Parasol expects customer service to suffer for another two weeks

Parasol says customer service may be adversely affected for another two weeks, as the umbrella company struggles to get back to normal after being cyber-attacked.

While the alert of disruption for a further fortnight is unlikely to be welcomed, Parasol specifying what to expect, and when or for how long, is the sort of notice contractors want.

“Yes, the portal is encouraging timesheet entry, but no information on the portal as to when they will pay”, one Parasol contractor complained, in wake of its reopening last Monday.

'Chaos'

Another contractor craving a timeline said: “I told them to try to provide daily updates, telling us how far through the backlogs they are, and when they expect to be completely caught up”.

The boss of one of Parasol’s partner agencies isn’t surprised timetable has been off the table

“The last two-and-a-half weeks have been chaos at Parasol. Over the last two Fridays, which is their pay day, we’ve not had a single contractor paid correctly or on time,” the boss began.

“Even our complaints to their C-Suite have been ignored. That’s partly why in the last week, we moved 60% of our contractors to new brollies. The other 40% have the choice to move.”

'Taking longer than expected'

For its part, Parasol has acknowledged that “unfortunately this is taking longer than expected,” albeit specifically to one contractor who was awaiting final payment.

He was initially paid an interim payment based on ‘financial need’ (assessed by a senior manager at Parasol); a second one (prioritised if in “hardship”), and then a third, final one.

The contractor last night told ContractorUK he was “personally, happy” as Parasol had paid him in full, but the same ‘not knowing when’ is making other Optionis contractors unhappy.

'No nothing'

“SJD’s online portal is still down, three days after Parasol’s systems were back up and running,” one contractor wrote in a message on Saturday to ContractorUK.

“[Us] contractors that are…clients of SJD have now spent two weeks without any online access to [our] accounts.

“And SJD aren’t exactly forthcoming about when this will change! No emails -- since the 19th, no update to the ‘System Issues’ page. Nothing.”

'Couple of weeks'

Shown the comments of concerned contractors, an Optionis spokesman said that work Is being carried out “restoring all our systems including phonelines” (SJD phonelines are still down at the time of writing).

And as a result, he warned, “service levels may remain impacted for a couple of weeks.”

The spokesman, then referring to Parasol added: “It has always been our first priority to ensure all…employees are paid as soon as possible.

“Our payroll system is now fully operational, which means all employees are receiving pay calculated in the usual way, and on their normal pay day. Any outstanding amounts owed will also be reconciled.”

'Some amazing staff'

On the same day last week yet in an email to agencies, Parasol advised that its expenses system was currently not back online, but “we expect this to happen in the next 24 hours.”

The brolly’s decision on Thursday to share a schedule will go down well, although for the recipient it comes too late.

“We have regrettably, but understandably, ceased referring Parasol to contractors,” the agency boss said.

“They’re not helping themselves with the lack of reassurances. And I’m gutted as they have some amazing staff, who genuinely care about their contractors and the industry.

“But we spoke with one of the other top umbrella companies today and they told us new sign-ups of new contractors have increased by over 20% -- mainly unhappy Parasol contractors wanting to move.”

'Paid two pence'

On umbrella company review site off-payroll.org, Parasol’s entries in the last few days mirror the bad mood, with ‘Resignation in waiting,’ ‘Unethical’ and ‘Never Again’ among the titles.

The reviews also reveal a glitch in Parasol’s newly installed payroll system, with the effect that contractors -- some owed thousands -- got paid by the umbrella company the total of just two pence.

“I genuinely got paid 2p -- no explanation to why,” one reviewer wrote. “I have tried phones but they are down, [and] tried to use webchat but no one is answering at all.”

'Stopped people from commenting'

Another contractor tried social media to reach Parasol, but in vain,

“At some point, I think over the weekend, the umbrella company stopped people from putting comments on their LinkedIn page and Twitter, leaving just a message to contact [them] via their LiveChat system.”

The spokesman for Parasol said: “We are currently running daily payrolls and although we are making great progress catching up on payments, there may still be some delay and money may land in our employee's bank accounts later than usual.

“If any employees are experiencing difficulties, we would urge them to get in touch via our LiveChat function straight away.”

'Returning to normal'

In an email to agencies, Parasol’s chief sales officer Greet Brosens explained that the “large volumes of queries” via LiveChat would, “at times,” result in “delays in response times.”

Writing before the weekend, Ms Brosens added: “We ask that you continue to liaise with your Account Manager where possible to get your queries resolved as quickly as possible.

“I am confident that our Parasol operations are returning to normal levels, and would like to thank you once again for your understanding and patience at this difficult time.”