I worked for Vaco for about 2 years as a contractor for a big tech company in Mountain View. You get hired with big promises of raises, perks, and a high probability of becoming a full-time employee for the company you are contracting for.
I fell for all of the promises Vaco made me because I was new to tech. I started at $14.00 an hour as an operations specialist and was told that was just a standard procedure and would be given a raise after my first 3, 6, and 12 months of work. When my first 3 months were up, I asked for a raise and Vaco management told there wasn't a "performance" evaluation program in place, so there was no way to give me a raise since they didn't know how well I was doing. I documented all of my work and impact in my team to use for raises and future promotions; however, Vaco management continuously gave me excuses to avoid giving me a raise. After my first year of working with Vaco, I was finally able to get a $2.00 raise. Then, I ended up switching teams to get a "better" pay, and with my new team was earning $20.00 / hour (which was still severely underpaid for someone working in Mountain View and at a tech company). I made the mistake of working at Vaco for 2 years and being undervalued by this company, if you are considering joining Vaco please be aware. I learned through other contractors at other tech companies that the type of work I was doing was paid at least $30 / hour at other places. Additionally, did I mention that you don't get any sort of employee benefits? Yes, Vaco doesn't offer medical, disability, and/or life insurance benefits; no retirement benefits and no paid time off. I was really stupid to work for Vaco for 2 years, so please don't make the same mistake.
The work dynamic among Vaco employees is not friendly because everyone is competing to get "converted" to full-time employees for the tech company you're contracting for. Vaco managers also don't care much about you if you get sick or need time off for any kind of emergency. This is actually something negative that "affects" your performance and it's used as "proof" of you not being a "valuable" employee. Vaco managers have "favorites" who move from being contractors for the tech company's team to working for Vaco as "managers" but that's just another word for "supervisors". You are closely micro-managed and depending on the type of work you do within the tech company, you perform under strict "performance metrics"....you are basically a modern day slave. I knew other Vaco contractors who didn't get reasonable lunch / bathroom breaks and were also under-paid with no benefits. During my last months at Vaco, an ex Vaco employee sued Vaco for all of the things I mentioned before. The person filed a class-action lawsuit but Vaco worked very hard in discrediting the ex-employee and made us all sign documents to not suit Vaco in the future.
