Client Wants to Charge for Use of Equipment!

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- AXIONET -dot- COM>]

Joe Sokohl <jsokohl -at- CAMPBELLSOFT -dot- COM> wrote:

>the bean counters have presented her with a hard-ball attitude >(vis a vis contract): They want to charge her for rental of >their equipment, space, telephone, software, etc. Meanwhile, >they are requiring that she use their equipment (she can't use >her own) and that she work on site (can't telecommute).

Your friend is in an ugly situation. In some ways, it seems a situation
to get out of quickly. However, she might want to see what happens with
negotiation first.

To start with, she should make a list of the bean-counter's demands, and
decide what she can accept and what she can't. Personally, the only
things that I'd find acceptable in the list that she gave is being
on-site and using the client's equipment, but she'll have to make up her
own mind.

Then, she should develop a counter-offer. What does she want? It would
help if she also made clear how the bean-counters' demands affect her:
for example, if she is going to be charged rent, then she should say
that she will have to raise her rates. In fact, maybe she should--at
least initially--raise her rates so that the rent is more than covered.

Maybe she won't get very much that's in her counter-offer, but it could
encourage the bean-counters to modify their demands. So, another thing
she should do is settle in her own mind the minimal terms that are
acceptable to her.

It would also help if she could enlist the people in the company who
wanted her services. It may be that doing so will help them in their own
internal struggle against the bean-counters--or maybe they're just
decent people and so embarrassed by the entire situation that they want
to change it.


She should also remember:

a.) the demands may not be final. However, if she simply caves in to
them, then they'll set the terms of her employment.

b.) don't give too much away in negotiations. She should present her
postion, not retreat from it too quickly, and not accept anything less
than the minimum she's prepared to endure.

c.) a few carefully planned bluffs can help. Even if she has no other
contracts lined-up, there's nothing wrong with saying that writers are
in demand locally (if they are), or that she's an experienced worker,
and can always find work elsewhere.

d.) throughout negotiations, keep a calm and business-like facade. This
facade is especially important if she's inwardly terrified. To some
negotiators, signs of nervousness are like blood in the water to a
shark, so it's important not to give them an opening.

e.) despite appearances, she's not coming from a totally weak position.
Obviously, the company values her work. So, nothing in her counter-offer
or her appearance should suggest that she's a supplicant. If she acts as
if she's inferior, she's giving another opening to the bean-counters.

None of these things are easy to do, of course. But sometimes showing a
willingness to fight is all you need.

Good luck to your friend--and you will tell the list what happened, I
hope.
--
Bruce Byfield (bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com)
Technical Writer / Job Bank Team, STC Canada West Coast Chapter
h: (604) 421-7189

"Ilkey D'Amour,
Tha' hill where tha' Yorkshiremen go,
Vous avez been there,
Without chapeau."
-Les Barker

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