Here is some interesting information about employment at Microsoft I have gathered. First you need to understand that there are two or three classes of Employees at Microsoft. There are FTE's (Full Time Employees), Interns, and CSG's (Contractors, Vendors and other Contingent Staff).
FTE's are just that Full time, They get paid Salary. They have good benefits. But no Overtime.
Interns are recruited directly from Colleges. They usually come in to experience the Microsoft culture create a project and do regular work. They are treated just as FTE's except when school starts they go back. Often Interns will be hired on as FTE's
CSG's are divided up two or three categories. In this there are Contractors and Vendors. The other Contingent staff I am not quite as familiar with how their employment works.
Contractors come from a variety of Temp Agencies, such as Volt, and Excel Data Corporation, which seem to be the two largest. They are hired, on contract, for a maximum of One Year. They are provided Office space, which is usually shared with others. Many Offices have two or three sharing an office. Contractors are provided with equipment and supplies, but are not privileged to FTE perks such as use of the athletic fields, or discounts at the Company store. Once a contractor reaches the end of their contract they are let go and can not return to Microsoft for 100 days at which time they may be rehired anywhere in the company.
Many of the Agencies offer jobs with other companies such as with Real Audio or Expedia, but by far the biggest customer of the contractor Agencies is Microsoft. Especially for Testers. There are no other companies that focus so many testers as Microsoft. Microsoft has allot of ground to cover with the back compatibility pledge, and rarely enough to test all scenarios.
Contractors are generally paid hourly, with time and a half Overtime, should any be worked. Contractors are paid weekly. However some teams have been known to do odd stuff when it comes to how overtime is divided out, especially in the less profitable divisions such as games. There are teams where contractors get mega-overtime and so could earn a pretty penny that way.
Similar to Contractors are the Vendors. Vendors are contracted through other companies to provide a service or to provide a collaborative interface with other companies. Vendors are not technically given workspace and are not provided equipment. They like other CSG's are not privileged with FTE Perks.
Most Vendors are hired to do one particular thing, to fix something, or create something on contract. There are however Vendors such as those from HP, NVIDA, ATI, etc. that are hired by their company to work with Microsoft to ensure their product works with Microsoft's products. Especially when it comes to hardware.
One of the touted benefits of being a Vendor is that 100 day breaks are not required since they are paid to provide a service. But the downside is that they are sometimes treated as 3rd class citizens, and if their project suddenly finishes or dissolves so suddenly does their job.
Often CSG's are hired as FTE's if they prove themselves. There are quite a few that have gone that route.
It is interesting that there are many FTE's who were once CSG's, usually in the 90's, that remember the old days as a contractor and with the overtime getting big checks, so they often wish to trade their stable life with good benefits for the adventurous life of a contractor. Especially if they are in one of those Dog eat Dog teams, or are feeling unappreciated.
It is an interesting study of a culture.
