3 Options
So I did mention, in passing, in an earlier post, that I've been given a chance to decide, or at least weigh in, on:

1. Moving from the payroll of Agency A to moving to the payroll of Agency B, OR
2. Moving to the payroll of my current employer
3. Or even doing nothing and staying with Agency A.

This question came up shortly after my manager and I worked out my new shortened work week schedule. My friend, J., the recruiter, approached me about how he'd like to have me move onto his payroll.

The backstory, or why J. wants "revenge"

He found this job for me, when he worked for recruiter A. Recruiter A firm later laid him off. He found a new job at recruiter B. firm, and that's where he'd like to move me to. He admitted feeling a little like he'd like to get revenge on recruiter A, and he also felt they shouldn't continue to benefit from his having placed me and a designer in the jobs we hold now.

So initially when J. broached the subject to me, I didn't think it would matter one way or the other whose payroll I'd be on since my rate of pay wouldn't change during the switch-over. I told him I'd be happy to try and help him out (financially) because he's been helpful in helping me get jobs (2 contract jobs, including this one).

J. is very, very eager to have this done becus it would be quite a coup for him and I don't know exactly how he's compensated, but it would help him and his new firm quite a bit.

I don't think J. anticipated that my manager, would give me a chance to choose, or at least weigh in on the subject. I told my manager 2 weeks ago it probably didn't make much difference to me but that I'd rather be with J.'s new firm than J.'s old firm becus I have the relationship with J., not his old firm.

My manager said there were various things he had to consider:
1. He offered me the option of going on my company's payroll directly, entirely cutting out both recruiter firms.

2. He'd have to check his contract with recruiter firm A to see if there's a buy-out clause that would require him to pay a lump sum of cash to recruiter firm A. to hire me on directly.

3. He said if i worked for my company directly, he might be able to give me a raise (which I totally didn't ask for), with the money saved from what he pays recruiter firm A, which he said is 25% of my pay (so $8 an hour goes to recruiter for every hour I work). Interestingly, my manager said he didn't know what my current rate of pay was through recruiter firm A.

4. If he moved me to recruiter firm B's payroll, he'd want to move the other worker at the same time, for ease of administration and to keep things simple.

My manager said let's talk about it again when he gets back from his travels. That will be this Monday.

Long-term considerations

The more I think about it, the more I realize there ARE major ramifications depending on whose payroll I go on. For instance, I think if I was on my company's payroll, they would be far more generous with me when it came time for a performance review and annual raise than any agency would. Because they know and like me. My friend J. the recruiter does not control the purse strings at his place, after all, and nobody else knows me at recruiter firm B, so it could be totally impersonal over there and I'm sure they'd want to minimize any raises to absolute minimal. And now that I'm working p/t, I'm even less important to them. I am just one of many different contract workers they employ.

For my employer, I sense the overall perspective of my employment is very different. My manager is extremely busy, and I think he values consistency and reliability of employees over time, and knowing the job's going to get done. I think he likes me, and, important to my manager, I get along well with my coworkers and "fit" with the company and its general culture.

The company is also doing quite well, as far as I can tell, and money has never appeared to be an issue to them. They are willing to pay a proofreader pretty well, who throughout the day has frequent downtime with nothing to do, just to ensure that nothing leaves the building that has not been examined carefully for human errors.

If I tell my manager next week I've had more time to think about our talk and do have concerns about moving to J's firm, I do run the risk of totally pissing off J.