The trend towards gig economy is on the rise. When you are in need of qualified talents for your company’s project on a temporary basis, is the time to tap into the freelance market. However, if you want to benefit the most out of freelancers, then you need to make sure that they work alongside your full-time employees. So, how do you build trust between full-time employees and freelancers?
With the privilege of working remotely and flexibly, more people are leaving their full-time jobs and jumping to join the bandwagon of freelancer generation. Based on study by UpWork and Freelancer Union’s , 54 million or 34 percent American workforce are freelancers.
In the United Kingdom, Professional Contractors Group estimates that 1.91 million or 36 percent Britishers are self-employed. While in Asia Pacific, Truelancer notes that 15 million freelancers make up 12.5 percent of the total population.
Considering the rise in gig economy leading to emergence of a contingent workforce from the employer’s point of view, freelancers provide distinct skills and experience that the company cannot find in their in-house experts. The need for cost-savings, speed, flexibility, and access to skilled talents are only a handful examples on how freelancers can help your business grow.
However, having mixed types of workforce in your network poses another challenge – managing smooth and healthy relationships between these two distinct working groups.
When employers fail to build trust between the external and internal talents, problems might arise to affect smooth workings of an organisation, coordination to get tasks done, collaborations to impact productivity and business bottom line in the long term. Therefore, to avoid any unwanted issues, HR leaders should foster culture of trust and encourage open communication in the team.
Here are three practices you can implement to foster better teamwork between employees and freelancers:
See: A New Tripartite Workgroup to Be Formed to Protect the Interest of Freelancers in Singapore
Before signing on the dotted line and recruiting freelancers, it is crucial for every organisation to communicate clearly company’s vision to them. You should also ensure that everyone in the team, working for your organisation is on the same page.
To avoid any misunderstandings that might generate suspicions, lack of motivation and insecurity, HR leaders should be able to define and explain the company’s goals to all parties involved in the project. Not only delivering the message helps, but you should also create a plan on how to retain top performers (be it full-time employee or freelancers) with the organisation to be a part of the growth vision.
Onboarding is not only useful for permanent employees. Despite their employment as a temporary worker with the company, freelancers need to go through an onboarding program too. Be it remote or on-site freelancers, they should have basic knowledge and orientation about the company they are going to work for. Onboarding of freelancers shouldn’t be too deep and complex.
Rather, you should make it as effective as possible, by providing key information about the organisation. For example, you can provide them with an overview of the project, detail company culture, and state expectations. Through this method, freelancers will learn to adapt and adjust themselves in your existing culture.
Employees are not merely workers who are paid for getting jobs done. Beyond this, good employees are willing to actively contribute and involve in the company’s growth plan. Therefore, before you decide on bringing external talents to your workforce, you can work with involving full-time employees in the decision-making process.
For example, you can ask for their opinions during the planning stages, and invite assistance in selection of talents etc. Through this approach, employees will more likely accept when new team members are brought in.
Read also: How Do You Better Manage Freelancers in a Gig Economy?
