Guest Blog: 6 Tips for Managing Contract Workers
Rob Tatum works as a small business owner and writes about managing staff, increasing revenue, and engaging in online marketing.
Times are changing, and the employment landscape is changing with them. According to Intuit, by the end of this decade over 40% of the American workforce are expected to be “contingent workers,” a group that includes contract workers, independent consultants, and freelancers.
As a small business owner, that means there’s a strong likelihood you’re going to find yourself managing these folks one day. Contingent workers are a different animal than full-time employees, which means you’ve got to take a different path toward effective supervision. Here are six tips to get you started.
1. Hire the Right Ones
Before you begin to manage contract workers, be sure you find the right ones. Check freelancing websites such as oDesk or Freelancer, and thoroughly investigate skills and qualifications to minimize any on-the-job training. If you bring on sub-par workers, it doesn’t matter how well you manage them - their work is not likely to impress.
2. Create Specific Goals
No matter who you bring on, make sure they understand what’s expected of them. Let them know their exact responsibilities and timetables, and if you can add a “quality of work” element to their goals, you’re going to be that much further ahead of the game.
3. Trust and Give Them Freedom
Once you feel confident you have qualified workers on board, don’t be shy about loosening the reins a bit and letting them run with a particular project. Contract workers - especially experienced ones - know what it means to produce high quality work, and they might even know of better, quicker ways to achieve certain goals. Trust them to an extent, and allow your contract workers some freedom.
4. Bump Up Deadlines
If you have a project that’s due by October 1, for example, give your contractor a deadline of September 15 or earlier. This gives you a built-in cushion that can be useful in several scenarios - your contractor can’t get the work done in time or you’re under the gun from an outside client, for example.
5. Point Out Shortcomings Immediately
If your contract workers aren’t performing up to company standards, you’re only doing yourself and your business a disservice by not addressing the situation. Be sure your freelancers are producing excellent work, and when they aren’t, get it squared away in short order.
6. Over-Communicate
You’re also going to need to communicate more often with your contract workers than your full-time staff, for a variety of reasons. They might be working off of a different schedule (especially if they’re in a different time zone), and they probably need more feedback, since you’re not seeing them on a daily basis. Over-communicate with these workers and never leave any stone unturned when it comes to clarity of expectations or job responsibilities.
Once you’ve mastered the basics of managing contract workers, take the next step and be sure they’re categorized accurately for tax purposes. If you mistakenly count folks as contractors when they’re actually full-time employees, you might find yourself in a pinch come tax time - check IRS Publication 15-A for help. Manage your contract workers effectively, understand your tax situation, and your business can flourish as a result.
What other tips do you know of for managing contract workers?
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