Benefits - Philosophy and History

The original intent of most technical contractors was to maximize income which could then be used to purchase desired benefits. With full knowledge that the more benefits a company provides, the less money they can give in salary, the modern contract industry was born from this idea that we can provide our own benefits -- just give us the money.

At that point in time, typical contractors would receive nearly double the income of a directly employed individual, which would far exceed the costs of any benefits privately purchased. Unfortunately, so many people saw the money being made by contractors, that they jumped in and slowly watered down the benefits versus rate creed. This, in turn, has resulted in dramatic drops in the typical amounts made by contractors versus directs from 100% to 30% or 40%.

Now it is almost standard practice for contract shops to offer benefits on par with their client companies. It's important to realize that your rate is reduced to cover the expense of the benefits. At Synesis, we feel that benefits are for direct employees. If you're more interested in benefits than pure dollars, then you should be a direct.

Synesis Benefits

Direct Deposit

Our work week ends on Friday, and payroll is done every other week. Payroll is processed on the Monday following the closing Friday and is direct deposited into your account on Wednesday -- barring abnormal weekends containing holidays.

401(k)

A 401(k) program is one benefit that can be provided to our contractors without excessive costs to the company which would require increased markups over your pay rate. There are no matching funds for obvious reasons -- matching funds would come from a higher markup, which effectively would be "taking" it from your pay rate.

Our 401(k) administrator is Fidelity Investments. There are currently six mutual funds to choose from:

1. Equity Income Fund
2. Equity Growth Fund
3. Intermediate Bond Fund
4. Balanced Fund
5. Growth Opportunities Fund
6. Overseas Fund

When you begin contract work for Synesis, you are immediately eligible to contribute to our 401(k) plan subject only to the necessary time for setting up the account. New sign ups for the 401(k) plan are done once per month.