Cureless

I was a bit surprised knowing my brother got employed in his new (and first) job on a contractual basis. Lately, I’ve also been hearing news about schools hiring contractual teachers to top up their work force for the incoming school year. Coming from the IT industry, I thought the “contractual” thing is only prevalent in the business. (Or perhaps I forgot that I’ve worked with contractual employees in my government service.)

With the current state of the booming IT business in our country, choosing to become a contractual employee always has its perks. One thing, you won’t be obliged by your company to pay the 20%-30% Withholding Tax to our government. Nor you can choose not to become a member of the government services such as SSS, HDMF, PhilHealth, etc. Becoming a contractual employee is very much like choosing to freelance. You become the master of everything you earn. All is up to you if you want to avail of your own housing and pension plans, medical insurance and other life-securing services. With the absence of external factors eating up your pay, a contractor generally receives larger pay than a regular employee.

What’s lacking in one is present in another. In most cases, this is a fact with contractual and regular employment.

Yes, you do receive some $ less than those who work on a contractual basis. But being a regular employee also has its perks. You receive 13th month bonus at the end of the year (tax-free), your health and medical insurance are paid by the company, you regularly contribute to our government agencies and your company handles your tax remittances. And without trying to sound like a shot TV advertisement, you also get to have paid vacation and sick leaves. How’s that?

I myself belong to the latter group. When I jumped into the corporate world, I wasn’t very much aware of choices such as these. But I realized later on that given a chance to become a contractor, I’d still opt to become a regular employee. I’m not much of a high risk taker. It’s the same as my opinion with taking a freelance job. Borrowing Ms. Toral’s comment in one of my posts, it takes some level of confidence to decide to break free from the mid-tier (company) that manages us.

On a related note, if you’re one of those who doesn’t have medical insurance yet, better get some information, advice and Health Insurance Quotes from ehealthhelp.com. Know more about a plan can work for you and learn the best way to use your health care coverage.