My full-time offer is now an independent contract agreement?

I've spent a good chunk of my career as a hiring eng. manager at Fortune 500 companies. IANAL, and I don't work in HR, but I'm getting old, am American, and have managed a lot of individual contributors. :D

There are some details missing, like what your country of residence is, but most large US-based multinationals use HR vendors that make international hiring straightforward. In my experience, that usually translates to being hired as an employee of a regional subsidiary of the parent company, operating in your country.

If it's a small company, that's probably way too expensive and they would need to set up the appropriate operating entities, etc. The contracting offer makes sense in that scenario, but it's a contract and you should negotiate comparable terms.

IMHO, it's okay to be polite and direct with the hiring manager or recruiter. You promised me but offered me . I understand that this might be a result of complexity hiring in , can you help me understand the detail and work with me to make this new offer equitable? My concerns are that I am no longer guaranteed , or . What can we do?

If they're not willing to have that conversation or resolve those gaps in compensation or equity (totally agree with other folks here that US-employment is generally at-will on the part of both the employer and employee -- your rights as a worker here generally suck compared to other places, and let's not even start on the topic of healthcare and insurance), then I agree with the "this is a bait-and-switch" sentiment.

At that point, you get to choose to take the role under the offered terms (you've got money coming in, and you can keep looking for a better opportunity while performing that role), or you can pass and find a less shady employer.

I run a small company in the US and hire internationally. There really is no easy way other than hiring as a contractor unless I have a subsidiary or branch in your country of residence. So the only option is either you are hired as a contractor legally (and then you fill out W8-BEN) or there are services like remote.com that offer something called Employer of Record (EOR). HOnestly, I didn't get far with remote.com when I approached them recently (no response really) so I only hire as a contractor with exception of 1 country where I have multiple people so we actually did setup a subsidiary (a nightmare process)

Lot of people are making assumptions here saying it is in bad faith etc. I don't know the other company but most likely they cannot do anything else. So the option is either NOT to hire you or hire you as a contractor. Benefits cannot be provided to you legally so you will need to work out a deal built in the cost. That is all you can do really.

Some people are saying that equity can still be offered. Well that depends. If the US company is setup as an S-Corp, guess what. You cannot get equity in an S-Corp unless you are a US Citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident (popularly known as Green Card). So again, ask the company if they are structured as S-Corp or not. If they are, tough luck with equity.

I just hired a senior VP of customer success from the UK and they are on a contract as well. I am still trying to see what is possible.

There's a mixture of useful advice in this thread, but take a deep breath before you go for any of the more enthusiastic responses.

I also work for a US company, but it's done through a wholly owned UK subsidiary. It's not uncommon to start these arrangements as contracting, especially if you're their first non-US employee, while it works on company incorporation and bank and payroll to be set up.

What you should expect in terms of fairness is for them to be upfront beforehand in terms of how they propose to proceed so the paperwork wasn't a surprise when it arrived.

I wouldn't assume malice right away in this. It could be a deliberate switcheroo, but it could have been simply bad communication due to ignorance.

Have a talk with them, if they insist that the contracting arrangement is only temporary while they set up, then you can reasonably ask for some conditions to be in the contract in terms of financial penalties if they don't go through with them. If they're serious, they shouldn't mind provided it's reasonable.

I'd agree with the other comments in that you're under no obligation to accept these arrangements.

Isn't it significantly easier to hire internationally by having the worker become a contractor? Does the company have other employees in your country?

I'd walk. This didn't happen by accident and it is a good harbinger of what's to come.

If you roll over and accept these terms, you've set the precedent that this company can mislead/abuse you in the future.

Don't be a doormat. Ask why the change. If they still push for contractor, your pay expectations just went up. There isn't going to be a unilateral change to an employment contract that is ever good to both parties, so you'd better equalize it with adjusted compensation.

Don't fall in love with companies, either. If they won't budge, you walk away.

Someone in legal probably informed them that hiring outside of the US is a massive headache. But they could do it if they wanted to. The equity and vacation is more suspect. I would ask them for more money in place of the vacation (and lack of security) and also for equity. You don't need any excuse or tactic more sophisticated than "We talked about X, Y, Z as comp but you are offering X."

If you're not experienced doing it by email is better.

If they want to hire a contractor then offer them contractor rates, i.e 50% above the current offer.

I've worked for US based companies in the past from Germany and that was the setup at the time because it was a legal and bureaucratic hassle to set up proper employment. That said, both times I received equity - that's, at least to my understanding, straightforward to set up.

Given that job security is almost non-existent in the US it never bothered me to not be an employee - I just always assumed that today could be my last day (well, in theory at least). You do miss out on the usual health benefits, 401k, etc. and will have to cover that yourself in your country.

Be transparent with the company.

Tell them what you expected vs. what you got and work it out.

Well, obviously you should ask for something of equivalent value. If they value equity at their company at zero, and they’re well-informed, then why would you believe in it?

Listen, if you believe it’s a rocket ship, you need to get a seat. But you don’t want to be the guy servicing the plane on the ground. He doesn’t come along for the ride. Being bullish on a company you have no skin in is pointless.

$x plus equity and benefits is not equivalent to $x. But in the end, it’s all about BATNA. If your true BATNA is nothing, then you’re screwed.

Note: I think I'm most bummed out about the lack of equity. I know that options are tricky and rarely convert into real lottery tickets (but I still want some skin in the game at this company).

Certainly … ask for 60% more in total.

Run away

The same happened to me 5 (?) years ago. I was young, dumb and excited about the opportunity. It was downhill from the moment I signed with constant extensions to my contract and excuses (like how my salary was lower because they wanted it to be close to what I would get after taxes when I became a W2 employee)

They have no respect for you or your time, and it's endemic in the company culture. Don't even try to negotiate this: walk away and MAYBE tell them why. IF they come back with EVERYTHING they promised you (unlikely that their benefits even exist) then you can consider joining if you don't have something better on the table. But even then I would still walk away 100% of the time

Don't listen to their bullshit about how it's a risk hiring you etc. You take an equal risk in a clown show of a company. There's plenty of opportunities out there at the moment to even try negotiating this one

This is a bait and switch. If you’re comfortable with your employer using dark patterns against you, go for it. If not, maybe consider another employer.