The Full Disclosure Newsletter

Within each edition of The Full Disclosure, we hope to give our readers some insight into the opportunities and challenges we face here at the office. For this issue we asked Judi Brittin, our VP of Partner Management, to share some of her thoughts on how the IT and business consulting industry has changed over the last twenty years:

Murphy & Associates has been fortunate to work with a wealth of clients and industries growing in the Seattle area for the past 37 years. At the core of our business is, and will always be, the relationships we build with the clients and contract associates. Over the years, however, we have seen changes in the industry which affect the process of placing contractors with clients.    

Two of the most significant changes in recent years has been the increased use of vendor management system(VMS) programs and the implementation of mandatory breaks for contractors.

Clients are deploying VMS applications and partnering with third party agencies to assist with and manage the interviewing, onboarding, and contract process. From a recruiting standpoint, this means that we are typically restricted on the number of candidates we can submit for each job, and we may not have the direct interaction with the actual hiring manager to be able to really sell them on you as a candidate. 

So please keep the following in mind as we strive to help you achieve the best opportunity for success with these clients:

• Time is of the essence! If you’re interested in a role that is presented to you, reply ASAP with any necessary resume updates, responses to questions, and the Right to Represent statement if required. 
• Put your best resume forward! To help ensure a successful screening in the VMS, be sure your resume clearly highlights the required skills and experience listed on the job requirement. And be sure to list sufficient detail for each position on your resume; including month/year for duration for both contract and FTE roles.

Mandatory breaks for contractors is on the rise with many companies in our industry. Microsoft, Expedia and Alaska Airlines are clients that have policies that may require a 3 to 6 month break after you have been on assignment for a period of 18 months. Here are some suggestions to help ensure a smooth transition as you move from contract to contract:

• Seek out client specific rules on engagement terms. 
• Keep track of your assignment dates so you know exactly what your eligibility is with each client. 
• Upon completion of an assignment, verify with the client or vendor company that your system and building access has been terminated; that is typically what drives your eligibility dates within their systems.  

Murphy & Associates today announced that it received a 2016 Boeing Performance Excellence Award. The Boeing Company issues the award annually to recognize suppliers who have achieved superior performance. Murphy & Associates maintained a Silver composite performance rating for each month of the 12-month performance period, from October 2015 to September 2016.

This year, Boeing recognized 480 suppliers worldwide who achieved either a Gold or Silver level Boeing Performance Excellence Award. Murphy & Associates is one of only 402 suppliers to receive the Silver level of recognition.

“We are extremely proud and honored to receive this distinction from The Boeing Company,” said Erik Murphy, chief operating officer, Murphy & Associates.  “It reflects the fantastic work performed by our consultants in partnership with several different Boeing teams.  Well done!”

We like transparency. It is, after all, the founding principle of our business model. So, it would be natural for us to be transparent with the general, internet-reading public about the roles that we are trying to fill, right? Well, that has been a subject of deliberation around the office for years, and we recently came to a negotiated consensus.

After some healthy debate and deliberation, we’ve decided to list a limited number of opportunities on the site. Why restrict the number, you ask? That’s a great question.

The downside to posting every requirement is that things move quickly, particularly in this kind of frothy market. Our team of partner managers jump on every requirement that comes our way, and usually they have a number of candidate in mind for the position within an hour. By the time we get a position on the website, there is a good chance that we will have already lined up a couple of candidates that we think would be great fits. In short, we don’t want to post all the opportunities for fear that the people that respond will only be disappointed.

In the past, another concern had been that the postings will get stale quickly. Honestly, we’d be embarrassed to have a posting on the website for a role that has already been filled. Fortunately, Brick Baldwin, one of our Senior developers, solved that problem. Working with the rest of the IT team, Brick added a great tool within our internal system which enables us to quickly post (and remove) opportunities to our re-vamped website.

Moving forward, we will list two to four opportunities on our Join Team page. This list is far from exhaustive. Depending on the time of year, we may have thirty or more roles that we are trying to fill. Our intention is to highlight positions that are either very specialized and difficult to fill, or roles that require an exceptionally sought-after skillset. If the position intrigues you, or if you have a friend that might be interested, please let us know.

My how time flies – Jen is back in the office and picking up right where she left off! As many of you know, Jen has been out on maternity leave since December. She and her husband Lane are the proud parents of baby boy Greyson, who has won over the whole family with his infectious smile. It’s a joyful time and no doubt, Jen developed all sorts of new skills during her leave including many for the sleep deprived. Greyson is growing up so quickly and is becoming fast friends with their Labrodoodle puppy. Jen shared a photo highlighting Greyson’s first exposure to an important family activity – he’s becoming a diehard Sounder’s fan. We all love having Jen back in the office again – this year will be one filled with growth and excitement as she will be celebrating her first Mother’s Day and fifth year at Murphy & Associates.

Company lore has it that Murphy & Associates has been celebrating St. Patrick’s since the 1980’s. According to co-founder Donna Murphy, early in the company’s history employees used to come over to the company headquarters (aka the Murphy family’s house) for an Irish Dinner Party in March. The menu included homemade Irish Stew and Henry Weinhard’s brew.

The celebration has changed a bit since then, but we have always made an effort to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day because, in theory, Murphy & Associates has Irish roots. According to the information superhighway, the Murphy name derives from the Gaelic phrase for "Sea Warrior". Therefore, so it only natural that our distant ancestors trekked from the Emerald Isle to the home of the nautically-inspired Seahawks, Sounders and Mariners… and… umm… the SuperSonics. It still hurts, doesn’t it?
 
Anyhow, to commemorate this epic journey, Murphy & Associates hosted a gathering at The Wilde Rover in downtown Kirkland in March. Consultants from around the Puget Sound area gathered to imbibe beer, eat non-traditionally Irish fare (like quesadillas) and catch up.
 
Thanks to all of you who attended. Everyone in the office had so much fun at the event that we are already planning for St. Patrick’s Day 2018.

In 2016, we were honored to be nominated by the Puget Sound Business Journal for the Best Places to Work Award. The 2017 award season is around the corner, and once more we are asking our network of consultants to fill out a survey which evaluates how we are doing.  By now, you have probably received an opt-in email from Nikki, our fearless Office Coordinator. If you opted-in, then you will be receiving an email from Quantum Workplace soon. If the email got lost in your inbox and you want to fill out a questionnaire, please let Nikki know.

While we did not wind up winning the 2016 award, we did get some valuable feedback from consultants out in the field. Nearly half of our W-2 contractors filled out the survey in 2016, and overall the results were very positive. We are always looking for better ways to serve and engage with our network of consultants, so any and all feedback is appreciated.

The 2016 tax season has just ended, so you may be thinking about ways to (legally) lower your tax burden for 2017. For better or worse, the tax code is incredibly complicated, but there are a number of savings plans that individuals can use to defer tax payments. Murphy & Associates offers a 401(k) program to all of its employees and it may be a smart financial move for you.

The Murphy & Associates 401(k) plan is an easy way to help ensure your long-term financial success.  At Murphy & Associates we all assume that you, the consultant, love the financial benefits you receive through our low-overhead transparent business model.  Those benefits are incomplete if you are not enrolled in the 401k plan.

While we don’t match with an employer contribution (we want to keep the overhead low), the ability to make a pre-tax contribution to an investment that grows tax free over time is a powerful tool. “Huh?” you ask.  Let me explain.
Enrollment in our 401(k) plan allows you to a limited amount of income tax-free into an investment account. For 2017, the limit is $18,000 if you are under the age of 50 and $24,000 if you are over 50. So if you earned $98,000 in a year and contributed the full amount to the 401k plan you would be paying federal income tax (FIT) on just $80,000 instead of the full $98,000.  Assuming a marginal tax rate of 25%, this would save you $18,000 * 25% = $4,500 in taxes that you can defer.

In addition to those tax savings, the money in the investment account is not subject to annual capital gains tax.  You know how the bank reports the interest you earned each year (minuscule as that is these days) in your savings account on a 1099 INT? That interest becomes part of your gross taxable income and is subject to the FIT. The money you earn on your investments in the 401(k) plan is not immediately subject to FIT. Instead, it is allowed to be re-invested and keep growing without an annual tax bill chipping away at it.

Unfortunately, this is not a way to entirely escape the certainty of death and taxes. You will eventually have to pay taxes on this money, but that only happens after years of tax-free growth when you make a withdrawal of the money.
As an employee of Murphy & Associates you are eligible to enroll in the next calendar quarter after your assignment’s start date and at any time afterwards.  We send out quarterly invitations to enroll.

This is a simple overview of a complex and powerful program.  If you would like to hear more about the specifics of our 401k plan, please let us know.  The sooner you start growing your investment tax free, the more you will have at the end.  As we have all just finished doing our taxes, doesn’t that sound pretty good? 

Put on your shin guards and lace up your cleats, because on July 8th Murphy & Associates is going to Century Link Field to watch the Seattle Sounders battle the Frankfurt Eintracht Eagles on the pitch.

In case you’re not a huge soccer fan, here is a little context. Back in December, the Seattle Sounders visited Toronto FC and won the 2016 MLS Cup on penalty kicks. Although the good guys won, in all candor, it was not a beautiful game. At kickoff, it was 23 degrees Fahrenheit. Neither team scored during the course of the 120 minute match. The Sounders did not even have a shot on target.

Surely a game in Seattle at Century Link will be more entertaining (and warm) than the MLS Championship game.

This is the logic behind our 2017 Murphy & Associates Summer Event. We have reserved tickets for the July 8^th game at the Clink for the Sounders match against Eintracht Frankfurt (EF). What? You have never heard of the Eintracht Eagles? Well, to prepare for the big match, here’s a quick primer:

• Eintracht Frankfurt plays in the Bundesliga, which we believe is German for “really good soccer”. Although they are currently smack-dab in the middle of this year’s standings, the team won the league championship back in 1959. They are due for an exceptional season, just like the Mariners.
• The club came into existence in 1899 and was one of the founding teams for the Bundesliga (which, upon further research, turns out to means Federal League, which in turn designates it as the highest Soccer League in Germany). In short, they have been around longer than Boeing.
• Eintracht means “harmony” or “concord” in German, so it is the equivalent of the United moniker, as in Manchester United or DC United.
• Eintracht features Timothy Chandler, one of only eight American footballers playing in the Bundesliga (thanks Wikipedia!).

In short, it should be an exciting multi-cultural match. The game will be preceded by a family friendly get-together at Pyramid Alehouse, where we will be tailgating in the parking lot. Don’t worry, no Russian hooligans  are expected to join in the festivities. Our formal invitation will be sent out shortly, but mark your calendars.