The upsides & downsides of utilising freelancers

Freelancers can be a hugely valuable asset to your business, and there are a number of reasons you may want to call on their expertise:

• To plug a temporary gap while you look for permanent staff

• To bring in specialist expertise on ad-hoc projects

• Maternity/paternity cover

• Sickness cover

• An injection of fresh thinking

• To maintain client service levels if workloads are creating a risk

Let’s start with the positives:

• They are an additional cost to your business. However, when employing self-employed or Limited Company freelancers, there’s no need to pay sick pay, holiday pay, redundancy pay and employer’s national insurance

• They avoid financial waste. You can use a freelancer just on live, fee paying work

• They are a flexible resource, using them only when work demands. They

  to be picked up and put down on a moment’s notice

• They understand they are not a long term commitment

• They can provide skills the in-house team may not have

• They complete one-off or small, regular tasks, that do not require a full time employee

• They can bring in fresh thinking when existing businesses needs new ideas

• You can employ a freelancer with specialist sector knowledge that is perhaps outside your core business thereby giving you new business opportunities

• New business pitching is a gamble. You can invest in a pitch team without the long term commitment of permanent employment

• If you build a relationship with a freelancer, or more than one freelancer, you are creating a relationship with a professional. A freelancer will always service loyal clients well and there are no middle men to slow down the process when you need outside help…. and fast

• A freelancer has their reputation to think about and is very committed to doing a fantastic job

The downsides:

• A freelancer’s hourly or daily rate is more than you’d pay your permanent staff and it can go against the grain. But it is wise to remember that you are not paying their rates everyday of the year. Also a freelancer’s career is full of highs and lows and rarely will they get back-to-back work. Their rate covers them for the lows and ensures they can still operate as a valuable and flexible resource for a market place that needs them

• A new freelancer is a risk. The last thing you need is a freelancer who causes you problems. What if they make mistakes, are slower than you needed, or don’t provide the fresh thinking you needed?

At Beyond The Book we aim to make using freelance a positive experience all round. We want to become every businesses preferred freelance provider, and we aim to achieve this through a consultative approach as well as provide talented and reliable freelancers. We will advise you at the outset, and during any freelance assignment, of the best short term resource model you should consider. And, we can help you find the right person, no matter how difficult the search.