Do you work with 10+ freelancers? Then you need AllWork

The search has ended, and you’ve finally found the perfect freelancer to contribute to your business! The hard part’s over and it will be smooth sailing from here on out, right?

Not exactly. In fact, many tasks still lie ahead for your in-house team. Your list of to-dos likely includes:

  • Classifying the worker correctly as a 1099 or W2 so your business doesn’t risk any fees or penalties from the IRS, the U.S. Department of Labor, or state agencies
  • In certain jurisdictions, drafting a contract that protects you and the contractor by outlining exactly what’s expected from both parties
  • Verifying compliance with all federal, state, and local laws to ensure the freelancer receives the correct benefits – and your business doesn’t face fines or legal action
  • Preparing, gathering, and processing all kinds of paperwork, such as tax and payment forms
  • Formally onboarding the freelancer and having them complete and sign any required company documents
  • Setting up an effective workflow for quickly approving and paying frequent invoices so nobody has to chase down late payments
  • Working with IT to add the contractor to the various systems you use for managing and tracking schedules, attendance, timesheets, budgets, expenses, and more

Some of these requirements might take just a few minutes of attention, while others can saddle multiple full-time employees with hours of extra work. Still, it’s a worthwhile investment if partnering with external talent can help fill in critical gaps and support your business.

A problem of scale

But what happens when you need to fill roles rapidly to accommodate growth, launch a new project that requires unique expertise, or staff the sales floor for the holiday season? Instead of that lone freelancer, you’re suddenly dependent on an entire fleet of independent contractors, each with their own job description, work location, and regulatory context.

It’s one thing to onboard, pay, and manage a single worker, but what about 10 – or 100? That’s when things start to get tricky – and time-consuming.

The future is freelance

Chances are, your business will continue to expand its flexible workforce in the very near future. Indeed, six in 10 C-suite executives from around the globe expect gig workers to substantially replace full-time employees at their company within the next three years, a 2022 study by the management company Mercer found.

In the United States, 36% of the working population identifies as a contract, freelance, temporary, or gig worker, according to the spring 2022 edition of McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey. That’s a sizable jump from the 2016 estimate of 27% – and a solid indication that businesses aren’t just dipping their toes into the gig economy. Increasingly, they’re diving in headfirst.

A complete freelance toolkit

If you occasionally engage one or two contractors, your business can probably withstand a more manual and effortful approach to payments, compliance, scheduling, and more. It won’t be easy achieving correct classification, monitoring ever-changing compliance regulations, juggling multiple applications, and issuing payments on time, every time. However, it’s doable.

But if you have more than a few freelancers, try AllWork instead. Our end-to-end platform includes everything you need to onboard, manage, and pay all of your contractors while ensuring legal compliance with state and federal employment laws.

Here’s how it works:

  • We onboard and pay all types of freelancers on your behalf, taking care of all federal, state, and local tax and labor law compliance and filings. Just click to approve timesheets and invoices, and your workers will get paid within 48 hours. Since 71% of freelancers report that clients pay them late or not at all, this quick turnaround gives your business a significant advantage.
  • Both your internal team and your flexible workforce can use our freelancer management software to manage and schedule shifts, book talent, track attendance, control budgets, and view reports from any location or device. Our platform uses cutting-edge technology and the power of automation to eliminate manual data entry and help everyone focus on moving your business forward.

See it in action to learn how you can take laborious administrative tasks off your team’s plate while reducing your company’s exposure to risk – and setting your business up to partner more effectively with the growing freelance talent pool.

Planning to hire flexible workers this year? AllWork can help you onboard, manage, and pay them. We offer fast, easy, and compliant payment options. Get in touch at info@alloworknow.com to learn more and see a demo of our platform here.

The employment landscape has changed. Can your business keep up?

By Glenn Laumeister, AllWork CEO

The nature of work is changing fast. Not long ago, Americans expected to spend years or even decades with the same employer, building unwavering careers that offered plenty of stability but left little room for freedom and reinvention. Now more than one-third of the U.S. working population – 36% – identifies as contract, freelance, temporary, or gig workers, according to the spring 2022 edition of McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey.

That’s a sizable jump from the 2016 estimate of 27%, and the trend shows no signs of stopping: Statistics portal Statista predicts that freelancers will make up more than half the U.S. workforce by 2027.

For businesses, access to independent talent unlocks new opportunities to scale exponentially, pivot quickly, and launch new products and services at a moment’s notice. Recent advances in remote work technology make it easier than ever to quickly assemble the ideal team for every project, from anywhere in the world.

In theory, then, we’ve entered a new era of promise for independent workers and the companies that need their skills and expertise. But in practice? Most CFOs and HR professionals know too well how tricky it can be. Here are some of the reasons why:

  • To onboard, classify, pay, and manage freelancers, companies must coordinate with expensive payroll service providers and staffing agencies – or they need to spend time and resources doing it all themselves. Since internal teams typically handle more straightforward employee-related tasks, they’re left scrambling to keep up.
  • The need to maintain compliance amid ever-changing regulations creates headaches and bottlenecks while exposing businesses to legal risks and potential penalties. There’s an enormous administrative burden that comes with monitoring and enforcing state, federal, and local laws governing minimum wage, sick leave policies, overtime rules, workers’ compensation, and more.
  • Many employers struggle to pay freelancers promptly because they lack the necessary infrastructure and aren’t equipped to process frequent payment requests at scale. As a result, they may face legal problems and fail to retain the best talent. Often, it falls on HR departments and CFOs to investigate payment delays and field complaints from duly concerned workers.

Fortunately, there’s a simple workaround to help businesses overcome these challenges and take full advantage of the expanding global network of independent talent: partnering with an employer of record (EOR). EORs are third-party organizations that serve as the employer for tax purposes while employees perform work at a different company. They assume responsibility for employment benefits, HR management, and oversight of compliance on their partner companies’ behalf.

As an EOR and payroll service provider, AllWork helps companies navigate the changing employment landscape. We’re unique among EORs because our software is purpose-built for flexible workforces, with everything you need for onboarding, managing, and paying freelancers in a single, end-to-end platform. What also sets us apart is our technology-first approach to everything we do: We harness automation to eliminate busywork and make teams more efficient.

Here’s how it works:

  • We onboard and pay all types of freelancers on your behalf, taking care of all federal, state, and local tax and labor law compliance and filings. You won’t have to collect paperwork, classify workers, or devote internal IT resources to setting people up.
  • Use our freelancer management software to manage and schedule shifts, book talent, track attendance, control budgets, and view reports from any location or device – without logging in to multiple applications. Just click to approve timesheets and invoices, and we’ll pay your workers within 48 hours.
  • One system of record gives you complete visibility into the ROI of your independent workforce. You can optimize your labor spend just like you optimize your supply chain – using the power of technology,

As the world of work continues to shift, partner with AllWork to instantly build the infrastructure your company needs to collaborate effectively and securely with independent workers. We take all the administrative hassle off your plate so you can focus on what matters most: working with the right talent to move your business forward.

Planning to hire flexible workers this year? AllWork can help you onboard, manage, and pay them! We offer fast, easy, and compliant payment options. Get in touch at info@alloworknow.com to learn more and see a demo of our platform here.

Freelancers, Gig Economy Compliance, and Startups: The Hidden Freelancer Market

By Glenn Laumeister, AllWork CEO

This past year, the Gig Economy has progressed way beyond drivers for Uber or Lyft, and now consists of a more diverse and skilled workforce. With the pandemic, more than ever, the Gig Economy has gone mainstream. This includes companies of all sizes. With the opportunity to take advantage of a flexible workforce, hiring managers are turning to freelancers for hard-to-fill roles or ongoing projects that require specific expertise. But where are they finding this talent?

While freelancer marketplaces like UpWork and Fivver have been increasing their revenue rapidly, with UpWork even reporting a 41% increase in Q1 of 2021, they actually account for only a small percentage of freelancer spend in the US. Together, UpWork and Fivver did $572 million in revenue in 2020. That may sound like a lot until you consider the larger picture. Last year, companies in the US spent an incredible $1.3 trillion on the gig workforce.

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Gig Economy, Compliance, and Startups: How Misclassification Could Cost you $8.5 Million.

By Glenn Laumeister, AllWork CEO

The Gig Economy has shown itself to be extremely valuable to startups who want to grow quickly and build targeted elements of their business in a super flexible way.

 This surge of freelance workers shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, a survey by Braintrust found that 85% of knowledge workers are open to becoming freelancers. They want to work from anywhere, be their own boss, and work on the jobs that interest them the most. 

With this flexible workforce comes a whole new set of compliance and legal concerns. Managing and paying this workforce is much different than how you may be currently managing full-time, salaried employees. As a startup, your focus is on fundraising, growing your revenue, and making an awesome product, but there’s something else you need to worry about too: freelancer classification and compliance. 

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Will Freelancers Replace Full-Time Employees? The Majority of Executives Say Yes.

Freelancers on the rise

According to a new report released by Ceridian, a human capital management software firm, 62% of global executives believe that freelancers, or gig workers, will substantially replace full-time employees within the next five years. The findings also shed some light on how the post-pandemic workplace may be configured, with many executives maintaining hybrid and remote work arrangements. 

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What the World of Freelance Looks Like Post-Pandemic

Now that the pandemic has shown everyone just how easy it is to work remotely and flexibly, more and more employers are planning to stick with freelance, part-time workers even after they return to “normal.” In fact, 60 percent of US business leaders surveyed would prefer to “share talent” with other companies, and 60 percent anticipate a core workforce with fewer full-time staff over the next few years.

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The Return of Retail: How You Should Prepare

Retail makes a comeback

Last year, the spread of the coronavirus caused retailers to shutter and in-person shopping to grind to a halt. But these past few months have shown that shoppers are gradually returning to stores, marking a shift from the predominantly online consumer habits that dominated 2020. In fact, visits to physical stores have increased by 28.5% since the start of the year. Customers who’ve spent the past year stuck at home are ready to shop and they’re ready to have in-person experiences.

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Why Employee Engagement Should Be a Top Priority

In a year as tumultuous as 2020, employee engagement can be key to building a successful business. Improving your employee engagement results in employees who are more committed to their jobs, will do their best even when the manager is not watching, and are willing to go the extra mile. Simply put, engaged employees lead to better business outcomes.

In case you needed more convincing, overall, companies with high employee engagement are 21% more profitable.  This means that in the years ahead, the most successful organizations will be those who make employee engagement central to their business strategy. 

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What You’ll Need for Flexible Workforce Management

Workforce Management

This past year has shown us all just how important flexibility is in the workplace. Rigid schedules are a thing of the past for most companies, and relying on only full-time 9-5 workers is too. Now, most companies have a blended workforce consisting of some full-time, some part-time, and some freelance.

Many companies are still relying on multiple solutions for their workforce needs that aren’t integrated with each other. From paper schedules to excel spreadsheets, this lack of technology prevents any kind of true flexibility from happening. If managers need to use one resource to manage their budgets, one for scheduling talent and yet another for paying their talent, there is no way that efficient and timely staffing can happen.

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How to Streamline Your Freelancer Onboarding Process

Freelancer Onboarding

Over the past year, companies of all sizes continue to work with more and more freelancers to help them run their business across all types of job functions, diverse skill sets, and departments.  If fact, in 2020 there were 64.8 million freelancers in the US. By 2027, that number is expected to hit 86.5 million, accounting for more than half of the total US workforce. But hiring, onboarding, and managing freelancers is a whole different ball game than overseeing your full-time employees.

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