How to better manage freelance teams

The search for talent has become global and without geographical boundaries, making teams increasingly competitive and creating an ideal team a great challenge for companies.

Ramiro Gonzalez Forcada March 1, 2022

The search for talent has become global and without geographical boundaries, making teams increasingly competitive and creating an ideal team a great challenge for companies. More and more companies are hiring their workforce on a freelance basis, which has many advantages. However, it is also a great challenge. Some of the tools to achieve this are training and effective communication.

 

The boom of remote work goes hand in hand with the gig-economy. The latter refers to a market system in which temporary projects are common and companies tend to hire freelance workers instead of full-time employees. This trend has been growing more than ever for the last two years. The last survey of human resources consultancy ADP shows that more than half of the global labor force says to be more interested in freelance work since the arrival of the pandemic.

The gig economy is the economy of small tasks.

 

On the other hand, many studies by the World Economic Forum show that there is a great economic impact. A research has said that the gig economy will have an annual growth of 17,4%, which represents US$455 billion in global activity up to the end of 2023.

 

It is certain that more and more enterprises prefer to include independent and remote workers in their projects but, as it is an innovating and growing trend, the question about which is the best way of managing a freelance team successfully arises.

  • Provide training and tools

As it happens with the joining of a fixed employee, the independent workers who are incorporated to a company must know about its culture, values, mission and points of view. That’s why it is essential to send them documents or style guides, which are necessary to start working.

 

The fact of having a digital admission plan will make it faster and will teach the new employee about the organization and how it works as a whole. As it is possible that a freelancer who works 10 hours per week does not need the same quantity of information as an employee who works 40 hours, it is important to hand in only what is necessary in order to maximize efficiency and not to waste time.

 

  • Document and measure progress

Documentation of processes is relevant in order to understand what are the teams working on, so they can be in tune with each other. Therefore, they can ask for changes according to what they can observe. It is also vital to measure progress through collaborative platforms or tools where expectations, deadlines, orders and comments can be communicated. Thus, freelancers are able to understand how to manage their work within those due dates.

Communication is essential in every team. It must be transparent, pleasant and efficient. By virtue of new technologies, it is easier than ever to connect with remote workers through different platforms. But we must know how to use them, both in a technical and a personal way. It is significant to establish a friendly and transparent communication among teams in order to create a responsible and enjoyable work environment.

Building long-lasting relationships with freelancers will be the key for success to work with them in the future. To be able to trust them in various projects is invaluable as it implies hiring good-quality talent with minimized hiring costs and general expenditures. So it is ideal that they feel well-received and part of the team.

  • Understanding their way of working

It is a challenge for companies to understand that an independent worker, no matter how many projects they are working on, keeps on having a freelance work modality. It means that they do not work during common hours or they are not even in the same time zone as the company.

 

Freelancers work on their own and are used to manage their own time and work. But it does not mean that they are not able to fulfill a high-quality task or that they will not be available when required. On the contrary, they achieve aims in a different way but being efficient and productive as a fixed employee. It is relevant to know how to adapt to each other’s requirements and take into account deadlines, orders and common goals of the projects.

 

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