There are benefits to the independent contractor as well. It's not a one-sided proposition. A number of friends have been independent contractors with major corporations. One just recently accepted regular employment, and while we didn't discuss her situation in detail, she made it clear that there were some downsides to her new position. She has to work more regular hours; her take-home pay is less; she has to work assignments that she doesn't care for ...sure, she gets medical benefits, but she was easily able to pay for that from her IC income, and had a wider choice of doctors to choose from with her own plan. Now she's tied in to her company's plan. After carefully weighing the options, she decided to become an employee. That works for her.
Another friend is, and has been, an IC for another major corp. He prefers to stay an IC even though he's been offered regular employment. It's interesting to note that his wife works at the same company, and when she was offered the opportunity to be an employee, she took it. The benefits to her outweighed the downside that her husband saw. It's not so simple. At one point I had 32 IC's working for my company. None - not a single one - wanted to be a regular employee, all of them much preferring the advantages they saw in remaining independent. And while it's true that there are benefits that accrue to the company in having independent contractors, there are also benefits to having those people as employees as well. It all depends on the situation, what's most important to the parties involved, and individual values. Shel > [Original Message] > From: Bob Shell > What is the advantage of being an independent > contractor instead of an employee? > None. The benefits are all to the "employer". All the years I > worked for Shutterbug magazine they classed me as an independent > contractor. That means they didn't have to pay into unemployment or > deal with payroll taxes, include me on company medical insurance, and > so on. It also means that when I "voluntarily" retired, there was no > pension. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
