Contract negotiations for Extending a Contract.

The director at my current assignment has asked if I would consider extending for another 3 months. I am not sure I want to do this, and basically will only do it if I am unable to find another travel position.  Does anyone have any recommendations on what you would ask for in a new contract? 
I'm already guaranteed 40 hours a week.  I'm thinking about more $$ per hour and moved closer to the hospital in a nicer location. 

You'll never know if you don't ask. Ask for $1/hr raise, a re-signing bonus, or better accommodations. Personally I would ask for the re-signing bonus (to be paid up-front in the form of a $500 visa gift card).  $500= roughly $1/hr on a 13wk contract. Make sure its listed on the contract before you sign it! Oh, make sure its listed as a gift and not a "Bonus".

The raise would be taxed.

End of contract bonuses sometimes never happen.

New accommodations require packing, unpacking, hauling....ugh

The gift card is the best way out. 

see the blog "Bonus or bogus"

It's good to know about the gift vs bonus option. I had never heard that one before. Bonuses are so heavily taxed! Do you know what the limit on a gift is before it is considered taxable?

Hey Kevin,

Just a quick head's up on your suggestion of a gift card....unfortunately, new Federal laws prevent companies from giving employees gift cards as part of their compensation package. There was some sort of stink raised about it, and the IRS has put a whole slew of new laws into place regarding gifts to employees - which boils down to a huge list of "do"s and "don't"s. Basically, once it's all said and done, the IRS is trying to keep companies from paying out 'gifts,' as these gifts weren't subject to taxes and were considered disguising income.

There's a huge section on the IRS website about the changes, but it boils down to this: gifts are considered "fringe benefits" and thus are subject to income taxes. Now, I'm not a tax attorney or licensed CPA, so I don't know all of the ins and outs of this change.....however, I do know that we were notified by our HR department today that we can no longer do gift cards. Other gifts are a gray area, and I'd love to get some advice on this question from the traveltax guy on here, but as of now, we aren't allowed to purchase giftcards for our travelers as a company.

Good information!!! I have usually asked for $1.00 more per hour and each time I have gotten it. Company has never had a problem with it....

Thanks for the heads-up on the new rules Luke! What would you recommend?

Just remember with whom it is you are negotiating...your travel company. The hospital is probably not going to revise a contract for your extension and might even consider whether they still wanted to extend you if you ask for more. In most instances, this is a moot point because the travel agency understands this. However, these are the days of hundreds of travel agencies, and it is quite possible that a new recruiter might mention a contract revision to the hospital before he or she considers revising the travel company's contract. This SHOULDN'T happen, but how many of us travelers have run into situations that shouldn't have happened???  Just make sure your recruiter is on the same page when you ask for the revision.

With that said, you can ASK for anything you really want. If you have a kick ass recruiter, you can just be upfront with them and tell them you are thinking of somewhere else, but might be willing to stay if you get a bit more mileage out of your next contract. Ask them to see what they can do and then take a look at what they come back with. This might tell you how much room you have to work with your contract.

Probably the biggest expense would be moving you to a new location, so consider what you really want. If they (your travel company) can save a few hundred dollars a month by keeping you in the same housing, would you be willing to be paid $2-$3 more an hour? If you push the housing issue, that might blow out the total negotiating room the company has. You might get your new housing, but still be making the same hourly rate.

It's all a cat and mouse game and some contracts will have more room to negotiate than others. I've had a recruiter, one that I trust, tell me point blank, we are not making ANY money on you on this contract. I realize this might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but her message was, we can't offer you any more than we are right now. (On a side note, the reason I believed her was I actually saw some of the numbers and the company was kind of doing me a favor on some of my requests because I had been with the company so long).

A few other things to consider, maybe an extra parking place in the apartment complex (once had a trailer that I was storing off premises and the company providing me an extra space at the apartment complex saved me about $75 a month). You can also ask for apartment items that your travel company might get on the cheap from the rental company they use (how bout a big screen plasma instead of your 19" TV with no remote?).

Bottom line, ask for anything, but try to gauge what your company has to work with on their end (how much they are making on you for the contract). Also, consider whether or not you WANT to stay. If I was tired of a location and wanted to get out and explore, a new apartment in the same city and $1 more an hour is not going to keep me there.

Hope this helps.

*sigh* I hate games, especially cat and mouse.  Why can't it just be cut and dry?  I guess that's life, huh?

Also, if you want to read a bit more on negotiating and contracts here are a couple of blogs on this site that I found that may be of interest:

7 Things You Should Never Tell Your Recruiter and Contracts...Friend or Foe?

Hope this helps!

TravelMed USA offers a $500 extension bonus so anytime you extend at the same facility you get a $500 BONUS!

It is taxed so if you rather we can buy a visa gift card and sent it to you to use anywhere you would like.

It is great and we have got a lot of positive feedback from it. Most of my traveling therapist always try to extend at least once this way it gives them a chance to see and do things they maybe haven’t done yet that they wanted and some make friends and want to stay in the area and everyone can always use an extra $500. :)