{"id":4535,"date":"2019-08-06T05:59:45","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T09:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/?p=4535"},"modified":"2021-12-16T16:25:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T21:25:57","slug":"tips-to-keep-your-independent-contractors-motivated-and-productive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/tips-to-keep-your-independent-contractors-motivated-and-productive\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips To Keep Your Independent Contractors Motivated and Productive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Keeping the full-time employees in your office motivated and\nproductive can be a real challenge, and those are people you have the\nopportunity to see and interact with on a daily basis.  Keeping independent contractors motivated and\nproductive, especially if they work remotely at least part of the time, can be\norders of magnitude more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s well worth the effort to do so, however, because your\ncompany\u2019s success depends on everyone, both full time, regular employees and\nthe independent contractors you choose to bring into the fold for specific\nprojects.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how do you go about doing it?  Where do you even start?  In this article, we\u2019ll address those\nquestions and give you some actionable advice you can start putting into\npractice today.  Let\u2019s dive right in and\nget started!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pay Issue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not at all difficult to find independent contractors\nwho are willing to work below the market rate, and it\u2019s incredibly tempting to\ntake them up on that offer.  In the long\nrun though, that strategy will earn you a reputation as a skinflint and you\u2019re\nunlikely to be able to attract top-tier talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pay your contractors market rate.  Once you get to know them and the quality of\ntheir work, if you can afford it, pay them a little more.  Kudos and attaboys are all well and good, but\nnothing shows your appreciation like acknowledging the excellence of the work\nthey\u2019re doing for you like padding out their paycheck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get To Know Them<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, you get to know a bit about every employee you hire, whether contractor or not, simply by reviewing their resume and interviewing them.  That\u2019s a good first step, but especially where contractors are concerned, you owe it, both to yourself and to the person you\u2019re hiring to do more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about it like this: \nWhen you hire a new permanent addition to your staff, you at least have\nthe opportunity to see and interact with them every day.  Over time, you\u2019re destined to get to know\nthem better.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may be true in the case of an independent contractor,\nbut at least as often as not, it isn\u2019t. \nYou may only touch base with them once a week, and even then, perhaps\nonly by way of a conference call.  There\nare just relatively fewer opportunities to get to know them as a person; as an\nindividual.  Make time to do that,\nespecially if you like their work and think you may want to use their services\nagain after the current assignment is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give Gifts Of Recognition<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re like many business owners, you probably have some\nkind of employee recognition program.  If\nyou don\u2019t have anything like that set up yet, it\u2019s well worth taking the time\nto do so, because study after study has shown that such programs consistently\nand reliably improve morale and increase employee retention rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t have to give extravagant gifts, but if you\u2019re in\nthe habit of recognizing your full-time employees in that way, it helps make\nthe contractors you employ feel like they\u2019re genuinely part of the team when\nthey\u2019re included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding, Expectation & Feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is another aspect of hiring contractors that is\nmarkedly different from hiring a regular, full-time employee.  Contractors are usually hired for a specific\nproject or job.  Often, that job is short\nto medium in its duration, so it pays to ask some questions on that front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is the contractor interested in taking this assignment\nin particular?  What is it about the job\nthat the contractor finds so appealing? \nAsking those types of questions gives you insights you may not have\ngotten otherwise and allows you yet another way to get to know the contractor\nyou\u2019re working with better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the particulars will vary from one person and one job\nto the next, a good general guideline is to set very clear expectations up\nfront, and it almost always pays to check in at regular intervals, especially\nin cases where you\u2019ve never worked with a particular individual before, but to\ndo that without micromanaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, once you gain a better understanding and level of\ntrust and confidence, it\u2019s almost always a good idea to transition away from that\napproach and give your contractor a bit more freedom and flexibility.  Given the nature and character of their work,\nit\u2019s almost a given that they\u2019ll have more freedom and flexibility than your\nregular employees, and that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That brings us to feedback. \nChecking in doesn\u2019t have to be, and in the case of contractors, probably\nshouldn\u2019t be a formalized review process, but feedback given at regular\nintervals is essential.  Not only does it\ngive you an opportunity to redirect if things start heading in a direction\nyou\u2019re less than thrilled with, but it also gives you an opportunity to let them\nknow that you genuinely appreciate them, their efforts and the value they\u2019re\nadding to your company with their work.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everybody likes hearing they\u2019re valued.  That\u2019s not something that\u2019s unique to your\nregular, full-time employees, and if you\u2019re not giving feedback\u2014and especially\npositive feedback\u2014to your contractors at regular intervals, you\u2019re missing a\nbig opportunity to keep motivation levels high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest thing to remember about working with freelancers\nand independent contractors is that you\u2019re almost certainly not their only\nclient.  If you don\u2019t go the extra mile\nin terms of making them feel that their efforts are appreciated and that\nthey\u2019re part of the team, a couple of things will happen as a result:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, they won\u2019t be all that inclined to accept projects\nfrom you in the future, and you\u2019re going to be disappointed by that if you find\nthat you like the quality of their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, independent contractors tend to move in the same\ncircles and you\u2019re likely to wind up with a reputation that makes it\nincreasingly more difficult to hire the best-quality contractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that most of the things we outlined above\nare fairly easy to begin implementing. \nIf you do nothing more than implement the suggestions outlined above,\nyou\u2019ll be miles ahead where your contractors are concerned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keeping the full-time employees in your office motivated and productive can be a real challenge, and those are people you have the opportunity to see and interact with on a daily basis.  Keeping independent contractors motivated and productive, especially if they work remotely at least part of the time, can be orders of magnitude more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1036],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employee-motivation-2","category-tips-and-tricks"],"yoast_head":"\nTips To Keep Your Independent Contractors Productive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Keeping employees motivated and productive is a challenge. Actionable Advice for keeping independent contractors motivated and remote employees productive.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/tips-to-keep-your-independent-contractors-motivated-and-productive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tips To Keep Your Independent Contractors Productive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Keeping employees motivated and productive is a challenge. Actionable Advice for keeping independent contractors motivated and remote employees productive.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/tips-to-keep-your-independent-contractors-motivated-and-productive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Successories Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Successories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-06T09:59:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-16T21:25:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Successories\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Successories\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Successories\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Successories\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/tips-to-keep-your-independent-contractors-motivated-and-productive\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/tips-to-keep-your-independent-contractors-motivated-and-productive\/\",\"name\":\"Tips To Keep Your Independent Contractors Productive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-06T09:59:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-16T21:25:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9dcaa014db5901005bf5ff646a213ab1\"},\"description\":\"Keeping employees motivated and productive is a challenge. 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