Businesses gain a competitive edge when they hire freelancers and independent contractors but managing them can be a huge hassle and quite frustrating. It can take away valuable time from the core functions of your business and slow down your organization’s growth.
A freelance management system can be the perfect solution for such difficulties and save you from all that time-killing paperwork and tedious freelance management tasks. This type of platform can manage all operational, financial, and legal components that are related to hiring and working with freelancers, such as onboarding, work assignments, and payments.
Simply put, implementing proper freelance management software can turn all freelancer processes into automated processes and workflows, efficiently managing every stage of the extended workforce lifecycle.
Below, we look at 6 reasons why it’s a great idea to use an FMS and work in an agile and flexible way.
Table of Contents
Effective Onboarding
Implementing the right freelance management system is very important for freelancers and consultants because it allows them to easily input their timesheets so that the company for which they work can effectively track their hours spent on projects.
The onboarding process must be simple, straightforward and companies should do their best to avoid having too much paperwork involved. Once your new employees start working, they’ll be able to easily manage their timesheets without having to make calls and send emails back and forth.
Some systems allow users to manage tasks while others don’t offer any task-management tools. Having an FMS that offers project management capabilities is the best option to choose.
Ensure Compliance
When you have freelancers working on your company’s projects, failing to meet compliance standards might put your business at risk in terms of finances and reputation. Using the built-in workflows to monitor and track compliance ensures that the key area of freelancer engagement is met, reducing the risk of potentially costly penalties.
As a result, consider investing in an FMS that will help manage all types of compliance.
Increased Productivity
As you hire more freelancers, chances for messier spreadsheets, missed deadlines, and errors increase. If you want to avoid piled-up spreadsheets and losing oversight over your external workforce, then implementing an FMS will help you not get lost in the shuffle.
With an FMS, you’ll be able to handle normal processes like contracts, budgets, and paychecks in a more efficient way, get organized and streamline all your freelancer data in one place, and access it any time you want. This will provide you with more visibility into every aspect of your freelancer workforce and reduce the need for excel spreadsheets.
Ultimately, this increases the overall productivity and transforms the way your business is running.
Invoices and Payments
The greatest part about using a freelance management system is that you can manage invoices and payments and ensure that the contractor workforce is paid on time without any administrative or communication error between the parties involved in the process.
The team in charge of the hiring process can make better-informed decisions as they’ll have insight into how much time was spent on a certain project and compare it to the number of hours worked.
An FMS also allows you to manage invoices and ensure that freelancers are paid accurately as their timesheets will be available to you in one place. And let’s not forget that an FMS can offer multiple payment options which is a great necessity for companies.
Contracts and Agreements
At some point in your career, you’re bound to work with a freelancer so it’s important to have an agreement in place regardless if it’s for hourly billing or project-based fees. Having such an agreement ensures that both parties have a mutual understanding of all terms and conditions of their working relationship.
This will make sure that you’re on the same page about issues that could otherwise potentially lead to complications later on.
A well-functioning FMS will provide easy contract signing and management allowing you to complete these tasks with just a few clicks without any hassle or terminology confusion.
Accounting Support
Many companies wish to manage their finances internally. An FMS can offer accounting support so that the accounting department can flawlessly manage tasks like invoicing or subscription billing. Finding an FMS with all these features will allow you to manage your company’s finances while being in complete control of the entire process.
Final Thoughts
We hope that the listed reasons are enough for you to seriously consider using a freelance management system because it’s a truly flexible solution that allows companies to have full control of their processes as they are increasing the number of engaged freelancers.
