If freelance doesn't work for you, is the freelancer to blame?

    Why are so many executives afraid to contact outside employees? Perhaps because of the sad experience of working with freelancers: someone disappeared at the most inopportune moment and did not finish the job, someone did it for a very long time, so tired of waiting ...

    I was always alarmed by such stories. I do not think that the reasons for the described difficulties are the global inability of freelancers to do the job efficiently and on time. Rather, it is the wrong approach of individuals or companies to the organization of work.

    Standard scheme of cooperation between a company and a freelance employee (freelancer)


    usually looks like this: search for each other; conclusion of a contract for piecework wages ; development-acceptance-fixing; payment.

    As soon as we start talking about piece-rate pay for a freelancer, then the managers immediately realize that for N rubles the developer will dig land with his nose, but he will complete the task under the contract. If translated into the language of project management, managers' expectations of the ideal remuneration of freelancers are as follows:
    1. the pre-agreed, fixed cost of the contract makes the costs of the project predictable and controllable;
    2. it is not profitable for a freelancer to drag out time (the longer it takes to work, the later he will receive the money);
    3. quality is guaranteed by the fact that payment will be made only after acceptance and quality control.

    It would seem that nowhere is simpler: monetary motivation will force the freelancer to do everything on time and efficiently. But why does this circuit not always work? Why is it occasionally possible to meet PMa, who is afraid like the fire of external employees?

    When it does not work


    Imagine the situation. Deleted a vacancy. The announcement said that in a month the developer will receive “up to N rubles per month”, where N is obviously more than competitors offer, and more than the average salary in the region / by profession. Most likely, many people will respond to such a vacancy. TK will be handed out to them, contracts will be concluded, trial tasks will be issued ...

    It soon becomes clear that a useful way out of such a “team” is minimal. Many freelancers after the first delivery refuse to work. Others, on the contrary, drag out work for many, many months and are in no hurry to surrender. And only a few freelancers receive the amount per month that was promised in the announcement.

    Eventually:
    1. disappointed freelancers will write a negative review about the company, and it will be even more difficult to find new people;
    2. project deadlines will be in jeopardy.

    Why it happens?


    When such a job announcement is made, it is calculated how much the developer will receive per month: the cost of 1 "unit of work" is multiplied by the average number of "units of work" produced by an internal employee in this specialty. This figure is also placed in the ad.

    However, freelancers who have just come to the project will work 3-10 times slower than their colleagues in the company staff (this is especially true for non-standard jobs). Firstly, less experience with this TK, with corporate style and standards. Secondly, when the developer is far away, it is more difficult for him to agree with the acceptance.

    Over time, of course, the guys will become more experienced, will understand what and how to do it. Their income will grow to the very level that is written in the ad. But now, at the very beginning of the project, they get a penny. Developers are disappointed - and leave. They remain either very patient or very gifted (those who succeeded quickly and efficiently from 1-2 times).

    What to do?


    The answer is simple: it is necessary to ensure that developers (not only internal employees, but also external ones!) From the very beginning receive maximum profit from cooperation with your company. With seeming simplicity, few follow this advice. Customers very often take the pose of an “all-powerful buyer”: I pay money and do not want to hear anything about your problems.

    Here are some tips:
    • if you work on a subcontract, and you received the technical task from the general customer - do not be lazy, rewrite it in human language before inserting it into the contract. Better yet, shoot a short video explaining what you want from the developers;
    • operational communications decide: less mail, more calls and ICQ / Skype;
    • conduct free training for remote workers. I know some will now say: I already pay them money, why will I teach at my own expense? The answer is simple: commodity-money relations work as long as these relations are beneficial to both parties. If one of the parties is not interested (freelancers), then there will be no one to pay;
    • in the end, if the developer delays the implementation of the first task - treat with understanding, help him, tell us that at first it is always difficult, and then it will be easier.

    Focus on the interests of developers, on their needs.

    From my own experience I can say: it works.

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