With the rise of the gig economy and a wider swath of Americans defining work on their own terms, the assumption of slow payments isn’t as safe as it once was. Gig workers — the independent contractor crowd — are…
Contract Labor
Smart Hiring Can Keep Your Startup From Failure
Research suggests that about 70% of venture-backed tech startups fail to thrive. Only slightly over half of all new businesses survive five years. I didn’t intend to start this article with negative stats, but it’s a hard world out there…
Engaging Your Freelance Talent Is More Important Than Ever
The war for talent continues to rage, and 77% of CEOs are now concerned about talent/skills availability as a business threat, according to PwC’s Annual Global CEO Survey. But where do CEOs turn to find this valuable and elusive talent…
3 Steps Companies With a Blended Workforce Should Take to Protect Themselves
Companies that solely rely on traditional hiring models may soon lose their ability to remain competitive. Traditional models of hiring no longer provide the agility businesses must have to access in-demand skills when and where they’re needed. One reason is…
What Will Happen When You No Longer ‘Own’ Talent?
Needs-based employment is hardly a new phenomenon. Since even before the Industrial Age, when a business needed a toolmaker, an accountant or some other skilled worker, it hired one. It then “owned” one, as Bryan Clifton describes the relationship. That’s…
The Hidden Consequences of a Growing Gig Workforce
In the employment firmament, their star is rising. They appear when you need them, go away when you don’t, and there’s always a long line of replacements ready to step in. Contract workers are in wide use today, and it’s…
Should You Offer Performance Pay for Your Gig Workers?
From Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to Fiverr, TaskRabbit, Upwork and Behance, gig platforms are everywhere. If you need something done, whether it’s a simple microtask or a complete overhaul of your marketing strategy, chances are there’s a gig worker on a platform somewhere that can do…
Facing a Misclassification Claim? Here Are Some Ways to Get Your Insurance to Pay
Most businesses, and startups in particular, need to keep costs down. Workers either cannot or do not want to work traditional hours. So begins the boom of the independent contractor model, or the so-called “1099 economy.” But when a startup…
How to Hire Great Freelancers
Each project your company undertakes with freelancers (sometimes referred to as agile talent, 1099s, consultants, contractors, etc.) is a two-way street. As a manager, you need to be prepared to hire freelance talent and provide specific guidelines and metrics for…
Communication is the Key to Getting the Best From Your 1099s
We all know communication is central to the success of any relationship. So why, then, do so many companies and HR managers have trouble setting effective communication parameters with freelance talent? Part of it could be that most companies simply…
The Future of Work Is Going Freelance
Independent Work: Choice, Necessity, and the Gig Economy from the McKinsey Global Institute, is fascinating reading. If you’re in HR, talent acquisition or are a leader of people, you’ve probably been paying attention to the coverage of the “Gig Economy”…
Background Checking In a Gig Economy
The US economy has changed dramatically over the last 50 years — from stable employment in large organizations to an increased reliance on temporary or contracted labor (with an emphasis on service and tech industry jobs). While the manufacturing world…
Budgeting Comp For a Blended Workforce
One of the key missions of a CHRO (or those who want to become CHROs) is to create a compensation plan. This has become increasingly complicated and dependent on other departments (like procurement) as the workforce has drifted to a…
Benefits for Your Part-timers? It’s a Trend That’s Paying Off
The holiday season is fast approaching, and when it comes to retail, it can be difficult for employers to keep up with the hiring rush. The problem: Employers need to hire quickly while still finding quality candidates. During the stressful…
3 Ways the Gig Economy Should Be Changing Your Workforce Planning Now
Freelancer. To some, the word sounds like a synonym for someone too lazy or unqualified to work a ‘real job.’ But I’ve found that working with freelancers has been integral to my success as an entrepreneur. And as millions of…
How To Make Your Contractors Part of the Team
It’s no secret that contract employees often feel like second-class citizens in the workplace. Employers are prone to separating full-time and contract workers, sometimes to the extreme: placing contractors on separate floors of the office, giving them different security badges,…
How to Encourage the Entrepreneur On Your Team
As you begin building your business, the people you hire will be pivotal in shaping its culture and maintaining its success. But impressive talent doesn’t always make for impressive results. So the question is: How do you build a strong…
Does LinkedIn’s Free Agent Platform Have a Future?
LinkedIn is fascinating but frustrating. Is it just the world’s biggest pile of professional resumes or something more? Is being a publishing platform and learning site central to its future or secondary? LinkedIn sure is useful for now, but where…
Here’s What You Need to Know Before Hiring Gig Workers
Unless you’ve been stuck in suspended animation for the last three years, you’ve no doubt been inundated with information — and opinions — about the gig economy. Most of the public discussion has been around the implications it has for…
5 Ways the U.S. Can Compete with New European Jobs Act
In January, the Italian government announced the Jobs Act, designed to protect Italy’s growing class of freelancers and the self-employed. The Jobs Act provides — among other things — five months of maternity benefits to new mothers and rights to wages,…