Running a business is a collaborative exercise. You need a team of dedicated employees handling specific tasks. Even so, when you work on a number of projects, face tight turnaround times, or lack experience within your workforce, there will be occasions when you have to call in external help. Expert professionals who are not company employees but work with your company on a contractual basis are known as freelancers.
However, since freelancers aren’t governed by the usual employer-employee agreements, you need to ensure that your working arrangement is clearly defined in legal contracts. As the number of freelancers in the US and global workforce continues to rise, the likelihood that you will need to work with freelancers increases. In this article, we will look at how working with freelancers can benefit your company, as well as cover practices that ensure your company and its freelancers have a productive professional partnership.
How Freelancers Can Help Your Company
Freelancing is an attractive option for professionals who are looking to supplement their income or work with a more diverse set of clients. Companies can use freelancers to augment their teams with specialized skills and experience. The best freelancer-company partnerships are those that are mutually beneficial and help both parties hit their professional goals. On the other hand, ineffective freelancer management can lead to antagonistic relationships, delayed or abandoned projects, and legal liability for your company. As you can see, working with freelancers can be a double-edged sword. Let’s examine this duality in more detail.
Pros of Hiring Freelancers
The advantages of working with freelancers are:
- Reduced payroll costs since freelancers don’t enjoy employee benefits
- Access to specialized skills and experience that your employees may not possess
- Greater flexibility when it comes to seasonal or temporary assignments
Cons of Hiring Freelancers
Working with freelancers is convenient but has some disadvantages, such as:
- Freelancers work with multiple clients, so they won’t be focused on just your assignment
- Freelancers work on their schedule, which may not align with your company’s timelines and workflows
- Freelancers will have less loyalty to your company than full-time employees
Four Best Practices for Working with Freelancers
To ensure that your company has a fruitful professional relationship with its freelancers, you need to follow protocols that protect your interests and create a rewarding work environment for the freelancer. Here are some recommended best practices for working with freelancers professionally and responsibly.
1. Use a Non-Disclosure Agreement
A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a special type of contract between a company and any external party. It clearly states what confidential company information is and serves as an undertaking from the external party that they will not share it with anyone else. NDAs are legally binding and can be enforced in court, so it is a good way to ensure that sensitive information isn’t leaked when you work with outside contractors like freelancers.
Offering an NDA before entering into a working relationship should be a standard operating procedure for any company that works with freelancers. If a freelancer seems reluctant to sign an NDA, that’s a big red flag for the company and should be grounds for not proceeding with any engagements.
2. Prepare Legally Binding Contracts
In addition to an NDA, you should work on drafting a comprehensive document that will serve as your company’s standard freelancer contract. While the NDA is for any non-employee that you have shared confidential information with, these contracts are only for those freelancers that you are going to hire. This contract will define the terms of the freelancer’s employment with your company, such as the nature of work they are expected to perform and the duration of the professional engagement.
Your freelancer contract should include clauses to protect your company’s interests. Some examples of such clauses include an intellectual property (IP) clause that allows you to retain IP ownership over any output created by the freelancer for your company or a clause stating that freelancers must return all professional materials given to them throughout the engagement once it ends.
3. Consult Your Attorney
You can find templates for NDAs and freelancer contracts online to help prepare drafts. Once your drafts are ready, you should get them examined, reworked, and approved by an attorney specializing in contract law. The attorney should also be well-versed with local labour laws. Taking this measure will ensure that your legal documents are valid and, should the need arise, enforceable in court.
4. Conduct a Background Check
There are many avenues to working with freelancers. You can discover suitable freelancers for any project via online platforms or choose to work with freelancers who have been recommended by your industry peers. Whatever the case, it is always advisable to conduct a background check to ensure that the freelancer is a good fit for your company. This will include asking for references, samples of past work, and judging a freelancer’s capacity for clear, transparent communication. When it comes to hiring freelancers, it’s better to wait for the right candidate since you won’t be able to invest resources in training them like you would an employee.
Working with Freelancers Made Easy
There are already almost 58 million freelancers working in the US, representing about 36% of the nation’s workforce. As their numbers continue to rise, businesses need to set up procedures for working with external contractors. Even though most freelancers work in fields relating to art and design, marketing, or computers, they can be found in every industry. If you haven’t already adopted measures to protect your company when working with freelancers, it’s about time you did so!
