Illegal or just immoral work practises (rant content)

so i work at a large architectural firm and our director and layout designer are sub contracting out work to a 2 man band type company.
a quick google reveals the layout designer’s a director of said small 2 man band company. so he is being paid from here to work, then is giving his company work that he should be doing (he works 11 months of the year and has a month of to go see his family in NZ) but because he has a month of cant fit into his work.

my question is, can you send yourself work at his other company or is this breaking some rule?

PS yes i am angry/jealous that he has been able to negotiate a well paid role where he gets a month extra holiday per year…needless to say team moral is poor but the director doesnt give a monkeys

PPS anyone have an architectural technician vacancy in glos + 50 mile area!

i know lucky to have a job…blah blah blah

As long as his involvement is known to the other directors then I doubt there’s anything at all illegal (or immoral if a market rate is being paid) in what he’s doing.

disapointed. (i know thats deffo spelt wrong!)

The purchasing manager at my old place used to buy components from his son’s business after laying a smokescreen that the usual suppliers were out of stock or more expensive.

Got done for fraud.

he works 11 months of the year and has a month of to go see his family in NZ) but because he has a month of cant fit into his work.

Don’t most people get about a months worth of holidays a year anyway?
Maybe you need to be concentrating on working your way up the food chain to be in the directors box not the technician’s cubicle rather than seething about the fact that some else has already dome that

this is extra to his holidays…exluding bank holidays we all had 17 days, he had 32

i appreciate your sentiment BBSB but i have been told categorically that since i started the latest (out of 3 techs) that the other 2 have priority to advance before me. I was senior before this but got made redundant so had to take what i could at the time.

as for the original point the guy works at least 10 hours less a week than everyone else then gets an extra month off and i got told to improve my time off due to sickness (i had pneumonia!)

rant over = big hugs all round, Cant do anything about it so just MTFU!

He who dares wins, I suppose.

He’s possibly in breach of his director’s duties to both organisations, unless notified to the respective boards and formally approved. Also, depending on the value, these could be substantial property transactions, which also require approval (usually shareholder, depending on the respective companies’ articles).

So, technically, he may have broken some rules. These are rarely enforced.

Oh, and this isn’t a moral issue – it’s one of ethics..!

Some (many) employers are using the current economic downturn to treat many of their staff like crap imo, this downturn won’t last, may take a few years but sooner or later things will pick up and those who take the pee out of their employees will be left without a workforce and with any luck a business.

cheers all – your all tops

Approx ten years ago my (now very modest) IT company was supplying multimillion pound contracts to a very large national company. Their head of IT hinted to me that he wanted a kickback for placing such large orders with me. I foolishly declined and we lost the contract and with it I had to get rid of five staff.

I later lost another very large contract with another national due to the same person.

Wait, you only have 17 days holiday?

Anyway, if everyone knows and he’s negotiated the contract like that it’s all fair. I work with a bloke who has traded some salary for an agreement that in 2 years he can work full time from home in a different country. I sort of wish I’d thought of that but I’m paid more so it all balances.

This is what I do. Single man though. I work freelance through my own Ltd company.

I charge per hour and your company takes the big fee and liability. I’m happy to do liability but I won’t be pro-active. You can’t have it both ways.

Plusses and minuses. Plus side, I’m going out for a bike ride. Minus side, when I work I have to work. That means being first in and last out at night.