Deloitte Pilots Program to Keep Fleeing Pros Connected
With workforce demographics shifting and employee preferences changing, Deloitte has launched a program to give employees who opt out of the workforce a way to stay connected to the firm and keep their skills and networks fresh.
The pilot program, called Personal Pursuits, provides participants with a host of resources to keep them connected, technically proficient, and professionally accredited, including training, mentoring, career coaching, networking events, and ad hoc work assignments.
Of the 28 participants, 27 are women and about one-fourth are consultants, according to Cathy Benko, National Managing Director for the Retention and Advancement of Women. The program is targeted at pros who are taking a one- to five-year hiatus.
"More and more professionals, especially women, are sequencing out of the workforce for some period of time. The majority of these, although certainly not all, are mothers who have made the decision to stay home while their children are young," Benko says.
The percentage of new mothers who work fell to 55 percent in 2000, from 59 percent in 1998 — and it hasn't risen since, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"These workers overwhelmingly plan on returning to the workforce. Studies show, however, that sequencing back into the workforce is turning out to be much more difficult than anticipated. Those enrolled in our Personal Pursuits pilot are talented, well-skilled workers whom we've invested in — and they in us," Benko says. "When this talent is ready to come back into the workforce, we want it to be with us. So, we are making the separation 'sticky.'"
The firm estimates that the cost of replacing an employee who leaves is at least two times salary. Personal Pursuits costs Deloitte about $2,500 per year per participant.
Take Karin Cochran, a former Deloitte healthcare consultant and one of the program participants. After the birth of her first child two years ago, she was working full-time with a nanny at home and feeling exhausted. Unbeknownst to her superiors, she was pregnant with her second child and knew that she was not ready to be staffed on an out-of-town project.
"Clearly I was distracted and wasn't ready to travel," says Cochran, who was about six months to a year from being promoted to senior manager when her counselor, a senior partner, mentioned the program. "So I was thinking to take a break now, before they either make me travel or I start to do poor work."
Cochran adds that she strongly considered two other options — working part-time and working from home — but realized that she just wanted to be home with her young children.
Deloitte plans on expanding the program in early to mid-2006. In the meantime, Benko says, the firm is contemplating the launch of a second pilot.
"I think that the benefit is that because I'm in this program, I feel loyal and they feel loyal to me," says Cochran. "My colleague took me to lunch and I said, 'Yeah, I'm still in this pilot program with Deloitte.' I don't feel like an ex-employee. I feel like I'm on a break."
Flying Solo? Here's How to Prove It
Over the past several years, the IRS has clamped down on the requirements for companies paying people as individual contractors or consultants. As a consultant, companies will pay you without deducting any taxes and report what they paid you on a 1099 form at the end of the year. Since this makes you responsible for submitting your own taxes directly to the IRS, the IRS wants to make sure that it gets its money. They've implemented strict requirements for being classified as a consultant. Creating a corporation for your business automatically exempts you from proving that you are an independent consultant, according to the nonprofit corporation Women in Consulting.
But for those who choose not to incorporate, here are Women in Consulting's five tips on proving that you are an independent consultant:
• Advertise your services. Most of the IRS's criteria center on demonstrating that you are a business providing your services to the general public, by having business cards, a
Web site, or other collateral that advertises your services. Being listed in a member directory of a professional organization also shows that you provide your services to the general public.
• Have a dedicated office. The IRS focuses very closely on consultants working from client sites. Make sure that you have a dedicated office (even if it is in your home), where you've invested in your own equipment, from which you do most of your work. This doesn't prohibit you from working at a client site, but don't let an office at a client site be your primary workplace. Stipulate in your contracts that you work from your office and will be on site as needed.
• Charge project fees or make payments contingent on deliverables. You need to demonstrate that you are providing specific expertise and that the company is not providing you day-to-day direction or paying you hourly or a salary like an employee.
• Maintain a portfolio of clients. Having more than one client at a time and not letting any one client be more than 50 percent of your annual revenue further proves that you are a consulting business and not an employee disguised as a contractor.
• Get your paperwork in order. Most larger companies will have you go through an evaluation by their purchasing or HR department before a contract is signed and a purchase order issued for work. The evaluation is commonly known as the "20 questions" list for classifying you as a consultant vs. an employee. You'll need to complete their questionnaire and then provide copies of a business license, your business card, a printout of your Web site home page, or copies of your collateral to prove that you are an independent business. You may also have to provide proof of liability insurance and name the company on the policy.
Food for Thought
At Proximare, Offshoring Trumps e-Procurement
Put Nailesh A. Bhatt in the camp of consultants who believe that offshoring or outsourcing workers to India is making American companies not only more cost effective, but also innovative, at least in the pharmaceutical industry. As the managing director of Proximare, Inc., Bhatt advises pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies concerning their licensing, outsourcing, and offshoring strategies. When he first launched Proximare four years ago, the firm focused on e-procurement. This quickly shifted toward outsourcing and offshoring strategy and implementation, which now make up half of the firm's revenues. The rest comes from licensing, sales, marketing, and distribution.
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