The pros and cons of hiring freelancers

The Price

One of the most basic things to think about while hiring a freelancer is the price. One of the greatest benefits to hiring freelancers is, of course, the price. They will save you the total salary that you usually pay your full-time employees, but also health benefits, company perks, desk space taken up in the office and other expenses.

Lower Financial Risk

A company needs to hire freelancers only when they have work. Almost all freelancing is done on an hourly or a project-by-project basis. This is great to avoid digging yourself a hole into a pit of financial bankruptcy and less of a risk, especially for a company.

Freelancing Platforms Make Hiring Freelancers Easier Than Ever

There are multiple platforms like Freelancer, Fiverr, Upwork and Thumbtack from where hiring freelancers becomes much easier and hassle-free. These platforms streamline the process of posting job offers for freelancers, filtering candidates, selecting the best ones and helping you negotiate with them about the pricing.

Additionally, these platforms help companies see reviews left by previous customers on the freelancer’s work and take a look at their job history.

Most freelancing assignments are done remotely so there is no way to know whether the freelancer you hired will spend all that time scrolling mindlessly on YouTube. Not all of them do this, but without immediate supervision, it becomes difficult to keep a track of work completed.

2. Unpredictable Quality of Work

One of the main advantages to hiring them is the speed, there is no way that a company can conduct a thorough interview of a freelancer as they do for hiring full-time people. As a result, the company tends to breeze through the their resume and portfolio.

3. Lower Investment in the Company

Freelancers are often juggling multiple jobs and have to pay their bills. So if you are thinking that their loyalty lies completely with your company, think again. Their loyalty to your brand is probably lower than your full-time employees. This is not make or break, but you should consider this before hiring them.

4. Lack of Ability to Train a Freelancer

Sometimes, there are nuances to your company that can’t be explained to them over a short Skype call. These could only be explained to them if they are physically working at the company. A lot of times, the company does not have the ability to properly train and onboard a freelancer. This causes them to miss out on crucial details.