February 10, 2023
Whether you're looking to expand your team, have a big project with a tight deadline, or simply need more coverage, freelancers are the best option available because they provide the expertise and skills you might need to get the job done.
Small businesses especially benefit from hiring freelancers as they can get access to top talent for a lower cost. Regardless of local labor market conditions, hiring remote employees can help you find the best talent, especially if there is a shortage of certain profiles in your area.
However, supervising and monitoring a remote employee can be somewhat of a challenge since you cannot walk up to their desk and check if they’re doing their job. So, you might need the right processes and tools to hire and manage remote employees.
In the post below, we share some of the best ways to manage your team of freelancers and remote workers efficiently.
Before you start recruiting new candidates to join your company, you must also know that it’s more expensive to get a new employee than to keep an existing one. As a result, in addition to recruiting, you should have a good retaining strategy in place to help you build effective and productive teams.
The best way for effective team building is to add freelancers to your existing workforce, as this will provide the organisation with new faces willing to experiment and tear down barriers.
And, to make the process run more smoothly, use a platform to simplify the onboarding. A quality freelancer management software will help you decrease paperwork and track the freelancers’ services, availability, location, and project progress, and manage all the legal and financial aspects. This type of software will centralies your information and improve the overall workflow.
When you work with remote teams, you don’t always have the chance to talk about important issues and project concerns. For this reason, you should put some effort into setting up one-on-one meetings and allow your employees to contact you on Skype, Zoom, or other online collaboration platforms without conflict of time zones.
Make your freelancers and remote employees feel that you’re available to them for any questions or concerns they might have. You can schedule one-on-one discussions on a weekly basis, which will provide a great opportunity for your team members to share their thoughts, opinions, or struggles, as well as for you to offer advice or instructions.
When working with remote teams, one of the crucial things that a lot of companies seem to forget is that to keep your employees engaged, you must create the right work environment. Although they work remotely, freelancers and remote teams want to feel that their employers want to engage them on a more personal level.
This not only boosts loyalty among employees but also builds integrated teams where individuals can work closely together. Try to organise virtual meetups and team buildings, and plan a variety of virtual activities so that you can grow the team, bond with the team members, and make them feel appreciated and valued.
When managing freelancers and remote teams, it’s not uncommon to come across cultural obstacles. Multicultural teams might bring different misunderstandings and unfortunate conflicts that can divide the teams. Managing people from different cultures can be challenging, but in order to build strong teams, you must embrace cultural diversity and educate yourself on corporate culture in various countries.
For instance, try to learn how different people from different countries are open to receiving feedback, celebrate the differences, and always be respectful about your global team’s national holidays and festivities.
The majority of freelancers and remote team members want to do a great job so your collaboration continues in the future as well. So, creating a good relationship with them might help you get the best work out of them, and retain them.
Providing regular feedback is one way of achieving this. Be open with them and share what was good with their completed assignments and what improvements are needed. If the relationship doesn’t move in a good direction and you stop working with the freelancer, you should still provide feedback even when the project ends as any criticisms or remarks can help both sides to improve the services they offer.
The process of hiring and managing remote teams comes with a range of challenges but there’s a solution to every challenge allowing both sides to enjoy the benefits of this type of relationship. Having good management software and maintaining open lines of communication will keep your remote employees happy and boost your productivity levels.
Hiring freelancers gives you access to specialised skills and top talent without the overheads of a full-time employee. It's a flexible way to scale your team for specific projects, especially when you can't find the right skills in your local area.
Using a freelancer management software is highly effective. These platforms help you streamline the entire process, from onboarding and contracts to tracking project progress and managing payments, keeping everything organised in one place.
Consistent communication is key. Schedule regular one-on-one video calls to discuss more than just work. Also, plan virtual team-building activities or casual online meetups to foster personal connections and build a stronger team bond.
Embrace the diversity. Take time to learn about the cultural norms of your team members, especially regarding communication styles and feedback. Being respectful of different holidays and traditions shows that you value them as individuals.
Yes, providing regular, constructive feedback is essential. It helps freelancers understand your expectations and improve their work. This open communication builds a better working relationship and increases the likelihood of successful future collaborations.
