As professional services organizations (PSOs) face increased competition and a constrained talent pool, tapping contractors for work has become a necessity when it comes to staying ahead of competition. In fact, a recent NPR/Marist poll revealed that one in five jobs is held by a worker under contract. At this rate, independent contractors and freelancers could make up half of the workforce by 2028.
PSOs are all touched by the movement toward hiring independent contractors, which presents new challenges. How can you manage contractors efficiently? Can contractors seamlessly become part of the team? Are contractors helping your company reach its key performance indicators (KPIs)?
Luckily, there’s a technology solution out there that can solve this: professional services automation (PSA). Here are three ways a PSA platform can help you achieve greater success in managing contractors.
- Onboard contractors easily – and retain them
If you’ve recently hired 10 new contractors, chances are three of them might quit in the next 90 days or not want to work with your company again, according to a survey from Jobvite. Why? Thirty-four percent reported an incident or a bad experience drove them away, 43 percent said their day-to-day role wasn’t expected. This is worrisome when only 45 percent of businesses provide contractors and freelancers with training and only 54 percent offer formal onboarding, according to Deloitte’s “2018 Human Capital Trends” report.While providing a complete onboarding and training program to these workers may seem impractical, failing to do so could cause damage to a reputation, employer brand and internal teams. With a PSA platform, you can easily onboard contractors by sharing and storing all agreements and contact information upfront, removing the admin burden for you and your team. Additionally, with the ability to define their role and responsibilities, and assign them the number of hours they’re given for each project, it’s clear what their task is and what to bill against. - Remove the silos between contractors and employees
Silos within businesses can bring PSOs down. That’s exactly what happens when businesses use a variety of applications that can’t be synergized; team members and contractors find themselves disconnected and working at cross purposes. As PSOs project management approach has become more agile, it requires constant communication and collaboration between team members. PSAs break down these silos and increase visibility between projects and teams. In fact, Service Performance Insight Research has found it’s the transparency between projects and team members that allows executives to better analyze the business and make smarter decisions for positive outcomes. - Meet your KPIs
Almost every PSO is familiar with clients asking to measure and quantify the benefits of their work. But what about your company’s internal KPIs? Understand how your contractors are helping you meet your company’s revenue goals with the automated insight that PSAs provide. With real-time analytics, there’s no “digging” for performance and financial reports – and these reports are adjusted as data is inputted from your contractors. This gives you access to determine if costs and sales rates are accurate and you can easily manage the cash flow.Fortunately for PSOs who employ contractors, the tools available today are better than ever. All you need is the knowledge to choose the best-fitting PSA solution for your team.
Interested in learning how you can better manage your contractors? Contact us today.
