There are a few topics that often seem off-limits in the contractor conversation. But they are important topics and need to be addressed:
- Full-time on-site
- Pricing
- It’s not just the resume
Full-Time On-site
There are no words that send a chill up the spine of an agency representative more than “full-time on-site.” Yes, full-time onsite is the death knell phrase to most contractors and agencies.
Why? Why would this be such a bad thing?
Most professional independent contractors remain independent contractors for a reason. They value their independence. They have their own offices, set up the way they like. They have their own computers. They have professional environments that they have created to work in.
Simply put, if they wanted to work onsite all the time, they would be full-time employees. Insisting that an independent contractor must be onsite all the time significantly limits the pool of top resources you have to choose from.
Contractors find that they are much more efficient working from their own offices. You can trust that the hours they spend on your project are used well. There is no “watercooler” chat. There are far fewer interruptions. They don’t need to attend as many meetings.
A good, professional contractor attends in-person meetings when they need to. They make their presence on the team known. They are available when you need them to be. But, they do not want to work at your office all day, every day. People who do that are called employees.
In addition, if you look back at the IRS rules of engagement and the ABC Test, the biggest factor that distinguishes a contractor from an employee is control of the work. The more you control how, when, and where the work gets done, the more risk you insert into the relationship. By not insisting on full-time onsite, you remove what is perhaps the biggest IRS risk.
One of the benefits coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic is the acceptance of work from home. During the pandemic lockdowns, most knowledge workers set up offices in spaces other than the company office.
What we learned is that, overall, people do not have to be sitting in a company’s building to do excellent work. Sure, some people work better in an office environment – they relish the in-person interactions and comradery that is missing from virtual teams. Many, including contractors, work very well or even better from home.
Since the pandemic, I have noticed that customers are no longer demanding full-time on-site. This has opened a much wider pool of contractors who are available to work on your project. I sincerely hope we do not go back to the difficult to satisfy demands of full-time on-site projects.
Pricing
Sometimes, there is an uncomfortable dance between the customer and the agency when it comes to the cost of the contractor. Just like any other business, content services agencies are in business to make money. They are not non-profits. If you want 100% of your funding to go to the contractor, then you should hire them directly.
If you feel the agency is supplying you with quality resources, saving you time and money by locating these people on your behalf, stepping in when there is an issue to resolve, guaranteeing the quality of the work performed, and more, then you should have no qualms about paying the fee charged by the agency. Sometimes customers demand to know the markup they are paying the agency. This is unfair. After all, do your customers have the right to know the markup they pay for your product or service? Not usually.
If your customers decide your product or service is the best choice for them, they pay the price. They don’t have the luxury of negotiating your company’s margin. This is not to say that you cannot set your budget. You are the customer, you absolutely can. You get to decide how much money you will spend for a contractor. The agency should respond by presenting resources that fit your budget. If the agency cannot find someone in your budget, then you should find a different agency or modify your budget. You get what you pay for, and this goes for contract resources, too.
It’s not just a resume
If you have selected a superior agency, one that has a great reputation and has been in business for a long time, then it is in your best interest to let them do what they do best. And that is matching the best people to your project needs.
Your agency should know the contractors they work with extremely well. They should have a long-term working relationship with the people who do the work. Over the course of the relationship, the agency learns things about the contractor that simply cannot be captured in a résumé because these things are intangible, personal characteristics. For example, how well they get along with customers, if they work well under certain management styles (micro-managers or hands-off managers), if they learn new things quickly, and more. If your agency tells you they have the perfect person for your project, you should feel comfortable trusting them. If you do not, you should switch agencies.
My customers are happiest when I find the perfect person for their project and they engage that person to do the work. It saves them countless hours reviewing résumés and interviewing people. It saves me countless hours looking for less-than-perfect people, when I already have the perfect match. And when my customer is happiest, I’m happiest. That’s what it’s all about. To learn more about how you can start contracting for the win, download the Guide to Success Outsourcing.
Val is on the Advisory Board for the Technical Communications Program at the University of North Texas. When not working with customers or students, Val can be found sitting behind her sewing machine working on her latest quilt. She also makes a mean hummus.
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