For business owners it can mean lower payroll costs, greater efficiencies, better talent.
Not all that long ago business-owners had to hire people to do all of the things they needed done in their companies. When the #work didn't require 40 hours a week to complete, an employer hired people to work part-time. Then, there were the tasks that needed to be done so infrequently an employer would hire a #casual #employee who would come to work only when the work needed doing, even if it was only an hour a week. Of these varying requirements in the work place there was one constant -- employers hired employees.
Then one day someone had the bright idea to get people to do some of the work they needed done without having to put them on #payroll and burden themselves with the costs and other onerous employer responsibilities. Instead of hiring employees, business-owners considered alternative ways to get some of the work they needed doing done, and, in the process saved a lot of money by eliminating employee-maintenance!
#Outsourcing became a thing, and then #temp workers, (actually temp workers came before outsourcing) and then #freelancers, and here we are! All three of these alternatives to hiring conventional employees are wildly popular and so far seem to facilitate a win-win for both business-owners and the non-employees they engage. Knowing the differences between outsourcing, temp workers, and freelancers helps employers make better choices, lower #humanresources costs, get better efficiencies, and often, get better talent. Check it out.
OUTSOURCING
Many business-owners, big and small, outsource certain #businessfunctions to professional #serviceproviders like a payroll-processing company. They electronically send all of their payroll data to a payroll-processing company and the company then performs all of their clients' payroll tasks from calculating and remitting source deductions to transacting direct deposits to issuing T4s. ADP and Paychex are big, well-known and well-used service providers that will work for companies with even as few as five employees. Outsourcing isn't just for big companies and corporations. #Smallbusinessowners can also outsource their #payroll, as well as other functions like #phoneanswering, #bookkeeping, and some #secretarial tasks. Probably the most distinguishing feature of outsourcing is that the employer never lays eyes on the people who do the work for him. It's all done online.
TEMP WORKERS
Back in the day they were called #GirlFridays, which was a great handle, but now they're called #temps, which isn't as sexy, but since over the years many men have become temps, the term Girl Friday just didn't apply anymore. Temps don't work full-time for a particular employer but rather a few days here and few days there for multiple employers. Often temp workers were (and still can be) put on payroll even though they might only be with a company for a few days or weeks. Most often though, temps are paid by the agency the employer used to acquire the temp. Temp workers are still very much alive and well in the workforce today covering random leaves of absence, maternity leaves, medical leaves, sudden absences, etc. The main distinction that differentiates temps from other types of non-employees is that they are required to do the work in person. A #temporaryreceptionist is needed to be physically present at a company's reception desk, as opposed to outsourced workers and freelancers who are either never seen or only occasionally seen.
FREELANCERS
Most companies need core employees whether it's two, ten, twenty, or two thousand. But companies also sometimes need specialized people from time to time to perform specific and maybe one-off tasks or #projects that have a predetermined beginning time and ending time. A project may be one a company will never do again or will never do again for five years so it doesn't need to hire an employee to complete the project since it is going to be short-lived. What the company needs is a #freelancer. A freelancer will take on and complete the project either at the company's offices, his own office, or through a combination of both, and will be paid the agreed-upon contract price no matter where he works from or how he chooses to apply the hours allotted to the complete the project. Freelancers are essentially #selfemployed and promote themselves as being highly-skilled in a particular skill, like developing mind-blowing PowerPoint presentations.
So, there you have it. Though the differences may seem subtle, each form of non-employee has something unique to offer and each provides a specific benefit to employers and their companies.
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