The pros to hiring professional contractors

The sensible solution for serious businesses 

At first glance, the working days of an architect and app developer don’t seem to have a lot in common. Well, it’s time to look again, as in one important area there’s a growing similarity – and this is also proving the rule in all of our mustard divisions. Whether it’s in the BE, ID, MD, XP or FX industries, what we’re witnessing is the rise of the contractor in the employment stakes.  

These self-employed professionals are increasingly in demand to provide valuable skill sets and services, as well as offering a wealth of experience to companies. The contractor fills an important gap when a specific project demands their unique attributes, or simply when the workload demands a temporary increase in labour. 

This isn’t the only area in which contractors help businesses to thrive rather than simply function. Whether a growing team in the FX industry needs motion graphics artists, or a marketing department requires a social media manager, there’s many pros for the contractor and employer, seeing whether they’re a good fit for each other before any permanent contract is entered into. 

And if permanent contracts are not the way a business wants to go for the foreseeable future, then long-term contract placement is the perfect solution. mustard recruits personnel for periods of time running from a half a day to over five years – this provides optimal flexibility for ambitious long- and short-term projects. 

As if these weren’t reasons enough to take contractors as a serious solution for your business, then there are also these important perks which will help any company to remain competitive:

●   As we ride these turbulent economic waters, are your employee pension payouts, National Insurance contributions, and other employee entitlements making survival harder? Then consider how much cash this will free up for your business if, as your team grows, you recruit from an impressive pool of contractor candidates, all eager to maintain their freelance flexibility. 

●   Contractors don’t need training. They come ready to hit the ground running, fully equipped with the skills you require. 

●   There is no lengthy recruitment process, so your job gap is filled almost immediately. 

●   You pay the agreed quote for the job, helping to forecast financial outlay for your business. 

●   You may have the opportunity to move the placement from temp-to-perm. This highly beneficial interaction not only allows candidates to demonstrate their productivity, as well as how much of an asset they can be to your business, but also negates the risk of an unsuitable hire. This is the ultimate trial period with no commitment. 

●   If the arrangement proves unsuitable, then after the agreed notice period, everyone can move forwards to find a better fit. 

Even with all of these benefits, there remains a misconception that contract staff might cost more than their permanent equivalent. However, there are other, often forgotten, financial costs that come with full-time employees, but which disappear with freelancers. We’re talking about the already mentioned employers’ NI contributions, but also the cost of holiday pay, sickness, maternity pay, parental leave, and much more. Freelancers take this in their stride, and if you go the contractor route, you can too. Once these extra expenses are considered alongside contractor pay, then everyone’s a winner.  

It’s also never been easier to hire contractors from the start of the process right through to the end. One brilliant tool that we’ve invested in here at mustard is the digital timesheet solution. As soon as we’ve set you up with your own user account, you’ll be able to track and control all of the timesheets for your freelancers in one place. Our software even has its own app – TimeTemp – giving you the ultimate flexibility to make changes on the go. The app enables you to reject and approve timesheets anywhere, at any time. 

Other extremely useful features allow businesses to:

●   Optimise multiple hires through mustard. 

●   Receive notifications when a timesheet is submitted, as well as reminders to keep you on track. 

●   Access consolidated weekly invoices of all mustard freelancers, dramatically streamlining your financial processes. 

These are only a selection of the benefits offered to employers by hiring a contractor.

If you’d like more division-specific information about what you can gain and save, as well as details about some of the amazing people on our books, we’d love to talk to you. Click on these links to find our contact details for our individual teams – BE, ID, MD, XP and FX. Alternatively, pick up the phone and give us a call on 0117 929 6060.