What is a Freelancer Management System (FMS) and Why do You Need One?

Hiring, overseeing, and managing a flexible team is very different than the day-to-day management of traditional, 9-5 employees. Full-time employees tend to have set schedules and salaries and are, more likely than not, located in the same place as the rest of your team. Freelancers are exactly the opposite. They work on constantly changing projects and timelines with a lack of face-to-face supervision. 

With the extreme surge in hiring freelance talent over the past few years, businesses have begun to see the benefits of what these flexible workers can bring to their team. In fact, 90% of businesses saying that high skill freelancers will be an integral part of their talent strategy going forward. Having someone who is a specialist in their field available to work on a specific project exactly when you need them has become a critical segment of the workforce.

Does your team hire UX design, branding, content, and marketing experts? Tech, IT, and web development consultants? Event staff? Gig workers? ALL of these are freelancers that can be key to helping a company run their business across all types of diverse skill sets and departments.

This new workforce presents its own set of challenges. Managers who are new to oversee freelancers may struggle with assigning tasks, communicating task requirements and resources, as well as tracking the team’s progress. Not to mention the logistical and legal complexities that come with classifying and paying freelancers. If you’re trying to manage all of this with spreadsheets, emails, and other manual processes, you’ll soon discover just how time-consuming and overwhelming it can be.

So, what is a Freelancer Management System?

All of this means that, in order to succeed, you’re going to need to implement a Freelancer Management System (FMS) where you can onboard, classify, organize, and assign your project-related tasks, and pay your freelancers. Having a formal system of record in place means you’ll be able to keep track of this flexible workforce and have more visibility into who your freelancers are and the projects they’re working on. A Freelancer Management System also lets you track tax forms and reduce risk by making sure workers are correctly classified and paid on time.

Switching from an old, outdated process with manual methods for managing your freelancer to streamlining and automating working with them with one end-to-end system means you’ll:

Without these defined standards and processes in place, your team will end up burdened by admin and payment tasks when managing this flexible workforce. For any business that works with freelancers and wants to unlock the full potential of their workforce, a Freelance Management System will be essential.

To learn more about how AllWork can help you correctly classify, onboard, manage, and pay your freelancers, get in touch to schedule a demo.