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English translation: hiring (specialists) on short-term contract
13:02 Dec 9, 2018
English language (monolingual) [PRO] Bus/Financial - Human Resources / outsourcing
English term or phrase:body leasing
Is this a thing now? I'm no HR maven, but this is the first time I've encountered the phrase 'body leasing' in reference to IT staff outsourcing. A quick google search did not produce much in terms of it being used on websites originating in an English-speaking country. There's even a German wiki page. I'm hesitant to use it because it sounds rather demeaning, at least to me. Or have I gone overboard with the hypersensitivity? How does it sound to other native English ears? Thanks for your help!
I'd never heard that term before either and it does seem to be used by non-natives so I would use a "normal" equivalent
I hate these terms! I'd say this term is a follow on from "body shopping" (Yuk!) as that is about (mostly Indian) HR recruitment sourcing temporary/short-term contracts for IT specialists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_shopping
This seems to be a Polish company. At first glance the English seems OK but look again and it's clear this is a non-native writer as there are loads of errors
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 28 mins (2018-12-09 13:30:08 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Up to you, of course, whether you want to popularise the term!!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 30 mins (2018-12-09 13:32:34 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
or use OUTSOURCING EMPLOYEES (on short-term contracts)
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2018-12-09 14:43:04 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I remember my professor of French in Uni. many years ago used to take 6 marks off each "barbarism" any of us dared make to her beloved language. She was highly offended! But speakers of English as a second language seem to have no qualms about concocting barbarisms, and will argue with natives that they are right. Some will see this as evolution of language but there are just some terms I refuse to popularise! :-).
As explanation for what is "body-leasing" you suggest:
"a company hiring specialists on short-term contract"
you don't need to spend 20 years in HR to know what it means:
a company has a direct contract with some specialist i.e. the contract is with this "specialist" with no other parties to this contract
your explanation would make "body-leasing" a rather widespread way of recruiting in UK, which it isn't.
Then as a supporting argument, you start talking of "hiring IN" and "hiring OUT" - as a contract between two companies, not with this "specialist". That is akin to explaining why something is red by arguing that it's green.
I don't find either "body-leasing" to be an acceptable term, but it has to be replaced by a term that reflects the reality of this type of contract. As is "employee leasing", that seems to be perfectly acceptable for a UK government website, and happens to describe quite accurately this practice.
in fact, here being a "native" of legalese (rather than of the IT contracting mindset) is more what is needed.
You only need to on speaking terms with basics of law to spot the difference between "buying" and "leasing", or in this case between directly employing/contracting your workforce and "leasing" it from another employer.
Even in plain everyday speak, when someone is "hired" by company "A", it means he/she will work in/for that company "A", not that he/she will be sent by company "A" to work in/for some other company "B".
You said, "Your last comment about 'contract staff' seems to be coming from the last link you gave which is totally off."
My last comment about contract staff was near the end of my post at 6:08 p.m. Simple misunderstanding, I'd say.
RE cf.: "The abbreviation cf. (short for the Latin: confer/conferatur, both meaning 'compare')is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cf.
Of course, it doesn't fit. You yourself said, "You don't seem to have read what it says in the link? These contract staff are SELF-EMPLOYED so not the same thing at all." I've read it. That seemed like an unnecessary slight.
I didn't put it up here as proof. Interestingly enough, one of the Polish websites I found states: "IT Contracting (Body Leasing) to elastyczna forma współpracy, posiadająca z góry określone parametry (kompetencje, zakres prac, stawka)." https://www.nflo.pl/body-leasing
You and I seem to agree that it's not about self-employment, so it's odd that this website uses the word.
I didn't mention the UK link but the Irish one. There's no need to be offensive "Not sure what you're trying to say....Of course I know what cf means! The last link in your 1.05 pm. post does NOT fit with your comment just before
"I worked in IT. What you have here is an IT consulting firm that lets customers "borrow" their employees to implement a project or the like. You bill your customers for the man-hours that your employees worked on(-)site.
"...seems to be coming from the last link you gave which is totally off. Oh yes, and it's Dublin too!"
Not sure what you're trying to say. My "last" link was a gov.uk link. The .ie website was preceded by "cf." and you surely know what that means.
Gov.uk reference: "From an independent specialist working on a particular project, through to the use of a third party company providing a team to fulfil a function, contractors are part of everyday working life."
Also, here: "We apply the same high service levels to temporary and contract positions, using regional payroll companies to ensure compliance with local employment legislation." https://resourcingpeople.com/temporary-contract-staff
Body Leasing in IT (what it means in German, IMO): "We provide onsite contract engineers to clients who prefer to leverage our expertise for specific systems." https://www.plannet21.co.uk/index.php/contract-staff
"Of course other countries, Poland in particular it seems, judging by the proliferance of websites, may have adapted it to suit their own meanings." - Not disagreeing. However, the asker said nothing about Poland in her question and later clarified that "Polish websites were just a part of my research." If there are differences in meaning between German and Polish usage, you can't say which one is correct.
"However, the original question asked here was aimed at native speakers..." - Not disagreeing either. Both you and B D Finch had already answered that part. We've moved way past that, though (see "Any thoughts?" below).
Moreover, the fact that Body Leasing was coined by non-natives should tell you all you need to know--that's why I posted something in the first place. The American half of this household will probably never get used to seeing the Black Music label in electronics stores. A lot of Germans don't care and, AFAIK, that's also true for anyone living to the east of Germany.
Your last comment about "contract staff" seems to be coming from the last link you gave which is totally off. Oh yes, and it's Dublin too! Fancy that! You don't seem to have read what it says in the link? These contract staff are SELF-EMPLOYED so not the same thing at all. I shared a house in Dublin with just such a person for several years and I remember he made a fortune at the time of the millenium because of the fear of the bug. He could name his price until the crash happened. He used to half-jokingly say he wouldn't get out of bed for less than €800 a day (this was in the noughties) when I was working as a teacher for around €45 an hour. I'm still in touch with him and he still does IT contract work sometimes though most of the time he runs a luxury boutique hotel (he inherited) with his wife these days...
@ Björn I don't get why you think that the term should remain the same as it was when coined (as you seem to think it was) in Germany? Of course other countries, Poland in particular it seems, judging by the proliferance of websites, may have adapted it to suit their own meanings. However, the original question asked here was aimed at native speakers: "How does it sound to other native English ears?" and the fact remains that no native who has got involved here likes it or would use it.
"...but I often find it helpful to figure out what the intended meaning is from these sites..."
Yes, of course, there's nothing wrong with that. The issue is that you don't know whether the Polish business fully understood what Germans intended to convey with the word when they coined it. It may be a linguistic spillover, if you will. I also had a look at those websites, but I didn't find them helpful. I will freely admit that there are more Polish websites containing those words than I thought; however, this has something to do with the fact that even if the rest is written in Polish, the term is in English (is that Penglish then?).
Employee leasing/leased employee are terms that exist in American English; in the UK, "contract staff" may be good enough: https://www.cpni.gov.uk/contract-staff
The German wiki and Polish websites were just a part of my research, the Polish websites mainly because they seemed to pop up most when I googled the expression. And yes, I understand none of it is native English, but I often find it helpful to figure out what the intended meaning is from these sites; it can change how I search for the proper translation/expression and that can save me time. Luckily, it was only used a few times in the document.
And yes, I was off the mark with augmentation, guess I was too eager to find just the thing!
Anytime. Though maybe you need to provide a bit more context; I don't know how we suddenly got from "German wiki page" to Polish websites. It's a bit like playing the Telephone Game--non-natives reinterpreting a word most likely invented by other non-natives.
"...‘body leasing’ refers to one or more individuals added temporarily to an existing team in times of need..." I said it's one type of Arbeitnehmerüberlassung; else, it may simply be a contract employee: https://work.chron.com/contract-employee-13911.html
I'll have to quote some German here, sorry: "Zum Kerngeschäft der beratenden Unternehmen in der IT-Branche gehört es, qualifizierte Mitarbeiter auch langfristig in konkreten IT-Projekten bei ihren Kunden einzusetzen und gegenüber dem Kunden nach Aufwand (Manntagen bzw. Personentagen) abzurechnen." https://www.troeber.de/news/it-recht/body-leasing-im-beratun...
I worked in IT. What you have here is an IT consulting firm that lets customers "borrow" their employees to implement a project or the like. You bill your customers for the man-hours that your employees worked on(-)site.
You may need to explain what this entails and then just use a term. I think the words "augmented", "dispatched", "leased", "detached" are incorrect. (LOL!) "employee" is also dangerous word to use here as it can give a totally wrong impression. And "worker" is a completely wrong word to use for an IT expert. "Staff" or just "IT specialist(s) will work much better, especially if it a recruitment company, acting as a provider company, who is doing the "hiring out" or "outsourcing" that this "body leasing" (YUCK) refers to.
@ Asker No, this is not simply staff augmentation. It is to do with outsourcing. I think the links I provided give good examples as to how it works. (not necessarily the same as in Germany either). As I said earlier, the English isn't great, but you get the idea and the benefits to the companies (that the specialists are being outsourced to, either as individuals or as teams) as the "provider" companies take care of wages/taxes etc. "...Provider comapnies (providing outsourcing services) have in their resources IT experts from different areas.
The client does not bear the costs for:
maintaining a full-time employee, employee training, HR, administration and accounting departments hardware investments, licenses and office space Keep in mind that the body leasing allows consultants engagement only for short periods – sometimes client needs such support for a few hours every few days. In those situations, no costs associated with full-time employment is a big adventage..."
After reading on a Polish website their description of the difference between IT outsourcing and body leasing, I did some more digging and I may have found the answer: [IT] staff augmentation. Apparently, the thinking is that *standard* IT outsourcing typically refers to a team working on a specific project and ‘body leasing’ refers to one or more individuals added temporarily to an existing team in times of need. Staff augmentation looks legit to me. Any thoughts?
I had the nagging feeling that it has nothing to do with one company directly hiring/contracting someone for a limited period, and you confirmed it.
BTW even in England some managers would refer to workers as "bodies" - usually in jobs not requiring any particular specialisation and also when they are only bothered with filling numbers (shows also their attitude to the business they are running ...) OTOH you wouldn't find anyone talking of "bodies" when they need IT specialists.
You "lease" your employee(s) to another company, where they will work on a project. This does not include freelancers, IMO. It's related to Arbeitnehmerüberlassung.
This uk.gov document may be of some help: "Employee leasing, a concept which does not exist in Anglo-Saxon countries, occurs when one employer hires out an employee to another employer on a temporary basis. Since the enactment of the Employee Leasing Law in 1972, leasing has become a popular method of reducing labour costs in Germany." https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
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Answers
27 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
hiring (specialists) on short-term contract
Explanation: or hire of IT specialists...
I'd never heard that term before either and it does seem to be used by non-natives so I would use a "normal" equivalent
I hate these terms! I'd say this term is a follow on from "body shopping" (Yuk!) as that is about (mostly Indian) HR recruitment sourcing temporary/short-term contracts for IT specialists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_shopping
This seems to be a Polish company. At first glance the English seems OK but look again and it's clear this is a non-native writer as there are loads of errors
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 28 mins (2018-12-09 13:30:08 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Up to you, of course, whether you want to popularise the term!!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 30 mins (2018-12-09 13:32:34 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
or use OUTSOURCING EMPLOYEES (on short-term contracts)
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2018-12-09 14:43:04 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I remember my professor of French in Uni. many years ago used to take 6 marks off each "barbarism" any of us dared make to her beloved language. She was highly offended! But speakers of English as a second language seem to have no qualms about concocting barbarisms, and will argue with natives that they are right. Some will see this as evolution of language but there are just some terms I refuse to popularise! :-).
Yvonne Gallagher Ireland Local time: 21:34 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 12
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Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks, Yvonne. That's the thing, when the first links on the list aren't in native English it makes me question the validity of the term. I don't think I want to have anything to do with popularising this one :)