Community conversations: Dani shares what contract work is really like

Our communities are often left out of the decision-making conversations that impact our day-to-day lives. TechEquity works with workers and renters to center their voices in public policy solutions and industry regulations.

Storytelling has the power to shape the future. Knowing this, our TechEquity community has bravely come forward to share their lived experiences. These are their stories.

Meet Dani Bicknell

I’m from the Bay Area and have lived in San Francisco and Oakland, which has undergone a huge transformation in work due to the tech industry. I have worked for tech companies as a contract worker and a consultant for a company that secured contracts from tech companies and large capital providers (government, NGO, VC). I was also tasked with letting go of employees only to have to turn around and offer them contract positions later for the same work. Overall, my experience has been mixed. I have seen many sides of contract work—the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good has been speaking to peers, learning from others along the way, and using it to my advantage in my own business. The bad is when big market shifts (like the fall of SVB Bank) cause a ripple effect that leads good companies to do bad things. And the ugly is the disregard for workers whose livelihoods depend on these jobs.

During mass layoffs, company culture pushed the line that if you didn’t agree to whatever they offered or refused to be a contract worker under their terms, you didn’t care about the company’s mission.

Dani

The pattern I saw in my time as a consultant was that companies would hire people first as contract workers and then hire the star performers as full-time, direct employees. I saw this happen primarily between 2020 and the end of 2022, which saw a huge shift in work and wages due to the pandemic. Then, at the beginning of 2023, that changed. Companies started hiring contract workers and were encouraged to keep them in contract positions. It was positioned as a good thing for people because they would have more choice and flexibility to make their own schedule or work with other potential clients (i.e. companies that would also hire them as contract workers). 

No company seemed immune to layoffs in the Bay Area tech scene, and the company I worked for also had a lot of turnover. They, too, started laying off many people in 2022 —about 30% of the company—due to market shifts, funding gaps, and mismanagement. It was an intense time; I was forced to let go and re-hire some of them as contract workers or hire future contract workers to compensate for the employees we had to let go. During mass layoffs, company culture pushed the line that if you didn’t agree to whatever they offered or refused to be a contract worker under their terms, you didn’t care about the company’s mission (which was a “social impact” company). I saw this from a lot of other companies as well. I was transparent in stating that I believed this was highly unethical behavior from the company and that the pay rate offered to many was subpar, considering the rising cost of living, childcare, rent, and food.

I found it insidious that contract work is paid hourly or based on how many hours a project is anticipated to take—but in practice, you are always working more.

Dani

In most cases, future contract workers were asked their rate, so there was no transparency about how much they could get paid. This incentivized us to choose the contract workers who had proposed the lowest rates. The contract roles generally paid less and didn’t come with any full-time benefits (aside from the potential use of some of the company’s platforms like Slack, Gsuite, Canva, etc.). On paper, contract workers were asked to do part-time work (~20 hours a week), but this was never the case when working with us. Many contract workers complained that their role was more than 20 hours per week, and managers (like myself) were tasked with micro-managing them to see if they were really utilizing their time effectively. When it was clear that they needed more support, that was either added to the contract worker’s workload or absorbed by a full-time staff member. 

I found it insidious that contract work is paid hourly or based on how many hours a project is anticipated to take—but in practice, you are always working more. The actual hours never matched what was originally in the contract proposal. I saw this happen with someone I worked with in the Bay Area. It’s basically wage theft, but that can take a long time to prove. I have also filed a wage theft claim in the past. Even though I won, I still have not been paid (and that was in 2018); so many do not believe this is a viable option for them. It also means there’s not much time for those people to look for other opportunities. It’s a lose-lose for the company and the contract worker because companies are usually disappointed when the contract worker cannot meet the rigid time demands of the contract, and contract workers who do work extra are afraid to speak out for fear of not securing another contract with the company. 

As someone doing contract work now, I’ve been advising contract workers recently laid off from tech companies on how they can negotiate to have a little more power in their work and price themselves so they are making a living wage. I’ve started to have a more positive experience because I learned the hard way. I found a rate that considers taxes and expenses and allows me to offset the fact that I don’t receive benefits. I am in a situation where I have my own benefits (like healthcare), so I do not rely on this from an employer. However, healthcare is a right and should not be tied to employment. For many people who are forced to negotiate under tight timelines, they might not be paid enough if they don’t know how to advocate for themselves and do all the calculations to make a living wage. 

Every contract worker and their situation is unique and should not be generalized, especially regarding contract work in the tech industry. Many external and internal factors make every contract worker distinct from one another. Some contract workers are well-paid with flexible work schedules and additional benefits, while others are barely paid and have to bear all expenses on their own. For the latter, it’s incredibly difficult (if not impossible) to have any economic mobility in their future. 

I’ve participated heavily in TechEquity’s Contract Worker Disparity Project, an investigation into the inequities many contract workers like myself face. I even had the chance to speak with legislative offices about my experiences and how we can better advocate for workers. I hope that we can all share our stories to increase worker’s rights through community building and restorative policies. 

Share your story 

Stories like Dani’s paint a picture of the realities of contract work today.

Do you have a story to tell? We want to hear it. We know that coming forward can be risky, so we’ll work with you to give you whatever level of anonymity you need. 

Sharing your story can be a lever for change and have a ripple effect of impact; your story can inspire other people to step forward and share theirs.