Should You Have a Full Time Worker, Contractor, or an Outsourcer?

Workers come in more varieties than ever. Use this advice to choose the best option for your business and the tasks and work that needs to be done by these workers.

Fulltime, Contract, or Outsourcing?

There are certainly pro’s and con’s to having another person working on your business.  Whether you are outsourcing from a place like Odesk.com or Elance.com, hiring a full time worker or having a contractor it is important that you come up with a strategy to utilize their talents, passions, and abilities.  However, a lot of small business owners to take into consideration the differences each style of worker can bring to the table.  Most business owners just know they need some help getting all the their work done and don’t break it down in order to fit the work that needs to be done with the style of worker.

The 3 styles of workers we will cover today are; Independent and Freelance Workers, Outsourcers, and Full Time Employees.  They each bring something a little different to the table and in order to utilize them in the greatest capacity, you will need to know what these are and the pro’s and con’s within each style of worker.

Full Time Employees
Pro’s: These type of workers truly become a growing asset within your business.  The full time employee really needs to be utilized in positions or jobs that will actually produce revenue and since full time employees show the greatest dedication then this can be thought of as an increasing asset.
Con’s: Everyone knows that having full time employees is the priciest option.  You will need to pay for things like Health Insurance, Social Security, Health Care, and a 401-K or a pension if you are planning on having those as options.   So this is certainly a huge investment and the most involved style of worker.

Independent Workers or Freelancers
Pro’s: This type of worker is great for short term projects with quick turnarounds that require specific skills without a long learning curve.  Freelance style workers are great for projects that you don’t have a clear vision on the future of the project or even your small business.  These are also great when it comes to downsizing since both of you went into this situation knowing that a change could happen at any time.
Con’s: It is most likely that these style of workers will put their interests ahead of your businesses.  So, do not expect them to be 100% committed to your vision or plans for your business.

Outsourcing:
Pro’s: Like the Freelance workers the outsourcer is best when you need highly specialized skills quickly and don’t have the resources to train someone to get their.  With the cropping up of virtual desktops, vpn’s, vps’s, and many other advanced in technology these workers can seem like they are working in the same office as you are even though they are actually in the Philippines.  One great thing about outsources is the ability to get to test drive a person before you hire them on full time.  It is also a bonus that they can have the chance to learn the skills needed for the task while working as an Outsourcer and once they have the skills you can hire them on as a full time employee.
Con’s: Since Outsourcers usually come with the skills you need right off the bat you will likely pay for those skills. So, you will probably be paying more for their skills than if you hire someone to do it in-house.  A lot of time we have utilized Outsourcing it felt more along the lines as partnership than a client-vendor relationship.

So, next time before you go out and hire a worker pay attention to the task and projects you have planned for them to do and first decide which style of work you want.
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