In the digital age, maximizing collaboration with freelancers requires innovative solutions. Pavel Shynkarenko, the founder and CEO of Solar Staff, explains how tech advancements revolutionize communication with contractors.
According to MBO Partners, there were 72.1 million American freelancers at the end of 2023, equivalent to 45% of the country’s workforce.
The U.S. is hardly the only country where the freelancing revolution is taking place, though. Worldwide, the number of independent contractors amounts to 1.57 billion, and it is expected to keep growing.
In the past few years, we have conducted various studies to understand market trends more in-depth. What we have found is that communication is a significant challenge that hinders collaboration between companies and freelancers, and that ineffectiveness in this realm results in wasted time and money. Technologies help overcome these challenges.
IT companies, which often collaborate with freelancers, are typically the first to adopt new tech and craft internal tools for team communication, often turning them into marketable products. Slack, initially an internal project and now a popular communication platform, exemplifies this trend.
Before I continue, I want to clarify that the following advice is aimed at businesses experienced in working with freelancers seeking to enhance their outcomes. If your company is new to hiring independent workers, there might be more pressing issues that require your full attention. Having said this, I’ll discuss how technology can streamline communication and improve results when collaborating with contractors.
The Main Issues
Provided you have worked with freelancers already, you might be familiar with some of the most common issues that can arise. You might ask yourself:
- How can I communicate what I need when assigning a task so that fewer edits are required?
- How can I measure the efficiency of a freelancer’s work?
- How much money are we spending on a particular contractor? (Beyond the obvious)
- I’ve learned how to work with a freelancer—How can I loop in other people on the team so that they can do it too?
- How can I create a system to help contractors work faster without taking away resources and valuable information?
Tech-enabled Answers
By implementing the right technological framework, companies can improve communication with contractors, enhancing efficiency and fostering more effective collaboration. The IT industry is leading this transition. Microsoft, for example, set the stage for integrated office communication systems by introducing Microsoft Exchange in 1996 and later SharePoint in 2001. These platforms provided tools for email, calendars, task management, and document sharing all within one ecosystem, setting a trend that was later adopted by other companies.
Transcending geographical barriers
Cross-border contracting is on the rise, and despite its myriad benefits, there are barriers that need to be overcome. Legal technicalities and frameworks vary from country to country, and if you are hiring someone in another country, it might not be clear how to formalize your work relationship with them.
To solve this, you can leverage HR solutions — particularly those that can provide COR (contract-of-record) — that, due to the way they operate, can convert any international contractor into a local employee in terms of how you interact with them. This also makes the contract signing process safer and ensures it is compliant with rules and regulations.
Transcending gender barriers
Every year, the number of female freelancers is increasing. According to 2023 data, they constitute almost half of all freelancers in the United States. This trend is fueled by tech advancements enabling women to work remotely, offering crucial flexibility for those balancing their professional careers with caregiving duties. Today, ninety-two % of working women prioritize flexibility over stability in their careers, and technology facilitates this choice.
Furthermore, women typically display a greater inclination towards emotional content and interpersonal relationships, both in professional environments and in their personal lives, compared to men who often exhibit a more literal and task-focused approach. Networking platforms offer women the ability to connect with other professionals, find mentors, join groups, and participate in discussions. This helps to reduce feelings of isolation, provides them with role models, and encourages women and girls to pursue and continue their careers in tech.
Understanding cultural specifics
Many companies today rely on global teams to complete their projects. This means that the team members’ holidays may vary. For most people, the Holidays are the time to be with their family or pay their respect to something special that is part of their identity.
To prevent hiccups, I suggest using solutions like Asana or Monday.com. Here, you can create a shared calendar and gather information from your team’s freelancers so that everyone’s relevant dates are visible and you know what to expect.
See More: Workplace Analytics Can Cut Through the Noise in Collaboration Tools
Optimizing collaboration and task coordination
Most freelancers choose to go that route because they value freedom. Therefore, it is easy to understand that micromanaging can be extremely toxic. On the other hand, you’d like to know what’s going on. If this is your case, collaborative tools like Notion, Miro, ClickUp, and Figma can be of help. This way, you can follow the freelancers’ progress without harassing them.
A common issue for task coordination is making sure the instructions are clear, and creating the terms of reference manually every time can be very time-consuming. To optimize this process, you can use ChatGPT to create a universal template, relying on your previous ToR and information about the project. One of AI’s strengths is unifying and systematizing information, so automating this task can take a burden off your shoulders.
In line with this, I recently connected with a U.S.-based technological startup and learned more about how they manage their design contractors. Because the person in charge of managing freelancers has dozens of other tasks — which means that there may not be enough time for ongoing calls or texts — they conduct asynchronous calls through Loom. This platform allows you to record a short video talking about a task or giving feedback. This Loom link is sent to the freelancer through Slack and added to the project’s Notion workspace, where it is always available. Ultimately, this process reduces the need for real-time communication while maintaining the quality of real-time interactions.
Project tracking and accountability
Often, it can be challenging to determine a freelancer’s availability. You can easily schedule appointments by using services like Calendly, effectively “booking” a person’s time. Furthermore, these calendar tools can be easily integrated into the company’s stack, giving a boost to your project-tracking efforts.
When it comes to accountability, a common dilemma is figuring out how much time or money we have spent working with a particular freelancer. While there is no universal solution, my suggestion right now is to use tools like Lattice.
Also, if the company uses an FMS, VMS, or Global HR system, it will display a specific task’s start and end times. You can then use this information to build a dashboard and compare the freelancer’s performance with that of other specialists.
Using personalized communication channels
There will most likely be a time when a freelancer needs to interact with multiple departments, not just with one person within the company.
Technology can help make this process more transparent and productive. For instance, each person writing separately to the freelancer and assigning tasks can create confusion and make the monitoring process difficult. To solve this, you can utilize tools like Slack or Discord for tasks such as translations, or if you’re dealing with assignments that require an individual approach, I recommend using ClickUp or Jira. However, especially when dealing with communication tools, be mindful that you will need to create a space that is separate from your internal channels to make sure your data is protected. You can also leverage your existing FMS or VMS platform.
Embracing Technological Advancements
We live in a world where visiting the office and addressing issues in person is not always possible or necessary, which means communication must also evolve. Technologies are making remote and contract work more efficient and also more convenient for employees. By enhancing communication through technology, companies will see improved overall outcomes and better results on their tasks. Additionally, project teams will not only complete their tasks effectively and on time but will also feel more integrated as part of a cohesive team.
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Source: How to Improve Contractor Collaboration Using Tech – Spiceworks
