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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

Why would I ever accept a job at a company who treated the first 3 months of my employment as an extended interview, after which I could be released without penalty?

When a software accepts a full-time position, they are taking a mammoth pay cut from what they could make 1099 contracting. They do that because the full-time position comes with a commitment to continued employment, so even though they could be making 2x-3x more per day consulting, they don't have to hustle to keep their utilization up.

The "3 month probation" thing is essentially a temp-to-perm contacting position. Do you pay people 2x-3x more during that period?

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> The "3 month probation" thing is essentially a temp-to-perm contacting position. Do you pay people 2x-3x more during that period?

What about paying people the 2x-3x more in the event you decide not to keep the hire? Then the mechanism becomes a 3-month option to make the job either full time or a fairly compensated contract.

That would be much more fair.

> What about paying people the 2x-3x more in the event you decide not to keep the hire?

This could be pretty easily abused, since it doesn't sound hard to get through the door if they are assuming you're qualified technically. So all you have to do is know just enough to fake it a little bit, then coast for as long as you can to get a big payout at the end.

If you're running easy-in, fast-fire, then you should pay 2x-3x continuously during the trial period, just like you would to a freelance consultant doing the same work.

But if you're running a real hiring process with accuracy as a goal, as you probably should be, then the 2x-3x payout at the end of the trial program at least fixes some of the incentive problems, and, if you're running that program in good faith, you're doing it because you expect most people you extend offers to will pan out --- so you'll rarely pay that bonus.

Agree completely. And I wouldn't leave my currently solid job, as much as I might dislike it, for a 3 month contract-to-hire position. That's insanity.

I tried to design a similar system that moved the yearly bonus for the first year into a non-contingent bonus at the 6 month period. So regardless of whether you left, we fired you, or you stayed, you got your bonus at the 6 month timeframe.

My employers at the time were not ok with that...

What I find interesting is that so many tech companies (maybe not just tech) seem to approach employing people from a negative standpoint. Everything is aimed at "weeding people out"...it's almost like the default assumption is that candidates won't be suitable for a position.

> they are taking a mammoth pay cut from what they could make 1099 contracting. They do that because the full-time position comes with a commitment to continued employment,

Sounds like it's a convert attempt at cutting down on contracting rates.

3 or 6 month probation is an absolute standard in Germany. No, you're not paid 3x during this period.

Perhaps a severance package?

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