These days, most small business owners work with a variety of contractors. From web designers to content producers to copywriters, the modern small business is no stranger to freelance workers. However, in order to attract the best freelance talent, you’ll need to make working with your business worth their while. Luckily, this isn’t nearly as difficult as some businesses make it look. When looking for effective ways to make contractors’ jobs easier, the following pointers are likely to come in handy.
Allow Them to Work Remotely
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There’s little wonder as to why remote work has taken hold over the last couple years. Although many businesses came to embrace it as a necessity in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, many members of the workforce are fully in favor of making remote work permanent. Not only can it help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, it provides us with a much higher degree of control over our respective work schedules. Furthermore, it saves us the trouble of enduring congested commutes and having our productivity hampered by micromanagement and office politics.
Allowing remote work is particularly important when dealing with freelancers. After all, if you’re not willing to pay these people salaries and provide them with health benefits, it’s unreasonable to expect them to become temporary onsite employees. If the tasks you need carried out absolutely require someone’s onsite presence – i.e., construction work or training other employees – exceptions to the rule can certainly be made. However, when it comes to the vast majority of contractors, working from home should absolutely be an option.
In addition to causing unnecessary stress, requiring contractors to operate out of your workplace may ultimately result in work getting done at a slower pace than it would have had you allowed them to work remotely. So, in the interest of productivity and worker satisfaction, make sure that remote work is always on the table for your freelancers.
Pay Them What They’re Worth
Refusing to pay contractors what they’re worth can hurt your business in two key ways. To start with, if you develop a reputation for underpaying freelancers, you’re likely to have trouble attracting top talent when recruiting for contract positions. Unsurprisingly, not many people are amenable to receiving ridiculously low rates for specialized work.
Secondly, even if you’re able to find contractors who grudgingly agree to work for unfair rates, they’re unlikely to treat the jobs you give them with much importance. It’s entirely reasonable to expect that low-paying work will garner minimal effort and enthusiasm from the people stuck doing it.
The desire to save money by cutting costs wherever necessary is certainly understandable. After all, it’s what prompts many small business owners to work with freelancers in the first place. However, there is such a thing as too much frugality, and even the most obliging contractors are liable to have trouble getting enthused for clients who refuse to pay them what they’re worth.
Make Yourself Available to Address Questions
Many businesses have unrealistic expectations of freelancers, with a fair number of them tacitly discouraging them from asking questions by characterizing this as “hand-holding.” Needless to say, adopting this approach will not only make you toxic to skilled freelancers, it’s also likely to result in work that falls well below your expectations. If you disparage question-asking, you’re practically asking for miscommunications and misunderstandings.
With this in mind, make a point of encouraging freelancers to come to you with any questions they may have. While making your expectations as clear as possible from the outset is certainly important, you should still make yourself accessible to freelancers throughout the course of every project.
Stay on Top of Licenses and Permitting
When having repairs or renovations performed in your workplace, you can make contractors’ jobs easier by staying on top of licenses and permitting. By having the proper licenses and permits in place in advance of start dates, you can save both yourself and your contractors a significant amount of hassle. User-friendly permitting software is likely to help in this endeavor.
It’s easy to see why so many small businesses regularly work with contractors. With the right freelancers in your employ, you can complete a variety of tasks in an effective, efficient manner, much to the delight of your clients. However, while countless businesses use contract labor, not every company is able to maintain favorable relationships with their freelancers. Fortunately, by heeding the advice outlined above, businesses can set the stage for lasting success when working with contractors.