Dual Allegiance When Consulting
Dual Allegiance? To both the Freemen, and Duke Leto? It worked on Dune. And is a reality for a consultant in today’s modern world.
Before writing this I searched and searched for quotes about dual allegiance and found nothing. Lots about fidelity, and loyalty — both ways. Oscar Wilde seems quite abhorred at allegiance. But nothing on dual allegiance.
Over the years I have talked to countless account reps and HR people and it struck me that the definition of what an “employee” really is becomes very gray, and once onsite, whom you owe allegiance to is rife with conflict of interest.
Of course, your first interest should be yourself. Your health, your family, your sanity, your career without which there is no worker bee. Although even those choices can conflict (for instance, staying bed in the morning conflicts with all other parties’ interested).
But let’s say you are working with an agency and you get onsite with a client. Who are you supposed to really be loyal to? The bottom line here is very gray. The agency is issuing your check, but the client is giving them the money for that check. And you are in the thick of things at the clients; the agency probably knows far less than you about how to stay on contract there. Then, there’s the bottom line technology expertise; most agencies are keyword-driven and know absolutely zilch about tech or actual work conditions while the client is really in charge of your happiness and opportunity (and of course you too are responsible).
For instance, a scenario I have been faced with time and again has been overtime. Usually its a great thing, in doses. But lets say the overtime requirements bleed on for a year burning you out. Most agencies don’t even have a tiny clue as what this means; they just see the big checks coming and want them to keep coming. Also, sometimes the client doesn’t want the overtime but the employee and agency does and may spin something in a sales manner to get more hours etc. These kind of situations are bad.
So how do we all mitigate this dilemma, which is very ethical in nature?
I usually look at it like this: the client is my real customer/employer, and the agency is my partner from whom I have purchased a contract for part of the billing rate. Most agencies don’t pay bench time and definitely do not supervise onsite projects, so its impossible to see them as anything more than some sort of hr/check issuance service. Also, most agencies will not step in to protect a consultant because that may jeopardize their big picture status — of having other consultants at that client site.
Also, being a developer, conversations with both parties is quite different. Agencies rarely have many of the real specs or the expertise to figure out what they are selling to (thus the success of “turn and burn” recruiters). Your conversations with them will be sales driven, and they will be listening to your words not just to evaluate you as a wholesale product but also for names of your contacts or old gigs you worked to see if there’s opportunity outside of your relationship with them. With the client, conversations are about solutions for their business almost exclusively. Most of your contacts and colleagues and new friends will come from the site. Your compatriots in your profession will come from the site. And if you do a great job, then they will ask you to come back and pay — whereas the agency will have to wait for another placement before it pays.
The political nature of this can’t be understated, especially if you are trying to stand your ground on what you like to do, your rates, etc.
So you do indeed have dual allegiance during a gig. Well, a triple allegiance. Yourself, the agency, and the client. Experience will teach you your comfort level. Play it well.