Attract and retain the best talent in the market

In a red-hot labour market, attracting and retaining talented contractors requires speed, skill and agility. With many options available to them and businesses screaming for good people, contractors will go where the pay and conditions are good, the culture is positive, the work is interesting and the systems for onboarding and management of their contract administration are swift, polished and seamless. By Darren Berson, Founder, Platinum WFM

Businesses that deliver on all of these factors, secure and retain talent, and develop a reputation across the labour market for being world class organisations to work for.

Consequently, these organisations don’t have to do much to convince people to work for them. Their reputations do all the heavy lifting.

While many businesses perform well on some of these factors, many fail in the areas of contractor onboarding and management.

A contractor may enjoy working in a business that has great energy, but they are not going to persist with it if their pay is continually late or there are repeated issues with time sheets.

Getting contractor management right is critical. The question is – how do you get this right. The answer is simple – you outsource contractor management.

What is outsourced contractor management?

Outsourcing is a term that is kicked around quite a bit and commonly used in industries such as accounting and banking, but the reality is that outsourced contractor management is one of the fastest growing areas of outsourcing in the world.

Outsourcing contractor management simply means that contract management providers like Platinum WFM take care of onboarding, managing and paying contractors for organisations and staffing agencies. Essentially, we ensure all the necessary administration and compliance is taken care of with diligence and ease so that businesses can focus on doing what they do best, growing and delivering their business.

Contractors continue to work with and report to their manager within the business, but they deal with the contractor manager in relation to contactor, time sheets and pay issues.

Move with speed to avoid losing new contactors

One of the challenges in the current labour market is the speed at which things move.

Contractors are in such hot demand that unless you are able to move swiftly to engage and onboard them, they get snapped up elsewhere or move on. Outsourcing your contractor management activities addresses this issue.

Our contract management systems and processes are so highly tuned that we can literally engage and onboard a contractor within minutes.

Outsourcing literally reduces the risk of losing potential contractors by up to 90 plus percent. It also significantly improves contractor retention as well, which is important for business continuity and business client relationships.

Let the experts take care of things

The hot labour market is placing significant pressure on organisations to keep staff and contractors happy. Once a contractor is onboarded, it is essential to ensure that they are appropriately supported, and that their administrative and contractual needs are taken care of in a smooth, responsive and highly professional manner.

Contract management providers such as Platinum WFM are experts at ensuring contractors are appropriately supported.

On-time payments and cashflow

Your people are your most important assets, however they are also your most costly. It is essential that they are paid on time and there is sufficient cashflow to enable on-time payment every week, fortnight or month.

Contract management providers like Platinum WFM are also able to assist with solutions to ensure businesses are capable of meeting their labour costs in a timely manner.

As a business we utilise, and also work with our clients to set up facilities such as Earlypay’s Invoice Finance. Using the Earlypay Invoice Finance facility, businesses are paid upfront when an invoice is generated and Earlypay then ndertakes responsibility for debtor management.

Invoice Finance is also ideal for businesses that are new, have a limited trading history, an ATO debt or require flexible credit history conditions. Contract management providers are experts at making life easier for businesses when it comes to onboarding, managing and paying contractors and this includes identifying potential cashflow solutions.

Choose the right Contractor Manager

Outsourcing contractor management should enhance the working experience for contractors, reduce the risk to businesses and improve the reputation of organisations in the labour market.

How do you choose a contractor manager. Look for a provider with cutting edge technology and industry experience. The whole purpose of technology is to amplify your resources by simplifying and, where possible, automating the processes that are repeated in your business. Good tech also enables the smooth passage of information through your business, from timesheet to invoice to payroll to ATO.

I was a recruiter for many years before I began developing tech solutions for our industry. There are three key things to consider.

Risk management: There are some unique risks to managing contractors. Your outsource solution should have good governance and reporting practices built in to help you manage these risks.

A system specialist: If your team does not have the technical capacity to support your contractors across different systems, look for an outsource solution with all-Aussie support that your contractors can count on because if they can’t, their issues will simply circle back to you to solve.

A dedicated administrator: If the number of contractors you manage shrinks and expands throughout the year, you may not want to employ a dedicated person to manage their needs. There are outsource options with built-in contractor care, but make sure you entrust your contractors to a white label service - don’t handover your assets to a third party.

Scalability and flexibility

Outsourcing contractor management provides increased ability to grow and scale.

It also reduces the weight of responsibility and resourcing on your own organisation.

Contract management providers like Platinum WFM have the tech capability and resourcing flexibility to respond to fluctuating workload requirements with ease.

We are responsive, knowledgeable, and importantly, focused on ensuring that your contractors are well managed.