{"id":4995,"date":"2019-03-28T10:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T17:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pasabanaccounting.com\/?p=4995"},"modified":"2024-01-30T17:08:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T01:08:15","slug":"tips-for-managing-contractors-minimize-stress-and-maximize-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pasabanaccounting.com\/tips-for-managing-contractors-minimize-stress-and-maximize-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips For Managing Contractors: Minimize Stress and Maximize Value"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For small businesses, working with independent contractors can be a lifesaver.<\/p>\n<p>You can hand over tasks you don\u2019t have time for \u2013 at a fraction of the cost of an employee. Unlike staff, you won\u2019t owe a contractor payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, health insurance, or other employee benefits. Huge savings!<\/p>\n<p>Because contractors aren\u2019t employees, however, they do need to be managed differently. They\u2019re accustomed to being their own bosses, for one thing. And because they may work for a number of companies at one time, they may have divided loyalties.<\/p>\n<p>These tips will help you get more for your money (and minimize undue stress) when hiring an independent contractor.<\/p>\n<h2>Hire well<\/h2>\n<p>From the outset, you\u2019ll minimize the need to manage a contractor by carefully screening anyone you consider for the job.<\/p>\n<p>Interview contractors with as much diligence as you would a potential employee \u2013 and be sure to follow up with references. Before you sign any contract you want to make sure a potential hire is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>both qualified and a good fit for the job<\/li>\n<li>responsible and easy to work with, and<\/li>\n<li>will most likely to want to continue working for you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep in mind that high turnover is a costly problem for small business owners. If you find out in an interview that a contractor is working for several companies, you might want to consider hiring someone else.<\/p>\n<p>When you do find someone you hope to work with long term, pay them well and take care to make them feel they\u2019re a part of the team so they\u2019ll stay motivated \u2013 and stick with you.<\/p>\n<h2>Be clear about scope<\/h2>\n<p>Employees have job descriptions to define their roles and responsibilities. Independent contracts, by comparison, follow a scope of work agreement that outlines their project guidelines, timeline, and payment terms.<\/p>\n<p>Defining the scope of work up front in writing \u2013 as well as how any changes will be managed \u2013 saves time, confusion, and ultimately protects both of you.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll simplify the process for working together by laying out your expectations for how the work will be delivered up front. Your contractor will avoid the dreaded \u201cscope creep\u201d that can happen when a project changes without additional compensation built into the contract.<\/p>\n<h2>Stay on track<\/h2>\n<p>The best way to keep your contractor on task \u2013 without micro-managing the project \u2013 is to set milestones together and regularly communicate on progress.For instance, you might agree that project targets and deliverables will be met by specific dates, which you\u2019ll both track via a collaborative cloud-based document sharing system, like Google Drive, or project management tool, like Basecamp.<\/p>\n<p>In order to ensure those milestones will be met, agree to a weekly progress report by email or phone. If an issue arises, you\u2019ll be able to address it before it gets out of hand and puts the success of the project at risk.<\/p>\n<h2>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>The best independent contractors are professionals, and shouldn\u2019t need much managing from the companies that hire them. Ideally, they\u2019ll just need a bit of guidance to perform the work to your standards and expectations.<\/p>\n<p>By and large, the tips offered in this article are proactive measures, so you don\u2019t have to spend a lot of time managing a contractor. Rather, you\u2019ll spend the bulk of your time following up on progress to make sure the job gets done, rather than managing each step of the process.<\/p>\n<p>Communicate clearly, up front and in writing, to create clear expectations on both sides \u2013 and avoid excessive backtracking to ensure the work you\u2019ve outsourced is completed up to par.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For small businesses, working with independent contractors can be a lifesaver. You can hand over tasks you don\u2019t have time for \u2013 at a fraction of the cost of an employee. Unlike staff, you won\u2019t owe a contractor payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, health insurance, or other employee benefits. Huge savings! Because contractors aren\u2019t employees, however, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pasabanaccounting.com\/tips-for-managing-contractors-minimize-stress-and-maximize-value\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[31,35],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tips For Managing Contractors: Minimize Stress and Maximize Value - Pasaban Accounting Solutions, LLC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pasabanaccounting.com\/tips-for-managing-contractors-minimize-stress-and-maximize-value\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tips For Managing Contractors: Minimize Stress and Maximize Value - Pasaban Accounting Solutions, LLC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For small businesses, working with independent contractors can be a lifesaver. 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