Client is making it hard to do work - full or half day rate?

**Edit: Title should be "Issues beyond control making it hard to do work"**

About 5 weeks after starting work with a new client, I have no laptop. Environment is strict, so no laptop means no email, no access to internal documents (they cannot even share), no easy way to chat, etc. Environment is strict so people cannot just send me all the attachments or add me to shared folders.

In the tasks that we have going, I have been failing at it. I recently failed one task which is to prepare a presentation. "Easy enough" you may think, but I bombed it by going off tangent.

I play a role at being at fault, for not making notes and not confirming task lists.  But some of the problems stem from not having access to documents until much later (so, I end up only having just a day to work on a presentation, for example, and bombing it when it is time to present the idea).

**So what I want to get feedback on:**

My day rate is $700 so total take home would be $14000 since it is a full-time order. But that's the day rate of me being *fully functional*.  Being very limited, I was wondering what to do about this. I feel charging the full rate feels unjustified and even dishonest. That I should declare it so and just decrease my final take home month's pay, maybe by half or 75%.

*Note: It's a large enough company, that the manager working with me is not the one approving the timesheets. But there would be some communication between the person approving the timesheets and the person working with me.*

Answers :

1. Don’t reduce your rate. 

This is what they agreed to and it’s in your contract, right? Bill for it. Every job takes some time to iron out the wrinkles — if they wanted perfection on the first task they should find someone who’s already integrated into their complicated system.

2. Why don't you have a laptop five weeks into the engagement?

If they require you to have access to their network in order to look at documents and communicate using their email and chat infrastructure, then it is on them to provide that. I write it into my contract that the project timeline will be delayed until we receive access.

This will be a huge issue for many businesses as they move to a remote workforce. IT needs to get its shit together to distribute laptops and VPN access.

No, do not reduce your rate for something that they are required to provide you.

3. The reason you have yet to produce anything of substance is their fault. 

If they can't get you the materials you need to work on their shit, that's not your problem. You are able and available for work, reporting each day that they have not provided the necessary stuff for you to substantially work on things. even the whole 'bombing the presentation' thing is not your fault because they only gave you access to the things you needed for the presentation 24 hours prior to the presentation, even though they had said they wanted it well beforehand.

4. They have formalized processes.

"Must respect the process!"So, as many have mentioned, adapt your process to your client's systems - and - then charge for the additional overhead.

Maybe start from the end and make sure to include enough time to properly respond to THEIR systems.

So don't shave off precious "creative" time to satisfy "process" needs.

The reason that you're there is because the environment appears to be overly process driven.

Maybe keep in mind that "creativity" is interrupted when new work methods are mandated.

It's like moving. You won't get comfortable with your new place until you've re-learned all those routines that have accumulated over the years...

Middle managers often use "process" as political weapons to nudge projects in one direction or the other.

Large organizations are great environments for honing your sales skills.

5. You have two choices :

1. ⁠Call for a meeting with the company contact to establish some broad lines for the details of collaboration, how much data they should send, when and where.

2. ⁠If their procedure make you lose money, then you charge that wasted time as working. period.