Does anyone continue working during the time between when your current contract ends and the contract extension letter is signed?

Anonymous

May 3,2022 at 11:50AM UTC

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Does anyone continue working during the time between when your current contract ends and the contract extension letter is signed?

I work for a NGO and it seems like this is common place. I've had my contract extended twice now and each time, the contract extension letter is emailed to me about a couple months after the previous contract ends. I still get paid retroactively but it's unsettling to me to continue working even though the current contract is technically over and the extension letter hasn't been produced or signed yet.

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AnonymousMay 3,2022 at 1:22PM UTC
I had a similar situation happen to me at the nonprofit I work for. I was transitioning from a 9-month contract to a 12 month, and worked for several weeks while issues on my "gap contract" was ironed out; they kept paying me & my boss said everything would work out, and it did.
Not having had a contract for working before, it was definitely weird.
If you aren't sure about it, can you reach out to HR or your boss to see if that's normal and/or a way to speed things up? It's definitely unsettling to be working a job before a contract is sent out!
AnonymousMay 3,2022 at 1:43PM UTC
I'm on the other side of this ordeal. I work for a start-up and we have interns transitioning to permanent employees. Their intern contract wraps up and I have them on a temp one until we can issue their permanent. Here's the issue, because we're a start-up, life is not set in stone and business/finances are constantly changing so the issuing of the permanent contracts is not done timely. Sometimes, I screw up, miss the extension date, and have to issue a new temp a few days late. Fortunately my team always calls me out when I do this.... and I'm so glad they do. They know that they will always be paid but the contract gives them some security. Are you comfortable requesting the extension when you see the date is approaching? You need that communication to feel secure and I don't think you're making a ridiculous request.