Us and them

Today I'd like to address one topic that I feel is the worst plague ever. Not the oil spill, not the Greek debt, and not socialism. It is one of those things that keep eroding our industry and could bring us to a doomsday scenario.

I'd like to talk about independent contractors.

Some employees - at one point of their career - decide to abandon ship and go on their own. From their twisted perspective, a large company provides very little benefit and has too much downside, therefore they are willing to break this cherished bond. I know, it sounds totally absurds and morally questionable but it is the reality. People are willing to go on their own, knowing all too well that they will be responsible for finding clients, bill them, do the work and ensure their satisfaction.

You may ask, consulting firms like CGI, IBM or EDS already provide this safe environment, so why to these renegades still go independent? How can they thrive without a precise hierarchy, procedures and annual performance reviews? What can they gain that would offset the comfortable settings of a large corporation?

I think these individuals are flawed on many levels. One, they seek pure profit by keeping to themselves 100% of what they bill. Individuals do not need that much money, in fact this increased wealth may very well be a downhill slope. Enjoying increased revenues, people start buying fancy cars, larger TVs and other goodies, but at the end of the day there are not happier. This wealth may wreck their marriage, induce alcoholism and other deviant behaviour. This is why I think a corporation has to pull the choke on employee salaries (but not executive staff, this is entirely different), people will complain about lower-than-average wages but this is for their own good. Psychologists have demonstrated this.

Secondly, independent contractors believe they can evolve as IT professionals without a structure around them, which we all know is impossible. People need to be managed in order to achieve their desired potential, very few individuals can succeed in life without a superior.

In this respect, I believe than even cavemen had a very structured society, the Homo Sapiens was able to evolve while other branches of early humans were driven to extinction because too many of them went "independent" and ignored the needs/benefits of their group. Sure, those selfish individuals could eat the entire animal that they were able to kill, but the rest of the tribe died of starvation. The independents suffered guilt afterward and threw themselves off a cliff to end their intolerable loneliness. Everyone was dead and the train stopped there. Well there was no train during that period but you catch my drift.

I hope this exposure of the reality we face has brought you closer to my perspective of why independent contractors are a scourge that we must fight everyday. If you see one tomorrow, don't talk to him/her. Ignore their existence, let them assume the choice that they made. Build a wall of brick around them. Maybe by doing so we will convince them that money is not everything and it would be highly beneficial for them to come back to the company.

Redemption is possible.