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Managing Contractors

More and more employers are using contractors. With the nature of the Australian workforce continuing to change, contract work is becoming increasingly prevalent. HR managers need to understand the range of complexities that contractors can bring.

THE BENEFITS OF CONTRACTORS.

Cost savings
The first and most obvious benefit of contractors is cost. Most of the time it is far cheaper to hire a contractor for a specific role or task than to hire another employee or train a current one. Although the hourly rate will almost certainly be more, you won’t have to pay for extra office space and equipment, superannuation and the myriad of other employee costs.

Flexibility
Contractors give you the flexibility of a near instant workforce when required. For fluctuating workloads or for special projects they are clearly the best option, allowing you to change your workforce numbers with comparative ease.

Efficiency
Because contractors are specialists in their fields, they can be productive straight away. This means you save time and money that would otherwise be spent training employees.

Legalities
Contractors aren’t subject to many of the legal constraints that protect employees. This lessens your exposure to damaging lawsuits.

DISADVANTAGES OF CONTRACTORS

Less control
Contractors generally decide how to work the job for which you hired them. You won’t be able to closely supervise them like employees.

Erratic output
Contractors might have other work on, the deadlines might be too tight or they might be burnt out- typically they work very hard. All these factors may contribute to lesser quality (and quantity) output.

Supervision
It’s important to realise that contractors still need a level of hands-on management. It’s estimated that for every 10 hours a contactor works you will spend one hour managing.

THE CONTRACTOR MANAGEMENT PROCESS

Here are some tips for a getting the most out of your contractors.  

  1. Work out what you want from your contractors;
  2. Create a budget and timeline;
  3. Explore your personal and professional networks for referrals; and
  4. Write a specific and detailed ad that will appeal to contractors.

Make sure your contractors are properly qualified. Check their credentials and references - be suspicious if their reference isn’t from someone they’ve worked with closely or recently. A paid trial in a non-crucial area might be a good way to ascertain a contractor’s credentials and abilities.

MANAGING CONTRACTOR’S QUALITY

Contractors may miss deadlines, be unreliable and produce sub-standard work. To control the process better, you should consider the following:

  • Make sure that your contractor’s deadline is well before the ‘real’ deadline. This will save last minute panic if the work is not right or if it is late;
  • Establish clear timelines and goalposts for your contractors to follow;
  • At least in the early stages, allow more than triple the time for work done by contractors. This allows for a job to be re-done from start to finish if necessary; and
  • Build relationships with your contractors. Once you have found a contractor you can trust, be prepared to nurture him or her. In most cases it is easier to work through problems with good a contractor than find a new one.