Driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, almost half of the world’s population shifted to working from home. Businesses are depending on freelancers more than ever before. From copywriting to sales, graphics to web designing, freelancers help in solving all types of work. Companies are also more inclined towards getting contract-based projects to be done by specific talents.
A freelancer management system makes it easy for all companies to hunt for freelancers. It also helps in monitoring tax reforms and works as per the employment terms.
What is a Freelance Management System?
All businesses today rely on freelancers for getting the work done. An FMS management is a platform for dealing with business remotely. It helps in streamlining the process from end-to-end. Also, it ensures finding the right candidate to ensure compliance in the company.
The work gets distributed properly, providing better outcomes. The businesses are sending the work via emails with timelines. The freelancer does the entire job as per time and sends it back to the employers.
How does a freelance management system work?
If your company has about 100 freelancers working under you, the freelancer platform helps in chalking out work. Likewise, managing the creation of a competent workforce can be a complex task. The FMS has specific steps of working to carry out all the organizational functions.
Defining the onboarding requirements when hiring freelancers
Every company comes with a different set of onboarding rules. Before hiring freelancers, give a check on their background and the jobs they did. Next, check whether you are planning to sign a contract or NDA. If the freelancers have any professional liability, ask them to let you know in the hiring process itself.
Defining the freelancer types and work they will do
Every company has different requirements of work, and they will hire the positions as per. Besides, while starting with the system, define the type of freelance work the employee has to do. The system helps in tracking all kinds of information, including every type of work in the company.
Defining the payment schedules
Before the freelancer platform, the freelancers' payments must have been checked out by the finance team. With the system, the owners can themselves get the opportunity to standardize the payment rates. If there are any increments, it can be done quickly by the owners. Take the statement of work labor and make the payments accordingly.
Also, decide when you want to pay the freelancers. Is it every month or even every quarter? Ask the freelancers what they are comfortable with and reach a possible agreement.
Defining integrations
The freelancer information system is a record of all the freelancers working in the company. You can give them signature tools like DocuSign to make sure they can access all the documents.
Also, use tools like Slack and Asana, where the payment invoices are sent automatically to the AP software. You have to determine what kind of freelance information you need and the systems to be worked on.
Configuring the message and branding
Each company has its unique style and to configure, sign with the sign-up experience. Decide the colors the app will be of and the purpose of the same. Also, check whether the message reflects the brand properly or not.
Freelance Economy is on the Rise
By the end of 2021, about 40 million Americans will become home employed, more than 60 million people. Likewise, the employment rate has increased except with contingent labor and temporary labor. The approved workplace ecosystems will include Wi-Fi or 4G connection, corner coffee shop, client sites, etc. The opportunities for freelancers are increasing, giving a way for them to rise in life.
Benefits of a Freelance Management System
It helps in finding the right talent
Finding qualified independent contractor labor becomes easy with the system. Secondly, you can search for candidates looking for either short-term jobs or long-term goals. Build a custom talent pool directly on the platform. It has become a game-changer for hiring managers.
Visibility of entire budget and where to spend
FMS helps you work in two models. Firstly, you can grant every department with the budget and ask how they spent it. Or you can ask the department manager to approve every single invoice. With the system, you don't have to worry about setting purchase orders anymore.
Providing easy payments
The task of reviewing individual people's invoices is such time-consuming work. A freelance management system removes this work for consolidating all the invoices into one for you to approve.
The procedure itself will pay the invoices once the manager supports them. There is less paperwork, so fewer chances of making mistakes. Also, it is the best thing for the finance teams.
Easy onboarding and offboarding
The system helps in automatic onboarding, which is streamlines and processed. Moreover, it helps to customize the onboarding as per the needs of the company.
Who needs a Freelance Management System?
Hiring level
Teams can hire directly from the system in various departments. These are IT, marketing, sales, product design, etc.
Operations
All the teams that work with the administration are benefited from the system. It includes HR, legal, finance, etc.
Treasury & Payments
This is the hardest part for freelancers. The teams handling payments, expenses, and budgets are also affected by the freelancer system. Paying invoices becomes so easy.
The economy is soon going to enter into a freelance economy. It's not sure to say whether freelancing will surpass full-time employment in the future or not. But for now, freelancing has taken its place. All the companies who have not implemented FMS will see themselves losing to the despairs of technology.
If your company is still looking for freelancers on spreadsheets, it's time you make the change. Start looking for a full-fledged freelancer management system.
When you have a sound freelance management system, you get good visibility into what the remote workers are doing. Transformify is a fully customizable freelance management system featuring AI-driven ATS, FMS and Self-billing modules accessible from a single dashboard. Billing and payments are fully automated making duplicate payments absolutely impossible. On top of that, Transformify can seamlessly integrate with accounting software like Xero, QuickBooks, FreshBooks, ERP systems like Microsoft Dynamics,SAP, Oracle, time tracking software like TimeCamp, TimeDoctor, Kronos, project management software like Jira and Asana, etc. In fact, most employers, staff augmentation companies and temporary staffing agencies prefer to work with the same team of freelancers and independent contractors over time. Having access to your pool of freelancers and being able to communicate with them and provide information about new projects saves time, costs and effort.