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The original was posted on /r/antiwork by /u/Confused_SadSamurai on 2024-04-10 02:26:30.

I work for the government in my country, so I have a better work-life balance but lower pay than the private sector. One thing that boggles my mind is how many consultants we hire for even the smallest tasks with mediocre results. We hired a tech consultant for two jobs and paid him triple my hourly salary. I ended up spending more hours fixing the guy’s stuff than if I had done the whole thing myself. I spoke with my supervisor about it, and he said it’s too time-consuming to change the consultant, given the time it takes for HR to approve one.

However, I recently lost my mind during the latest project. My supervisor asked me to do the background work and give him the estimated hours and how long it would take to code a few features. I had done the exact project at my previous place and very generously told him about 30 hours. The boss said great and contacted the consultants. He came back saying it would take him more than 800 hours and requested around $75,000 for the whole thing. My boss actually considered saying yes, even though I kept telling him to pay me overtime for 30 hours ($1,800 instead), but HR said absolutely not. When I ranted to my friends from the industry, they said it’s pretty common.

I understand hiring consultants for areas the company has no experts in, but workplaces would rather lose money than pay their own workers well. My boss kept telling me to get out and be a contractor instead for better pay, but I thought, what’s the point of hiring employees then?!