Same here. I was a temp here before I got this gig - although, I have to say, some rules were “bent” by some folks for me but I didn’t take advantage. Yeah - brains ain’t my strong suit.
In any event, now I’m permanent and have temps who are in my dept. - and as I’m just a secretary I can’t bend any rules for anyone - Corp policy is the same deal as PunditLisa was talking about - so I just make them extra Christmas gifts. The temps get all the candy and cookies I make - screw the rest of the bunch - they got a party.
Although that’s true, attending parties has nothing whatsoever to do with it. Demanding regular hours, doing the same work as regular employees, not being allowed to subcontract, and many other factors.
Here’s the old “twenty factors” http://www.uihome.uidaho.edu/default.aspx?pid=80046#Twen_Fac
Instructions followed by worker.
Training provided to worker.
Integration of workers services into the business operations. (See APM 50.12C)
Services rendered personally by worker.
Hiring, supervising and paying assistants of worker by payer.
A continuing relationship
Set hours of work.
Full time required.
Doing work on premises of entity for whom work is performed.
Order or sequence of work followed.
Oral or written reports required.
Payment by hour, week, month, etc.
payment of business and/or traveling expenses.
Furnishing tools and materials.
Significant investment by worker.
Profit/loss realization by worker.
Working for more than one firm at a time.
Making services available to the general public
Right to discharge worker.
Right to terminate agreement by worker"
and endless more. My Bro is an EA, and was an IRS agent. “inviting dudes to office parties” was NEVER, EVER a factor, and the thought made his laff his ass off. So, your HR dept was full of shit.
I worked part-time at a corporate coffee shop. It was a small but national chain with the head office in town.
(No, it’s not the national chain that gives employees a pound of coffee a month and stock options.)
We were all invited to the holiday party at the CN Tower’s fancy schmantsy restaurant.
We each got a half pound of coffee on the way in. “Enjoy your Christmas bonus!” someone said - and I thought he was joking!
After that, drinks were $8 each and food was standard fine dining restaurant price. All us store employees were making between $6.50 and $7.50/hour, almost all of us either students or single parents, not wanting to spend a day’s wages on an evening socializing with our bosses.
We drank water and hovered around the free appetizer table, while the head office folks whooped it up. They didn’t understand why we weren’t any fun.
Worst party ever. But at least I got a free ride up the Tower. Maybe THAT was my Christmas bonus …
They still are. Just got an e-mail on Friday reminding me that inviting temps to holiday parties is a no-no.
Of course, I ignored it as I always do. If HR had its way, we wouldn’t be allowed to participate in Superbowl pools. Browbeating us into contributing to the Fine Arts Fund is okay, but having a Survivor pool is verboten. Whatever.
As I understand it, none of these other conditions used to be a factor either, until temps started winning court cases by using them as proof. It’s all a big joke until the judge tells you it isn’t. Better safe than sorry is the mantra of corporate america.
No kidding, I never would have guessed that the HR department is full of shit. What a wildly surprising revelation. I bet no one else in history has ever realized that the HR department is full of shit before you showed us. Next I suppose you’ll shock us with the realization that the marketing departments are full of shit too. They must consider you a real valuable resource where you work :rolleyes:
You’d think someone with a little more experience would explain to the suits that freelancing in TV is NOT the same thing as temping in an office. Without the freelancers, the whole operation falls to shit. Is there any TV station, show, or network that isn’t at least 15% freelance? At my last job, there were two entire departments were everyone was a freelancer! When I left, it was at the point that nobody in the full-time staff had any idea how to use the actual programs involved in one of those departments, because nobody but a freelancer had done the work in three years.
The last thing you want to do is piss off your freelancers.
I, the mightily offended party, would love to agree with you but the cold unpleasant truth is that I do this work because I love contributing and making good shots. They hire me because I fill a slot and have not fucked up yet so they could replace me with another human behind the camera.
I know this. I find it offensive, but realize this is life. I’m nothing more than Gaffer’s Tape with a pulse- an entirely expendible resource. That is, in their eyes.
In my eyes, why I’m freakin’ Michelangelo with a camera.
Heh - I used to call myself a Disposable Employee when I was temping.
{old granny voice on} I remember one Christmas season working in a big, busy office. Everyone went out to the Christmas luncheon, the bunch of temps included - except the three or so new temps (like me). You can imagine how much work I got done in the two hours that all the supervisors and other employees were gone. {/ogv} (I have to say, though, that I have been treated exceptionally well at some temp jobs.)
Then there was the story I heard from a friend’s wife about her last Christmas party working for a huge oil & gas company. A little backstory - Calgary is a massive O & G city, and with oil prices being what they have been, O & G companies have had to find new warehouses to keep all their profits in. Well, apparenly, this lady was told that her company didn’t have the money for a proper staff Christmas party, so they had a cheap-ass little party - at the CEO’s mansion. Hah! They think we’re so freakin’ stupid, that we don’t even notice things like this.
I freelanced for a number of years as a technical writer. I’d bounce among companies; six weeks here, three months there, four months somewhere else. Meh, it’s a contractor’s life. Anyway, my own company party (as in “Spoons and Associates”) was usually my wife and I heading out for dinner somewhere.
But I do recall once or twice being contracted to a company over the holidays. If I’d been there long enough to get to know a few people (generally a month or two), I’d invariably be invited to the company’s annual party. I was happy to be invited, and I always had a great time. But not too great–these were my customers, remember, and I was always on best behaviour; thankful just to be there.
The actions of the company that the OP is speaking of are reprehensible. You do not “uninvite” anybody to anything. You think carefully about whom you wish to invite, and then invite them. Those whom you do not wish to be there, you do not invite. It’s that simple. But to “uninvite” somebody who already has been invited, especially if it’s to make room for “the suits and their spouses” is crass and rude.
Cartooniverse, I’d be tempted to sit outside the party venue on the sidewalk, with a hat out and a sign that says “Please Help the Freelancers.” Let the suits explain that one to their spouses!
This could work out to your advantage. The next time there’s an “all hands” event you don’t wish to attend, you just skip it. When queried why, politely say, “Hey, I’m a freelancer and am not one of the ‘all hands’ employees.”
It worked beautifully for me once when I had a major run-in with the biggest jerk ever to wear Chief’s anchors. My Division Officer was quite impressed by it.
