One of the biggest problems with business that I’ve experienced and observed (in the UK, at least) – and something that came up yet again a while ago – is that most people have confused value for money with paying the least amount possible for a product or service. And, if they can get away with it, they’ll pay nothing at all.
If you’ve any experience of being a freelancer, you’ll no doubt have come across clients who demand a heck of a lot for very little.
They all have their ways of doing it, too: things such as verbal contracts that aren’t worth the paper they’re written on; contracts that state you have to “carry out other duties as and when required”; trying to convince you that your prices are unreasonable; saying that they can get someone else to do the same job for less; sneaking extras into work you’re already doing and calling them “as standard”.
(Naming and shaming unnecessary.)
This is common (but unacceptable) practice in the world of freelancers, but unfortunately, it has happened a hell of a lot during my time as an employee. Many times, rather than spend some money to hire a dedicated person to do a specialist task, employers would rather have an existing employee – whose duties are probably already stretched – do it for free. Said employee usually doesn’t get any recognition or renumeration for their efforts either, at least not without a fight. (This was my number one reason for wanting to freelance in the first place.)
Only two of the ten or so clients I’ve worked for have offered any kind of performance-related bonus (my preferred style of working) – the place I’m at right now, and for my first contract back in 2005.
The convenient, and often milked excuse for not hiring the right people for the right price, and not rewarding existing employees for their work is the so-called recession.
I call the “recession”, the “credit crunch”, the “economic meltdown” or whatever the f*ck you want to call it an excuse, because I’m convinced it’s the result of inefficiency.
Businesses have spent so much money on trying to look good and putting up a front, but not nearly enough is distributed among the people in the front lines. (Espresso machines, water coolers, air-conditioning, the latest Apple products and all those fancy rich boy toys don’t count, okay?) They would rather invest in a snazzy office in the City than reward an employee’s contribution to a project.
It’s inefficiency at the top that encourages inefficiency at lower levels, and I’m convinced that this is exactly why our “normal working hours” have increased from 9-5 to 9-6, yet our salaries haven’t increased accordingly. (I absolutely hate 9-6, and would even argue against working more than six hours a day.)
Business gurus like Brian Tracy still encourage being highly efficient at one’s job, in order to gain recognition, greater responsibilities and more money. The only thing they get, these days, is more work.
In regard to doing things “on the cheap”…
If money is the primary issue to a client or an employer – if they’re telling me that something costs too much, or that my price is unreasonable – what they’re effectively saying is that they’re not prepared to pay for quality. They might demand quality, but they are only interested in a lose-win deal: more product for less-to-no investment. (I believe the technical term for this kind of client is cheapskate.)
Don’t get me wrong: I know that some clients are genuinely on a limited budget, and they are reasonably afraid of getting ripped off by a way overpriced cowboy. However, I would have thought that such clients would have done some due diligence and have asked for examples/references from previous projects. In the case of a limited budget, I personally would be open to bartering or trading as a means of renumeration – anything that would result (as Stephen Covey suggests) in a “win-win or no deal” situation.
In general, it pisses me off when clients and employers demand quality, have the means to pay for quality, but instead would rather “get someone” to do it on the cheap or for free. It pisses me off because they don’t care enough about their project to have it done properly, and they don’t seem to accept that they get what they pay for. (Even in the case of the way overpriced cowboy.)
Tags: bullshit, Business Uk, cheap, cheapskate, Credit Crunch, Economic Meltdown, Excuse, First Contract, Freelance, Freelancer, Freelancers, job, money, people, Performance Related Bonus, Preferred Style, problems, Recession, Renumeration, Unacceptable Practice, Verbal Contracts