Rachna always dreamt of working for FOOBLE (made up name obviously, but you know who, the one who must not be named); therefore, when she had a chance to live her dream, she could not resist and join. She was so ecstatic about the job that she paid attention to the third-party payroll term suggested by the Hr of Global IT Solutions Pvt Ltd. She resigned from her permanent job with a medium size IT Company and joined in the office of FOOBLE with a nominal hike in her pay scale.

She took numerous selfies with FOOBLE logos all over the office and exhibited the attractive office everywhere on her social media. Her posts with FOOBLE in the background crossed all the records of likes and comments on her social media. The friends, who had forgotten her, started to message and connect with her. She never thought she will be so happy ever after joining a company in her professional life.

However, her happiness was short-lived as after joining the company, things took an unexpected turn. She often was termed as an external resource and vendor. She was never asked to be a part of any activity on the floor, and when she tried to be a part, she was discouraged.

She felt as if there was a lobby of so-called permanent employees who were always gossiping about her. It was probably only inside her head, but she felt so alienated that such thoughts started to cross her mind more often as time passed. Her ID card from Fooble had ‘vendor’ written on it. Her email id was of GIS, not Fooble.

The workload was immense, and she almost felt burdened with tasks and assignments given to her. It was evident to her that she was doing the work of at least three employees. Slowly she was mounted with the work of other employees as well who were on leaves or otherwise. Now she started to feel restless and decided to talk with her Hr. She wrote an email to Hr of GIS explaining everything happening with her. It was definitely her last resort to tackle the situation around. However, no response came through…she emailed a gentle reminder and another reminder. Eventually, nothing happened, and she quit the job.

What wrong do you think happened with Rachna? Correct, she wasn’t in FOOBLE at all; she was just a vendor. There are always lesser pros of being a 3rd party payroll employee when compared with the cons. I have tried to list a few below:

Pros:

• A chance of being an on-roll employee after proving your mettle and competence to them
• You get the ambiance of a bigger office
• You get to know the company’s processes better and, at some point, can advise others or try to get through an interview after you leave your current company
• Even if the current project is over, you may get a project with some other company; hence your job stays

Cons:

• You are not treated as an employee of that specific company; you remain a vendor for them
• Getting on-roll is a rare case. Only 10% of 3rd party payroll employees become a permanent employee of the company
• Since you are not considered an employee, you don’t get weightage on your resume of that brand
• Your salary is often too less when compared to the permanent employees
• Often 3rd-party payroll employees are hired to clear the extra burden of work, hence too much work pressure
• Lots of false promises are made, but often the reality is entirely different

The question is, what should one do if such offers come? I personally would not prefer to leave a stable job and go for hoaxes of big names. However, if it’s necessary, one must go through all the terms and conditions before accepting any such offers. Ask questions if required, and take your time before you jump into the unknown. Especially about the following points:

• Job stability
• Growth opportunities
• Other benefits like insurance, medical, transport etc.
• If it’s possible to switch to a client company (many companies have a clause where you can’t join the client company directly)
• Salary CTC and breakup
• Billing cycle, date of payment
• Point of contact in both client company and actual company (if possible escalation points too)
• Notice period
• About leaves
• Working hours and project on which you are being deployed
• Information about the actual company, such as how many projects they have, how many employees there, etc. To be sure you are not leaving your current job for 20 People Company

My purpose of writing this is not to discourage anyone from 3rd party payroll systems but to request them to be cautious and careful when accepting offers from such entities.

• Why do these companies prefer 3rd party payroll?
• Why does the number of contractual or 3rd party payroll employees cross the number of permanent employees in a given company?
• Why the HR portals online doesn’t tell the reality of 3rd Party Payroll?

After little research on my subsequent write-up, I may come up with the answers; till then, take care and stay blessed.

Note: This write-up has not been written to defame any company or profession, it is the real-life experience of many individuals working on 3rd party payroll arrangements.