Top 100

Forbes magazine does a list every year of the top 100 places to work. The list is very competitive, companies vie for a position on the list so they can recruit and retain the top talent in their desired fields. In these tough economic times and with the upswing of people trying out more flexible work arrangements since they’ve been laid off I’m proposing a new list.

The Top 100 Places NOT to Work in America!

This doesn’t mean these are bad companies to work for instead it means these are great companies to contract or freelance with. Many companies try the whole contractor thing but they just can’t measure up when it comes to doing it right. Companies want to be the parent and disciplinarian, they want everyone to show up for work each morning and put in a full and productive day. Most companies have not yet made it to an enlightened stage of development whereby they contract someone to execute a specific role on a project and then let them do it. America’s corporate environment is one of managing much but not actually WORKING.

Imagine that you have project management expertise. You are great at working with vendors, you can negotiate deals, meet deadlines, come in under budget and keep all the key players happy. You work best on your own delegating to appropriate team members and checking in once a week or so. In most cases corporations want your talents but they don’t want to relinquish their control over you. If they did that then perhaps all those middle managers would have to do WORK.

What I’m proposing is researching the top companies that can do this. They seek out experts to perform functions on a contract basis and let them do their jobs. Certainly there needs to be reporting and accountability throughout the project, it wouldn’t be a success if the project itself tanked in the end.

What would be required to make it into the Top 100 Best Companies NOT to Work for? Certainly fair pay would be high on the list since the person is basically self-employed and would need to provide their own benefits as well as paying themselves for days off. The proposed fee structure should also take into consideration that the contractor should use their own office space and office supplies as well.

The hiring company should understand that the contractor works for themselves, they are self-employed and as such shouldn’t be expected to be available Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30AM and 5PM. After all, a successful contractor has other customers as well and needs to provide services to them so if your contractor doesn’t answer your e-mail immediately it doesn’t mean they aren’t working, it just may mean they aren’t working for YOU at that moment.

Here’s another item that would make a company good for contractors, if you offer your contractor a permanent job and they turn you down DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY. It’s very likely your contractor prefers working for himself instead of a big corporation. Don’t take for granted that everyone is bucking for their very own cubicle. When you DO get turned down, hire the person back on another project, if you thought their work was good enough to make them permanent then they’re certainly still good enough to contract with again…and again…and again.

If the Top 100 Best Not to Work companies got their names AND their contracting techniques out there in the public view it may actually help other companies with more traditional mindsets to open up and change their policies to embrace changing times a bit more. It may not really be the best idea to try to recruit and RETAIN the best talent, sometimes new blood can bring positive changes to a project or department.

Let’s shake things up a bit. I bet there would be plenty of work to go around and people would really need to WORK and not just “manage” others to do the work. Contractors would actually eliminate the need for so many managers and make individuals more accountable for the job they do. Let’s face it if you work for yourself and you need to keep generating work you will work hard to get the job done. In a corporate environment shit just trickles downhill without much work getting done but with individual accountability more work, less shit.

Forbes or Entrepreneur magazine, I’m putting the proposal out there and I’m willing to do the work on getting the word out about the 100 Best Places NOT to Work in the US!