Card Carrying Employee? 1

[ctmtwilliams]

I’m an independent consultant who typically works for a number of different consulting firms on a contract basis. For the last year I have been doing quite a bit of work for a group via a Temp Agency, where my paycheck comes from the agency not the consulting firm. Recently was asked to attend a meeting with a potential client. When the potential client asked me for my card, I hesitated slightly and replied that I was sorry but I didn’t have any with me. After the meeting the head of the company stated “we need to get you some cards made up”. There is a fairly strong possibility that I could take a full time position with this firm with in the next six months. My question is this; is it proper for me to be presenting myself as an employee of this firm with their card while working for them through the temp agency?

 

[wes616]

I think that as long as the "company" you are contracted to is fully aware of how you are presenting yourself as an employee, the you are fine in doing so. It would be unethical if you were doing this behind their back. But since they made the offer to do this, then feel free. It is their choice how they present YOU to THEIR clientel.

Wes C.
------------------------------
In this house, we OBEY the laws of thermodynamics! - Homer Simpson

 

[IRstuff]

I would advise some caution.

While it's nothing really to do with you, per se, the presentation of you as an employee may be a ruse to present the appearance of a deep staff when that's not really true. As a general rule, our consultants are presented as consultants and if there are business cards given, it's theirs and not ours.

Therefore, your card should make it clear that while you represent the company, you are not a permanent employee.

The potential fallout is that if it's determined by the customer that you were presented under false pretenses, it may reflect back on your integrity.

TTFN

 

[kchayfie]

In my opinion, your card informs the client who you are, who you represent and what you do for them. Your services are employed by your client company to represent them before their clients, even if it's not directly as a member of staff. A business card declaring your job title as "independent consultant" would cover it if you're uncomfortable with being confused with a member of staff.

 

[RDK]

I am often in the same situation.

One client had an internal rule that only employees were allowed business cards with the company name on them. Another would routinely hand me a bunch of new cards at the start of an assignment with the project name and phone numbers on them.

I also make up cards with my company name on them for contract employees and sub consultants if I am presenting them as part of my team. (You can print very formal looking cards on a laser printer and buy nice blanks at any office supply store and can print as few or as many cards as you want at any one time.)

As long as the company is happy with you being presented as part of their team then I see no issue with it. If you are uncomfortable with that then have your own cards made up with the name of your own company on them and use them.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[JAE]

If you are hired as a consultant - and you have other clients, then using their company name wouldn't be appropriate.

But you seem to be describing a relationship where you are hired out via an employment agency and as a result, you should have no ethical problems (from your perspective) in using their business card if they are the ones issuing it to you to use]/i].

In other words, its really up to the company whether they want you to represent them. If you don't feel comfortable using their business card with your name on it - say because you want a permanent position rather than the temporary arrangement - then that's fine, but that would really be something to deal with directly, and not based on whether you use their cards or not.

Lastly, having your name "under" their corporate umbrella may go even farther in protecting you against outside lawsuits.

 

[ctmtwilliams]

Thanks for the input.

Since they they want to make cards for me to use when representing them, I suppose I should have no problem.

 

[IRstuff]

again, so long as it's clear that you are not a permanent employee of the company.

Misrepresentation of the amount of resources available to the project may be the goal of giving your a company business card. It's not your client that you should be worried about, but THEIR clients.

TTFN

 

[JAE]

IRstuff - I see what you are getting at, but if the company went to the trouble of arranging ctmtwilliams' job, why do you see it unethical that they not overtly identify him/her as a temporary employee?

It seems to me that a job via a temp agency vs. a job straight up doesn't make any difference to their outside clients...its simply another form of employment - both legitimate and above-board. One is simply without a long term commitment.

I don't see how that would somehow adversely affect a client and thus be unethical.

 

[ctmtwilliams]

Now that I’ve read several of these differing opinions I agree with JAE. There is absolutely not doubt that I am being presented as part of the team. I am not a subcontractor and I do work under their E&O. I will be doing the work and it not like they are using me to get the work and then having someone less qualified do the work. My pay check comes from the temp agency and not on a 1099 from the firm as a contract employee. I’ve never seen a group differentiate temp employees from full time in a Statement of Qualifications.

 

[jsummerfield]

If registered as a licensed engineer, print your cards with the title consulting engineer. If you lack registration, use another title such as "discipline" consultant. You do not need a company name just use your own name, title and contact information on the card.

Before you pass the card, first advise that you are working as a contract employee on the project. You might also stamp or print the back of the card with the email and phone information for the company where you work as a contract or project hire.

John

 

[IRstuff]

I don't know enough about the overall situation to say definitively, but, clearly, if I, as a company, can point to PhD1, PhD2, etc., as "being" on my team; that presents a certain capability to a future client.

However, being that they are NOT full-time employees; there is the question of true availability when the rubber meets the road.

So, it's all in the context of the actual presentation. Is the company trying to "fool" the customer into thinking that there's a bigger stable than there really is? In the worst-case, it's a form of false pretense; in the best, it's a way for a small company to acquire and manage temporary bumps in demand.

The situation can also be presented in a good light. I, as a small company, can lay claim to having access to a vast army of temp employees that can be acquired and discharged at an instant's notice. This allows me to meet whatever demands and schedules the customer might impose on the project.

TTFN

 

[JAE]

IRstuff - good points.

I just keep reminding myself that even a full time employee can be dumped at a moment's notice.

 

[tombmech]

The Aerospace community and the Government is full of "part-time" contracted employees. For all intents and purposes, they are regular employees - but are paid by the temp or contract agency.

Unfortunately, the point is a legal one with regard to the IRS. A permanent employee has specific legal and tax requirements. A contracted service, even through a temp agency, does not.

The IRS is deeply interested in the potential abuse with these arrangements. So much so, that I have seen waves of "job-shop" employee reductions - just to prove the case that they were not really employees. (Often, they were immediately hired back upon the start of a new fiscal year.)

What I have most often seen are business cards that put both entities on the card. That way, it can never be construed that the company is attempting to fool the IRS by not hiring regular, permanent employees.