At large companies that I've worked for, HR policies on hiring are quite strict and don't give managers much wiggle room to bargain without creating quite a has

At large companies that I've worked for, HR policies on hiring are quite strict and don't give managers much wiggle room to bargain without creating quite a hassle that's usually not worth the effort. If I were extremely valuable, perhaps a case and exception could be made but most at the company do not want to go that route. Hiring as a contractor creates a much more decoupled interface, and they don't have to refactor all their HR policies for one exception.