How Managers Can Benefit From Hiring Contractors
In a challenging labor market getting the right people as employees, for the right price, right away, is harder than ever. But while you work hard to bring on those valuable full-time employees, you might be ignoring a great solution if you’re not hiring contractors. Read on to learn about the benefits of hiring contractors for your team.
The Benefits of Hiring Contractors
There are many potential benefits to hiring contractors – here are a few of the most powerful ones.
1. More Flexible Working Arrangements
Full-time employees are essential to your team’s success, but they’re also not a very flexible solution to many talent needs.
Freelancers and contractors, on the other hand, can be brought in for specific time periods or projects without committing to a long-term hire. They can make sourcing the right talent for your team flexible and deliver expert work efficiently. When the crunch period or project is over, you can reassign their resources or end their contract easily.
The flexibility of hiring contractors also comes in the types of work you can assign. If you have an urgent but short-term need for someone with a very specific skill set, going through a traditional hiring process might not be an efficient way to fill the gap. However hiring a freelancer with that skill can be quicker and simpler, and you won’t be tied to an employee in the future if needs change.
2. Offer Affordable Rates
When you hire full-time employees, you’re committing to paying their salary or hourly rate as well as costs for their taxes, benefits, equipment, office space, and so on. A benefit of hiring contractors and freelancers? Typically you pay only for their work, whether on a per project, per day, or hourly rate.
Their prices will likely be higher than your employees because they’re responsible for so many costs on their own. But since you have more control over how much they work and the scope of work agreed upon, your costs can be lower overall. Combined with that extra flexibility, freelancers can be a terrific bargain for your team in the long run.
3. Less Onboarding Time
Hiring new employees can mean spending weeks getting them up to speed on your systems, processes, and how to tackle the daily tasks of their role, especially for less experienced workers. But hiring contractors and freelancers allows you to tap into a pool of highly experienced workers with precisely the skills you already need.
For example, you may be able to find a contractor who has years of experience using the communications or software development tools your team uses so they can jump right in and get to work on an urgent project. Since they don’t require training or onboarding about the whole organization, their start date is the date they start providing real results for your team.
Tools to Help You Hire Contractors
Sourcing the right contractors and getting them on board can be a challenge for busy hiring managers. Fortunately, there are several tools to help with the process.
Talent platforms like Upwork and Fiverr can help you find great freelance and contract talent, manage contracts, and pay invoices all in one place. Linkedin ProFinder is another useful source for experienced contractors and freelancers, especially higher-end ones. Asking other managers for recommendations on freelancers they’ve used can help you find vetted and reliable ones as well.
PandaDoc and Adobe offer easy ways to create and sign contracts with your contractors, no matter where they’re located. And you can pay freelancers via Bill.com to keep invoicing simple.
Key Takeaways
Contractors and freelancers aren’t the solution to every talent issue – your full-time employees offer stability, institutional knowledge, and a strong commitment to your organization. However there are many benefits to hiring contractors. They can be a flexible, cost-effective solution to filling talent gaps or completing important projects.
Looking for more ways to effectively manage your talent so you can get the best business outcomes? Cangrade can help.