Why do HR departments insist on issuing different colored badges to contingent contract labor and vendors on long term contracts? It's clearly tribal. It clearly marks the individual as somehow less worthy. Why? The assumption is that temporary staff are less trustworthy. Hmmm. This feels that it belongs in medieval Japan's early Edo period where Samurai without a master - ronin - were treated with suspicion.

The ronin's loyalty was to himself as he had no warlord. So to is the geek for hire contract laborer - loyal to him or herself and his or her career development. They will ply their trade wherever makes the most economic sense. But does anyone really think that a full time employee is any more loyal to their employer than to their own career and its development? In the 21st Century? Really? In medieval Japan loyalty to a group and its master were built into the religion as a core Confucian value. We still see that today in modern Japan with employees still very loyal to their employers and in return they expect a lifetime of employment. But in America? Really?

When I worked at IBM's PC Company in the mid-1990's contractors like me had a yellow stripe on their badges. We also suffered the indignity of a temporary email address. Mine if I recall correctly was CONTN664@uk.ibm.com. Furthermore, as I was an untrustworthy ronin, I was restricted under IBM's strict waterfall process (a relic of the Fred Brooks' days - evidently no one at IBM had bothered to read Fred's retraction) to performing only coding and testing tasks, analysis and design were reserved only for full time employees. Hence, I had to code designs given to me by a full timer - an IBMer.

My current employer, Microsoft too makes temporary staff wear a variety of different colored badges, segregating them in a strict caste system. And they get special aliases too. It just doesn't make sense to me. I can see no reason why a temporary knowledge worker should be treated as untrustworthy. They have a loyalty to their career and their development relies on them carrying good references and respect from one job to another. The temporary staff has just as much incentive or perhaps more, to do a good job than a full time employee.

So might their be other reasons why HR departments the world over persist in this behavior? After all it's not just IBM and Microsoft that are doing this! Well, maybe! Temporary staff are often more highly paid but do not receive benefits such as health care. Sometimes there is resentment at the higher pay rate. At IBM contractors were expected to pick up the bill if the team went out drinking together in the evening. This wasn't too much of a burden if the group had several contractors who could share the cost. I've also seen managers become irrational when dealing with temporary staff who are doing a good job. They cannot get away from the fact that the temporary worker makes more money than them. On several occasions I have seen managers eliminate a high performing temporary worker by not renewing their contract, only to suffer a delay in a schedule or an outright project failure after the talent has gone. And all this to make themselves feel better. As a line manager, I had several temporary staff making ridiculous money during the boom years of telecom. But I simply had to put it out of my mind. They were doing a job that I couldn't easily backfill. Their pay rate was determined by the market. Meanwhile, I got my projects delivered on time.

So perhaps the segregating colored badge is all about making people feel better or superior? Humiliate the ronin! If this is true, am I the only person who looks at history and finds this idea discomforting?

When I left IBM to go to Singapore and set out on my agile journey with FDD, I offered, despite my temporary status, and despite the fact that I had fully met my contractual obligations, to find them a replacement for my position. I recommended a college buddy. He still holds that job today - many years later - and he is still temporary. About two years ago, I noticed that his email address had changed to first.lastname@uk.ibm.com. I assumed that he had gone full time. I learned later that he hadn't. Instead IBM had ended the humiliating practice of giving temporary staff ridiculous email aliases. So kudos to them. A step in the right direction. Software development is a team sport and productivity is directly related to team morale and the ability of a team to work together effectively. We know that agile software development rides on trust between team members. Eliminating division and artificial barriers to trust like colored badges and funky email aliases is surely a driver of higher productivity.