Consulting for Intertech: Comparing Contractor, Hourly, & Full-Time Staff
At Intertech, we provide expert software consulting for a wide variety of clients. As a result, we’re constantly looking to hire top talent with expertise in various technologies. Typically, we hire developers either as independent contractors, hourly staff, or salaried employees. Whereas contractors have more flexibility, our full-time staff has more consistency and benefits. Hourly employees fall somewhere in the middle.
Neither approach is better than the other. Instead, it’s a matter of which approach best fits the developer’s lifestyle and goals. In this post, we’ll take a look at the differences and similarities between working contract vs hourly vs full-time for Intertech.
Contractor, Hourly, or Full-Time
Our staff falls into three general categories:
- Independent contractor — These are consultants who have their own small business or sole proprietorship. We pay them on a per-contract basis for the time they work.
- Hourly employee — These consultants are employees of Intertech, but they may not necessarily work a full 40 hours per week, or if they work over 40 hours they’re paid overtime. We pay them a regular paycheck, but the number of hours worked may change over time.
- Full-time employee — These consultants work for Intertech 40 hours/week, every week. They receive a salary, benefits, and vacation days like other salaried employees.
Each of these employment structures comes with its own benefits and drawbacks. Based on a developer’s lifestyle, priorities, and inclinations, one of these structures might work better than another.
When it comes to doing the work, we treat these employment types equally. When a client needs help, it doesn’t matter if the consultant for Intertech is a contractor or employee, we’ll send the best person for the job.
Pay & Tax Structure
The first major difference between these positions is the way payment and taxes are structured.
For an independent contractor, all responsibility for paying state and federal taxes lies with the contractor. As such, Intertech withholds nothing from the contractor’s pay, and Intertech mails a form 1099 to the contractor come tax time detailing all the payments made during the year. Furthermore, the burden of tracking hours and invoicing Intertech for those hours lies with the contractor. In addition, contractors have other administrative overhead activities and costs for their businesses. As a result, contractors may earn a higher hourly rate, but a significant percentage of that rate covers taxes and administrative costs.
For hourly employees, the pay and tax structure are more straightforward. Hourly consultants get paid for every hour they work, and Intertech withholds state and federal taxes from the paycheck automatically.
The same goes for full-time salaried employees. However, their pay is calculated based on the yearly salary, not the hours they work.
Insurance & Retirement
One major difference between full-time and part-time or contract employment is the structure of the relationship between Intertech and the consultant. Our full-time consultants are salaried employees of Intertech. Therefore, they receive benefits like insurance, retirement accounts, and paid vacation.
On the other hand, independent contractors and hourly employees are responsible for their own healthcare and retirement savings. They get paid for the time they bill, regardless if they already worked 40 hours that week, but they also have to provide their own benefits. This independence suits the lifestyle of some of our consultants, while others prefer the security of full-time employment.
Flexibility
Being a contractor instead of an employee is best for entrepreneurial individuals who want to run their own business. This introduces stress and complexity sometimes, but it also grants flexibility and control over the contracts you’ll take on.
While some of our contractors work exclusively with Intertech, others take on additional clients in between or alongside their Intertech work. Managing multiple contracts can work well for some consultants, but it comes with risk. For others, being an employee of Intertech (full-time or hourly) helps them mitigate that business risk.
Making the Right Choice for You
Chances are, as you were reading one of these options sounded more appealing to you. For some, working as an employee with benefits and consistency is a no-brainer. For others, the independence and flexibility of being a contractor fits their lifestyle better. The good news is Intertech has experience working with and hiring both types of consultants.
If consulting sounds like something you’d be interested in, whether contract or employee, find out how you can work for Intertech !
Originally published at https://www.intertech.com on September 2, 2019.
