Managing contractors and freelancers can be difficult, mainly because each one has their own working style, not to mention schedules. Coordinating with people who follow their own rules and make their own timetables can be difficult, especially if you have never had to before.
If you are planning on hiring contractors or freelancers, you need to take some time to learn how to properly manage them. Learning how to manage them before hiring anybody can save you a considerable amount of stress.
This post will simplify things and tell you about some streamlined solutions you can use to manage contractors and freelancers effectively:
Payroll Support
One of the hardest parts of managing contractors and freelancers is handling their payments. As a department, payroll is arguably one of the most challenging for business owners to run. It is much easier to outsource it to a specialist payroll agency, according to www.dasa-umbrella.co.uk, a company that themselves specialise in payroll management.
The biggest benefit of outsourcing payroll is that you will no longer have to worry about freelancer or contractor payments getting delayed. If the people you have working for you do not get paid, they are going to stop.
Additionally, errors in payment can complicate things for them and put them off of working for you again in the future. You won’t ever have to worry about overpayments or underpayments again if you outsource payroll.
Messaging Platforms
How are you going to coordinate your freelancers and contractors? One of the easiest ways to organise them is to use messaging platforms to communicate with them. Communicating with multiple freelancers can be very difficult, so centralising everybody on the same messaging platform can make getting in touch easier than ever.
All you will have to do is shoot your workers a message when you want to talk to them. Try to find a messaging platform that lets you hold audio and video calls, too. Audio and video calls are perfect for when you want to get a message across clearly and concisely.
By using messaging platforms, you will also be able to find out if your payroll support firm is actually helping, as your workers will be able to give you quick, detailed feedback.
Set Deadlines
If you want freelancers and contractors to work fast, efficiently, and to be as productive as possible, then you need to set deadlines. One of the worst things you can do is let freelancers work according to their own schedules. You need to set clear deadlines, and then enforce them.
If freelancers get used to submitting work late, the chances are that early submissions will become a thing of the past. Make sure that if a freelancer constantly falls behind on their work, you punish them and dismiss them if they do not improve.
Clear Expectations
As mentioned above, it is important to set clear expectations about how fast you want freelancers to work, and what you want from them. If you are not clear about what you want, the chances are that they won’t deliver on time. As also mentioned above, your expectations need to be enforceable.
If your workers do not deliver, you need to call them up on it. It is worth noting, however, that your expectations should be reasonable. Do not ask for more than your freelancers can reasonably deliver. If you ask for too much, they will likely go elsewhere in search of work.
Regular Feedback
Ask your freelancers for regular feedback. Feedback can give you a clear idea of how your company is performing, and what managers are like to work under, and give you an opportunity to make changes and improvements. To ask for feedback, send out anonymous surveys and ask freelancers to tell you what they think of your business.
It is important to make surveys anonymous, as people are less likely to leave negative feedback if surveys require them to submit their names. Nobody is going to want to criticise the business they work for without being anonymous, which makes them more likely to give feedback that is positive but false.
Weekly Check-ins
Finally, make sure you schedule weekly check-ins into your freelancers’ diaries. Weekly check-ins are a good way, at least in the beginning, to get to know the people you have working for you and ensure that they are adjusting to life and working with your business with ease.
The longer somebody has worked for you, the less necessary it is to hold check-ins. The only time it’s worth holding check-ins with longtime freelancers is if you have given them a lot of work to do or there is a big project they are working on.
Managing freelancers can be hard work. If you do not have a lot of experience doing it, guides like this one will help you to take control of your workforce more easily. Use the tips given here to improve the quality of the work your freelancers do for you and build stronger relationships with them.
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