Freelance Contracts
Resources for Unit 6: Principles of Management. BTEC Level 3 Business Studies
Freelance Contracts
A freelance contractor is a self-employed worker who is independent from the business and charges for their work on short-term projects. They usually agree their fees for a project which may be based on hours worked, output or a fixed project fee.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Freelance Contracts
Benefits of Freelance Contracts
Flexibility: Managers can use freelance workers to increase the size of their workforce quickly without the long-term commitment of permanent staff. This allows managers to quickly adapt their staffing depending on individual project needs.
Cost-effectiveness: Freelance staff are not employed longer than needed meaning they are only paid for productive time. Freelancers often work in their own spaces meaning the business does not need to pay rent for a workspace for them.
Access to specialist skills: Freelancers hold specialist skills that are often not found among in-house staff. These arise from continuous learning and personal investment in their own personal interests as well as responding to competitive environments and the unique needs of different clients.
New ideas and perspectives: Bringing in different freelancers for different projects provides managers to discuss ideas with a wider range of people. As freelancers usually work for multiple clients, they can bring in different perspectives and will have views on what they have seen working or failing in different contexts.
Drawbacks of Freelance Contracts
Lack of loyalty: Freelance contractors may have multiple clients and their own personal commitments that may take priority over those of the business. This may lead to difficulties in recruiting contractors when needed, delays in project delivery and reduced quality.
Communication challenges: Freelancers may not be available for regular face to face interaction as they tend not to work on site. They may also be difficult to contact due to other projects they are working on, their chosen working hours being different to those of the business or they may be based in a different time zone.
Variable quality: Using different freelancers for different projects may result in varying levels of expertise in the skills required. It may be difficult to make a good assessment of a freelancer's prior work as this was for other firms and for different types of projects.
Onboarding: Freelancers will need to be given some form of induction and training to ensue they understand the project, the nature of the organisation and to meet the teams they will be working with. This can slow down the start of a project.
