longterm view though of what you really want. Whatever you decide don't rush the decision, weigh it up.
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wellington womble
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The decision has been made for me, so I have to fit in with in other people's timetables. I have decided that the primary issues are still that my job and skills are band six and that is not currently reflected in my title or package, and that the department requires strong leadership, which is currently not in place after mid-August. Nothing has changed - the firefighting pay-rise does not address the real issue, but does tell me that they are rattled, and that the only new vacancies will be band six, so if someone leaves, I can still re-apply for a band six job. Presumably, this includes me! And there is still no resolution for the authority problem - I'll be putting the 'working out' on the table informally on Thursday, and waiting to see what happens. Meanwhile, I'll be tarting up my CV and registering with every locum agency I can find, just in case.
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Maxwell Smart
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Standard practice is to take what you want to earn per hour and then triple it.
The logic is 1/3 is your salary, 1/3 is your costs now associated with being your own boss (taxes, pension etc), 1/3 is associated withthe fact that you won't be working everyday....
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