VDH have a great reputation and frankly, I just don't get it. I worked for them and it was the biggest contractor shuck and jive I've ever encountered and that's saying something. But, that's opinion and I'll leave you with the facts.
1). You have no paid time off ever. I don't know how they do this legally. You're a full W2 employee of VDH, but because you work at a client site you get zero paid time off, ever, regardless of tenure. Meanwhile the office staff- identical W2 employees- seem to always be taking paid time off. So, compute that when they quote a rate. Are you going to work Christmas day? What about days you have to be off? Subtract all that off your rate.
2). There is no "engagement management". I found out after I left there and was talking with the personnel people at the client site that NOT ONE of my messages, requests, comments, etc. ever was relayed to them. Not one, ever. They take how much an hour for your work and they can't even act as go betweens with personnel??? Others will say, "I don't know" or "I'll try", or "No", but I've never heard, "Sure, I'll tell them, and then they just blow it off". And that was breaking a rule. They ask you to never contact the client directly after you leave, only through them. OK, there's a one year non-compete, but EVER? I wonder why that is? Not.
3). Completely unrealistic hiring process. They asked me to give two weeks notice to my prior employer, then farted around for 10 DAYS before getting all my paperwork, references, tests, etc. done. I got a final date 48 hours before my first day. What if someone had screwed up??? Oh, I'm just out my current position, that position, etc., and it's because they couldn't be bothered to do things in a timely manner?
4). The pandering is embarrassing. They'll show up at the work site to drool all over the boss. Depends on the company, but the range of response from the client is somewhere between "WTF is this" at the progressive ones, to "Hey, cool- I'll bet I can treat the contractor like complete shite!" at the not so progressive ones.
5). They do a lot of H2 visas. That's important because they seem to think you're going to put up with all the above because you're a money grubbing mercenary from India and don't really care about niceties. If your a citizen with an established career, that's not likely to be true.
6). After my contract was up I filed unemployment and they tried to challenge the claim. Totally baseless argument, they lost, but held it up for a month. Again, I've worked lots of contracts lots of places and none have ever stooped to that level.
FWIW, they're listed as "One of the 50 best companies to work for in Oregon". I've been in contact with the guy that manages that list each year and he was pretty surprised to find this out. You know, "best company" kind of implies things like a paid holiday at least once a year... Turns out those surveys are given to employees, but the contractor employees have never been given them. So, bottom line, I'm definitely not impressed. You just never know. I'd like to sit down with the owner some day and suss out if she's a complete fraud of if she's just completely out of touch with the day on day business. I experienced a HUGE gulf between the rep and the reality, though. Caveat Contractor! read more