Thinking about hiring offsite help? Wonder if that’s a good idea? Let’s take a look. Here are the top five benefits that come from hiring contingent workers:

1. Flexibility

The flexibility of contract help means you can enlist this employee for any length of time, from a two-week research project to a six-month website development and launch. You can contract help on a temporary or ongoing basis. This is ideal for short-term projects, particularly when they are inconsistent and sporadic. This means you don’t have to bring on an FTE when you don’t have long-term work for them to do, which also eliminates the need to reduce that staff when the work dries up.

2. Cost Savings

Temporary workers save your company money in many ways—from reducing waste to minimizing expenses. Consider the following:

No vacation pay, sick time, or overtime

No insurance costs or worker’s comp costs

Reduced overhead, such as the cost of hardware and software

Tax benefits, as contractors pay their own

3. Motivation

A contractor has built-in incentives to deliver quality work and quick turnarounds—because every self-employed individual knows that no work means no pay. With contractors, you’re less likely to deal with employee burnout or laziness. What’s more, referrals are the bread and butter of a contractor’s business.  The worker is self-motivated to meet or exceed expectations, if only because that’s how he or she keeps getting work.

4. Specialization

Contractors are constantly improving their skills as they take on new projects and gain new experiences. This works as another benefit for you—when you hire a temporary worker to do accounting, design, copywriting, labor or other help, you gain the expertise of someone who focuses on that particular skill set.

5. Fresh Perspectives

Contractors offer an invaluable benefit to companies that hire them—fresh perspectives. Think of all the methods companies use to drum up new ideas. With freelancers, you easily gain new ideas and perspectives simply by adding new voices to your team.

Your Thoughts

Based on the benefits outlined in this post, could hiring freelancers, contract or contingent labor be a good choice for your organization? Share your thoughts and experiences?

Shanna Mallon is a writer for Straight North, a Chicago Web design firm providing specialized SEO, Web development, and other online marketing services. Follow Straight North on Twitter and Facebook.

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One Comment on “ The Top 5 Benefits of Using Contractors ”

Caitlyn La Paglia said:

I agree with Shanna, there are so many recruiting firms working on contract basis where we can outsource our recruiting services. Such contracting firms are called RPO’s (Recruiting Process Outsourcing). I have been using the services of iPlace USA and I have had a wonderful experience. Now, they have come up with a new product called iPlace Connect which takes #JustInTimerecruiting to a whole new level.

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