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Temp-to-Perm: Closing the Wage Gap By Roni F. Noland |
from Job Doc on boston.com I Q. I recently accepted a temp-to-perm position at a major biotech company. I worked with the recruiting agency to determine my hourly rate and the duration of my position. I was told that I would be temporary for three months and that two weeks prior to the conclusion of my temp assignment, I would be offered (or not) permanent employment and that at this time I would be able to negotiate salary and title with the company. A week prior to the conclusion of my temporary employment, I asked my boss if he would be proceeding with a permanent offer and he said "yes." It has now been six weeks since that conversation, and I am still not permanent. I do believe the company will move forward with an offer. My concern is negotiating a salary for a permanent position. I agreed to do the job temporarily for an hourly rate well below my market rate. I am worried that the offer will also be below my market rate. Having been in the role for four months now, I have a very good idea of the responsibilities and the salary that should accompany it. How do you negotiate once you have already been doing the job for a lower wage? A. First, let me congratulate you on being offered a permanent position. Not all temp-to-perm placements work out well. It is gratifying that your boss has recognized that you are a good fit for the job and that he wants you to stay. Now it's up to you to determine if you want to accept a permanent position at the salary that will be offered. You may be facing several obstacles to securing a salary that is as high as you want. First, you have been working at a salary that is "well below" your market rate. That is a difficult position to be in. You may not be able to bridge the gap between your hourly wage as a temporary employee and the salary that you think is the fair market rate for the position. Second, you are seeking to change your status from contract to permanent employee. Often, this change in itself entails what seems to be a pay cut. Let me explain. If, for example, a contract employee's hourly pay would annualize to $100K, the employer may offer the individual $80K to stay on as a permanent employee - calculating that the company benefits package is equivalent to 20 percent of an employee's salary. This figure is standard practice for employers, regardless of whether an individual chooses to take advantage of the benefits offered. Because you secured your placement through a recruiting agency, you need to continue to work with that recruiting agency. Let them negotiate your change in job status, title, and salary. Your recruiter should be doing all of this for you; you probably made a mistake in approaching your boss directly. The recruiter is the intermediary who is working on your behalf - that's how and why he or she earns a fee. You can suggest the salary that you think would be commensurate for the responsibilities of the job, but it would be up to the recruiter to negotiate with the company on your behalf. Contact your recruiter immediately to get him or her actively involved in your situation. You can write up a job description, with a suggested job title and salary that you can discuss with the recruiter. The recruiter will be aware of market rates for comparable positions. It is, of course, to the recruiter's benefit and yours to negotiate your salary package well. You will have to decide whether to stay at this company. Salary is only one - albeit an important one - of many contributors to job satisfaction. You may want to evaluate factors such as the nature of the work, the work environment, your colleagues, the boss, your commute, the company benefits, and possible opportunities for growth before deciding. You may decide that the salary is too low. Before you start the job search again, you would know to try to set your temp rate higher. You can try to negotiate, but once you start a temporary position at a much lower wage than the market rate, you are unlikely to be able to recoup the difference when the job becomes permanent. Roni F. Noland is a career counselor/coach in private practice. She can be reached at rfnoland@comcast.net.
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