Good And Bad Of Contract Employment

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There are many types of jobs available on the market.

Full-time employment: This requires you to work for about 35 to 40 hours per week and receive full weekly wages. You can receive many benefits associated with full-time employment: annual leave, long service leave, annual Holidays, and maybe retirement pension

Casual employment or contract employment: This type involves working on an hourly or daily basis. This type of employment has many disadvantages including:

• No paid sick leave.
• No guarantee of the number of hours worked
• Limited unfair dismissal protection
• No guarantee of regular income
• No paid public holidays

Because casual employment carries high risk, casual workers are often offered an extended loading between 15% and 34%, besides normal rate of pay.  Some awards state that casual workers must be paid for a minimum number of hours per day. Other awards allow employees to work for an indefinite number of hours.

Here are some pros and cons associated with contract employment:

There are many benefits you can have when you are a contractor.  Being a contractor means being your own boss. There will be no one supervising you or reprimand you. Being one’s own boss is the dream of everyone. That’s why contract employment has drawn lots of interests and will continue to be hot for the years coming.

When you are a contractor, you can determine when and where you work. This flexibility of creating your own hours is also very attractive. Many people make a transition from full-time employment to contract employment because of this flexibility

You can work at home. There will be no restriction on “regular schedule” for you to follow, you can work either in an office or at home, it’s your choice that matters.

You can have plenty of work. If your client is pleased with your performance, he will give you unlimited work, even more than you can handle. This is a very good point because you can choose the amount of money you will receive each month by working more or less.

The disadvantages with contract employment are as mentioned earlier. There is no guarantee associated with contract employment. If you are depending on regular income then maybe you won’t consider contract employment as your option. When there is an economic downturn, you, as a contractor, will be the first to get laid off. There is no guarantee of continued employment and employers may fire you for no reason.

There are also no benefits such as life insurance, medical benefits, or paid holidays for contractor.

Personally I think contract employment is not for everyone. You have to consider the risks and rewards carefully before deciding to pursue your career as a contractor. In spite of much instability, contract employment still emerges as a very lucrative type of doing business, especially if you are the kind of person who values personal freedom.

Tagged as: benefits, casual employment, contract employment, full-time employment, independent contractor, life insurance, medical benefits, paid holidays, regular schedule