The State of Freelancer Payments is a Mess

Onboarding, classifying, and paying freelancers is a much different process than managing full-time employees. Those who choose to freelance usually do so in order to have more flexibility in their work schedules. This need for flexibility also extends to payments. Unfortunately, most companies have a bad track record when it comes to paying their freelancers.

The current state of freelancer payments is a mess. 71% of freelancers have dealt with clients paying them late or not at all. Surveys have also backed up these numbers from the company’s perspective with more than 37% of businesses admitting to taking over 90 days to pay their freelancers – a number that is three times longer than the average time for full-time employees.

In no other type of work is this lax in payments acceptable, so why has this been allowed to persist for freelancers?

Freelancer Payments Need a New Approach

The reason is that 83% of companies do NOT have the necessary infrastructure for flexible freelancer payments. Brands who try to manage and pay freelancers themselves in a manual way will quickly realize just how overwhelming it is when they don’t have an efficient way to keep track of and process freelancer payments quickly.

While companies may be using a traditional PEO for full-time employees, the truth is that these traditional platforms are just not designed for efficient or compliant freelancer management and payments. Technology is often an afterthought and they do not address the core problem. These solutions are built for full-time employees, not flexible workers who receive payments on an as-needed basis. Freelancers require a completely different approach to payroll, benefits, compliance, and more. 

Technology is the Answer!

What businesses need is one centralized platform and system of record where they can easily pay each freelancer, track their spend, manage the work being done, and ensure that they are compliant with all state and federal laws. That’s why at AllWork we brought together not just freelancer management technology but also an integrated payments platform specifically built with freelancers in mind.

Technology can automate invoicing, facilitate secure transactions, and ensure timely payment disbursement. Building trust through transparent payment processes means that you will attract top freelancers to your brand and keep them staying on longer.

Moving forward, make sure to review how your company is processing freelancer payments! Don’t leave your freelancers hanging for up to 90 days. Ensure that your freelancers are paid on time and compliantly by partnering with a provider familiar with the flexibility needed for freelancer payments.  

Rather than try and have an internal HR and payroll department try to tackle freelancer onboarding and payments, you should outsource this work to freelancer specialists. A freelancer payments platform makes sure that these workers are paid swiftly and securely. Make sure you chose to work with a platform that not only issues flexible payments but will make sure every freelancer is correctly classified as 1099 or W2. Having a flexible, secure way to pay your freelancers means that you can attract and retain the best talent.

This is exactly why we built AllWork. With our Total Freelancer Management and Payments Platform, you can direct source your freelancers and then have one centralized platform and system of record where you can easily pay each freelancer, manage the work being done, and ensure that you are compliant with all state and federal laws.

AllWork is designed from the ground up to eliminate the hassle of onboarding, managing, and paying your flexible workers. We want you to see it in action to get a real feel for how we can address your unique freelancer payment headaches. Request a demo today.