TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Arlen provided us with his definition of outsourcing:
<snip>
> Outsourcing means a company is taking a function that has to this point been
> performed within the company and is hiring someone from outside to do it,
> instead. Sometimes it can mean what happened to your departments; often it
means
> hiring an already existing firm to do the work, instead. Sometimes, as in your
> case, the employees will be hired back as contractors, other times they will
be
> hired by the firm which is taking over the function, and still other times
they
> are simply let go.
<snip>
I've seen this layoff-syndrome before (being laid off, and then hired
back as a contractor for maybe the same $$ but less bene's). At any
rate, a company that is looking to downsize or reduce overhead may do
this, as the $$ paid to the contractor comes from a different budget
than do salaries. This allows a company to show less $$ being spent
in overhead, thereby reducing the cost-of-sales (is that right?). At
any rate, I've worked for three companies who did this -- laid me
off and then offered to hire me back. Only one company did I
actually work for again, but I was a real brat and upped my asking
price by lotsa dollars (I showed them!! <grin) to cover the loss of
benefits. Funny thing... they paid even more money for me and didn't
blink an eye!