Have you had issues with contract employees? Do you question the dedication of contractors to the job and your company? Do you get frustrated when only mediocre talent replies to your contract postings? Does it annoy when contractors decline to return for new projects and opportunities?
Perhaps the Problem Is Not Them; It’s You.
Many business owners and managers exclusively view contractors as low-cost, emergency solutions or interchangeable, short-term options. This attitude leads to a cycle of finding, training, losing freelancers, searching, re-training, more contractor losses, and on and on. It also creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where, because contractors do not feel appreciated at work, they leave these companies as quickly as possible and choose not to return.
Commitment, Culture, & Contractors
Contract talent can be an essential part of a working team and business plan, but only if business owners and managers are committed to making it work.
“If someone fails to understand the joint responsibility to making a contract work situation successful, then, even with the best freelance hire, the engagement will underperform or fail,” said Elizabeth Eiss, Founder and CEO of the talent curation and freelance recruiting platform ResultsResourcing.
There are several reasons that companies are less successful than they could be with contractors.
- One is that they don’t understand when and how hiring freelancer talent is the right option or don’t know how to go about it successfully.
- It could be that they had bad experiences in the past or heard that others have.
- Finally, it’s possible that they don’t recognize the workforce trends toward contract hiring and are not investing in getting educated to leverage those trends to their advantage.
These misplaced attitudes toward freelance capabilities often lead businesses to misuse or underutilize contract talent (which may bleed over into other staff as well).
“A company’s culture, attitude, and leadership are what builds great teams of people. So, if a manager or organization doesn’t trust and embrace its employees’ full potential, it will not trust and fully leverage contract expertise. That’s a culture and leadership issue,” said Eiss.
To change the experiences that a company has using contract talent, it may be necessary for business owners and managers to rethink their company’s commitment and culture.
Outsourcing Contract Work Successfully
“When I meet with managers who are wary of contractors, I use my very own company as an example. I built ResultsResourcing with a core team and the help of quality contractor professionals, which continues successfully to this very day. We were committed to a blended talent strategy culturally and operationally. We followed principles and processes that we help our clients apply to their businesses,” said Eiss.
- Mindset: “We consult with the client to measure their readiness to engage a contractor because, as I said, if they have the wrong mindset, the engagement will underperform or fail.”
- Clear Roles: “We then work with the client on the job’s definition. If the role is not clearly defined, no one can succeed, especially the freelancer who doesn’t have a clear direction and in-depth company knowledge. This step builds clarity and confidence and leads to better proposals and more eager freelancers who see it as an opportunity to partner with a client.”
- Choice of Custom Talent: “We utilize technology to surface the best-matched freelance professionals to the client’s job needs. Our expert human recruiters evaluate and interview these top candidates to provide clients with a choice of custom-vetted freelancers. This way, the client can see and compare a range of high-quality talent ideal to their needs – and that they each bring something unique to the table. From a set of quality vetted talents, the client can choose the right fit based on skills, experience, cost, and cultural fit.
- Results Orientation: “We work hard to recommend resourceful contractors with a focus on performance success, many of whom are business owners themselves, experts in their field of services. We also reduce hiring risk by guaranteeing the matches for the first 30 days.”
“Our goal is for the client and the contractor to be equally invested in each other’s success.”
