If you’re a freelancer or an umbrella company contractor working in the financial sector, you probably know this already: your days are numbered.
Now for the most part, most freelance workers are enjoying high levels of demand for their services. This makes a lot of sense, what with the heavy use British firms need for interim workers in order to keep profitable – but the truth is there are some sectors that aren’t nearly as competitive as others. In fact there are some industries that are falling far behind the prevailing wage, which could have contract workers leaving in droves for more competitive projects, and this is exactly what’s happening in financial sector right now.
When it comes to jobs in the financial market, the first to feel the pain is likely to be information technology professionals. There are predictions that the financial sector will slip here first, triggering a mass exodus of skilled and qualified IT contractors as they go looking for more competitive rates. This isn’t some new doomsday scenario that’s just been thought up, either – a recent interview with an executive from the Professional Contractors Group pointed out that the public sector saw just this problem occur already.
Of course, like the public sector the financial industry is also doing nothing more than shooting themselves int he foot if you ask me. Banking institutions think they’ll be able to save money by driving out experienced contractors and instead attract ones willing to work for less, but the bare truth of it is that no one accepts a lower-paying job out of the goodness of their heart; it’s because they don’t have the requisite skills and experience yet. Essentially what’s going to happen is that all these excellent and highly skilled contractors that the financial sector is driving out will be replaced with much less skilled workers – if the positions are filled at all.
So there you have it: the latest bit of stupidity from the financial markets. This isn’t terribly surprising to me; after all these are the same pillocks who destroyed the economy back in 2008 and then awarded themselves massive bonuses as the world markets collapsed. Must be good work if you can get it! Bastards.
