Hiring Outsourced Employees Without a Lengthy Onboarding Process

Imagine you’re heading a department in a large enterprise and are charged with building out a product development team that includes copywriters, designers, and other skilled professionals. 

As in the real world, the current landscape is highly competitive, and time to market is the most significant factor determining whether you’ll succeed in the short term.

What do you do? 

Many out there would go the traditional route and begin making a series of full-time hires. This is fine to start with, but once you have a few core team members in place, you’ll quickly find you’re sacrificing the one thing you cannot compromise on under any circumstances — time. 

In situations like this, the best strategy is often to supplement your core team with proven outsourced professionals, provided you can be assured of quality talent and a quick employee onboarding process. 

Here’s how to hire outsourced employees—and without a lengthy onboarding process.

When should you outsource?

two people sitting at a desk, you can only see their hands, with a computer looking at papers.

As with anything in business, outsourcing depends on your particular needs in both the long and short term, as well as the strategy you decide to follow. 

When determining whether you need to outsource or not, it’s essential to take a step back and analyze your situation based on specific criteria. 

Time is of the essence!

Without a doubt, the most significant factor is time. If you have to build a team on the double, you don’t need the hassle of posting ads, multiple rounds of interviews, carrying out tests, and dealing with all the paperwork involved.

With outsourcing, you get access to top talent at a moment’s notice. It’s as simple as that.

Lack of skills on the team

In many cases, you may already have an established team that you know, trust, and like how they work. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will possess all the skills you require for every situation. 

As the business world changes and evolves, there is an increasing need to address the skills gaps growing within companies. Take, for example, this 2020 report by consulting firm McKinsey. According to their research, web design and management are the second most significant skills gap.  With long-term employee retention getting harder and harder, many organizations are directing human resources toward finding new remote employees.

You can, of course, invest in upskilling and reskilling on your team. But that won’t produce the results you need right now. You either have to employ someone entirely new or outsource. 

3. Maxed-out capacities

Woman at desk with computer and papers holding her head in her hand seeming tired and frustrated

Even if you have the right people on your team who possess all the skills you could want, you may still benefit from extra support. The American Institute of Stress claims that an incredible 83% of employees suffer from workplace stress. Employee engagement is a hot topic among HR professionals.

As a team leader, there are many reasons that your workers’ stress levels and well-being will be vital to you. But, looking solely at the hard-nosed business side of it, stress leads to 50% of workers not engaging correctly with their work, making productivity and organizational culture suffer as a result. 

Getting even two hours of outsourced help a day can alleviate your current team’s workload, boost productivity and get you on target to hit your key performance indicators all around. 

4. Budget, budget, budget

Full-time employees are expensive and represent a certain amount of risk for an organization. In fact, in 2019, Gallup estimated that $1 trillion was lost to US businesses due to employee turnover. 

If you want to invest in an employee, that is perfectly legitimate. But that’s not always the most viable option financially, and you sacrifice a lot of flexibility when you go down the outsourcing route. Suppose you have a company policy that doesn’t allow a new hire to come from a remote work environment. Perhaps it is time for a rethink.

How to hire outsourced employees

Remote worker learning new skills on a laptop

Many out there have tried outsourcing before and have been disappointed by the results. Whether through marketplace platforms, staffing companies, or contacts, it can be a lottery to find someone worth it.

All the time and cost savings associated with outsourcing are for nothing if the individual doesn’t meet the required standard or, as can sometimes happen, completely disappears. It’s often possible that the paperwork necessary, whether due to regional legislation or anything else, slows down the onboarding process and becomes more hassle than it’s worth. 

Overcoming these challenges is a matter of doing your research properly beforehand. When choosing who to partner with, you should always ask yourself:

How do I ensure quality?

It’s the number one question, and for good reason. To be frank, the only way to truly ensure quality is to take the time to find out. 

Of course, time is of the essence. So, when carrying out your research, you should look for agencies that take the time to vet their network. Staffing companies, for example, are generally more concerned with placing individuals with businesses. There’s not really a push for quality. 

What if the individual doesn’t work out?

For one reason or another, sometimes it doesn’t work out with remote employees. It could be that their skills aren’t the ones you need after all. Or it may be that their style doesn’t fit with your company culture. 

While this is normal, it can be frustrating and expensive if you then have to begin the relationship-building process from scratch and find new hires. Instead, look out for agencies or platforms with a talent network and allow you to swap as you choose. 

If you need a designer one month and a copywriter the next, there’s no reason that should be a problem. Any company that doesn’t offer that is likely worth avoiding. 

How long is the onboarding process?

We can expand this to cover all ongoing administrative requirements. There’s absolutely no reason there should be a long, drawn-out onboarding process when working with talented freelance professionals. 

The only reason this happens is because of a lack of preparation. Take the issue of payment, for example. If you’re working with new hires from around the world, sometimes payment can get complicated and take time. 

The same goes for legal requirements, which can change from region to region. Often, it will require the freelance individual to carry out paperwork in their own country. The bottom line is that if you’re looking for quick support, all these issues can and should be addressed before hiring them. Writing an employee handbook as part of a remote onboarding process that is issued to all new employees or starting a formal onboarding program is a great place to start.

Getting access to freelancers with Quickly Hire

At Quickly Hire, we have all the tools to make your onboarding experience a breeze. We manage an extensive network of vetted and talented freelance professionals ready to hit the ground running. As a freelance marketplace, we aim to match the right talent with the right job while minimizing any issues arising from payment, paperwork, or administrative hassle. 

To learn more about us or our simple three-step hiring process, reach out to us today!


Author

  • Joshua Burns

    Joss is a Quickly Hire Pro Copywriter, providing partner companies with all the right words. Originally from Ireland, he moved to Spain in 2015 and still lives there to this day. His spare time is generally filled with fun, friends and long hikes in Madrid’s mountains.