There are two essential methods to retain your best human capital: Good pay and a satisfying work experience. The latter can have a more significant impact compared to the investment since happy workers not only stay with you, but they’re also 13% more productive. Fortunately, making the experience smooth and engaging for you and everyone you hire is not as difficult as it seems. Here are four foolproof ways to improve your gig worker’s experience.
1. Keep them informed and engaged.
Nothing aggravates an independent contractor more than an employer who doesn’t know what they want – or who enjoys keeping everyone in the dark. You need to clearly articulate what you expect from their efforts while avoiding direct supervision of their work. Well-defined goals keep them on target, but micromanaging is a sure way to smother their initiative.
It’s a tricky balance to provide structure and consistency to your gig workers without stifling their independence. If you learn how to manage this, you’ll see fantastic results and crush your competition. Every interaction you have with your independent contractors should be a learning experience for you both, as well as a great way to improve your image. Gig workers talk amongst each other, and the experienced ones know which companies to avoid.
2. Pay them quickly
Eight out of ten on-demand workers say they want to be paid immediately. Yet, many are not despite modern banking technology that allows instant payments as a routine part of their service. If you’re still using digital wallets or paper checks, you’re throwing money down the drain in fees and time while your freelancers wait to get paid for their work.
3.Give them flexibility and freedom.
One of the biggest benefits independent contractors cite for escaping full-time employment is gaining flexibility and becoming their own boss. This increases the sense of ownership of their work and directly boosts their passion to shine.
Top-performing gig workers take great pride in going above and beyond the expectations of their employers. When you tell them you love their results – and mean it – you’ve given them the incentive to work even harder. Plus, when you take the time to praise success, your constructive criticism seems much more genuine and helpful instead of disparaging.
Gig workers value flexible hours. They became a gig worker to work on their own terms and often have busy lives that interfere with traditional employment. Another issue employers need to be aware of is deciding when a contractor can and can’t work may cross the line into the definition of an employee, so there’s every reason to give as much flexibility as you can.
4.Use integrated compliance and payroll software.
Managing your contractors’ payments and tax forms is probably the most challenging part of the gig economy for any business once they grow beyond a couple of freelancers. At least, it used to be the most challenging part. Today, it’s as easy as a few clicks of your mouse. New payroll technology created the perfect opportunity to take digital wallets to the next level. All tax forms are automatically generated using integrated banking and compliance software when you issue payments to your workers. Instant payments are part of the package, and contractors’ onboarding is quick and straightforward. Issuing a payment causes the system to send the gig worker an invitation to access their dashboard and keep track of their revenue.
Once you set up an account, you can pay as many contractors as you want – without having to write a single line of code. You can download a simple CSV template and follow the directions to pay thousands of workers – or a single one easily. You can also use an advanced developer API to interface with your business’s software. The API organically scales with your company as your needs change and save you countless hours – not to mention all the stress.
Businesses that can attract high-quality gig workers have a substantial competitive advantage. Retaining them is critical to growing your brand and boosting revenues; if you pay them competitive wages and follow these four guidelines, the odds of dominating your industry skyrocket.
