As an employer, you may struggle to decide between hiring a remote employee or a freelancer. You might not even be sure about the accurate meaning of these two terms. To understand which type of worker is ideal for your situation, you first need to figure out the difference between remote employees and freelancers. You also need to consider the type of task or project you have and your budget for it. These factors will help you make the best choice. Read on to find out more about how to decide whether to hire remote employees vs freelancers.
Remote Employees vs Freelancers: Meanings
Remote employees and freelancers are quite popular in the tech world. However, there are several other industries where you will find freelancers. These two types of workers are getting lots of attention and positive reviews because of the many benefits they are associated with. However, before you can decide which worker to hire, you first need to understand the remote freelance meaning. In terms of how they work, remote employees and freelancers are quite similar in that they don't need to show up at the office every day. However, there are some differences between the two.
What is a Remote Employee?
Remote work usually refers to the setting where one is a full-time employee in your organization, but their presence is not required at the office. If you hire a remote employee, you can provide them with core working hours. Usually, this has to be a time window during the day where all your workers from different time zones can be online together. Having such a structure in place can help you ensure that everyone is working as a part of the team.
What is Freelance Work?
A freelancer is usually a part-time worker who you can hire per project, which could be through a website such as UpWork alternatives. They are self-employed individuals who possess a specific set of hard skills. A freelancer can either work on part of a project or deliver the whole project.
What's the Nature of Your Project?
When deciding between hiring a remote employee or a freelancer, the question isn't really about who is better than the other overall. Instead, you need to figure out who is better suited for the type of work you have. Freelancers and remote employees are suited for different types of projects. Figuring out the needs of your project will therefore help you make the right hiring decision.
Long Term and Demanding Projects
Freelancers usually work for several clients simultaneously. This means that they may not be able to offer you all their time. Therefore, if you have a list of demanding tasks that require someone to have an insider's understanding of your business, it might not be wise to work with a freelancer. In such instances, it would make sense to hire a remote employee. A remote employee will spend all of their time studying your business to better understand how to tackle the tasks at hand.
Another reason to hire remote employees for demanding tasks is that they are available every day during a predictable time frame. Therefore, you can count on fast communication and the ability to reach them whenever you need something. This exclusivity is one of the main advantages of choosing a remote employee over a freelancer.
Short Term Tasks
On the other hand, you should hire a freelancer if you have a few or even one short-term task. Freelancers are paid per task, so you will pay them and part ways as soon as they finish the job you give them. This is why they are a preferred choice for intermittent jobs that don't take up a full-time schedule. A freelancer can also be a perfect hire if you suddenly find yourself with a lot of work that your team can not handle on its own. They are almost always available, and you won't have to go through a lengthy hiring and onboarding process.
Dedication and Cost Efficiency
This is another factor to consider when deciding to hire remote employees vs freelancers. You need to think about the resources you are willing to dedicate to the task at hand. You also need to consider your needs. For instance, should the person you hire be fully invested in your organization, or do you just need someone for a quick project that doesn't need a lot of background knowledge?
Remote Employees Are More Dedicated
If you need someone interested in your company's success, you are better off hiring a remote employee. This is because employees' success depends on the success of the organization they work for. Since a remote employee is essentially a full-time employee, they will be invested in your company's future growth. This means they will also be interested in their relationships with other employees, making collaborations smoother and more efficient. Even if they aren't at the office physically, a remote employee will be fully integrated into your company culture. This is not the case with freelancers. They are more interested in delivering what you requested and getting paid.
You must keep in mind that it takes a lot of resources to achieve proper levels of remote employee integration. The process of hiring, onboarding, and managing remote employees may cost just as much as working with a traditional office employee. You may also need to provide internet access, office equipment, and necessary software. Apart from that, your company will need to provide health care plans and other full-time employee benefits. You have to consider these things before you hire.
Freelancers are Cost-Efficient
With a freelancer, your only cost is what they charge to get the job done. When managing freelancers, there's no onboarding, training, health insurance, or other things that full-time workers expect or are guaranteed to receive by law. Apart from that, you can easily sever ties with a freelancer if things don't go according to plan.
The cost savings associated with freelancers are more attractive to organizations that require skilled individuals without employee-level dedication. However, you must also keep in mind that just because freelancers aren't as likely to be loyal to your brand, it doesn't mean they won't deliver high-quality work. Experienced and reliable freelancers will give you a bang for your buck regardless of who you are. After all, freelancers rely on word of mouth and positive reviews to grow their own business. This alone is incentive enough for them to do their best on each project.
Relationships or No Relationships?
Are you looking to establish a good working relationship with the person you want to hire? This is another factor that can help you determine who to hire. The freelance workforce is large. This gives you a lot of people to choose from, and just like with remote work, when looking for a freelancer, you can pick a worker from anywhere in the world. This can help you expand your reach to span different time zones and foreign languages.
Remote employees and Longevity
Freelancers, however, will not be tied to your organization in any way. This means there is no guarantee that the freelancer you are working with today will be available to work for you the next time you have a task. On the other hand, a remote employee will stay with you for years. This type of longevity means you can rely on an expected level of quality. Also, your clients and customers can rely on certain working styles day in and day out.
However, this is not to say that there is no workaround for the issues of availability and hiring freelancers. For example, instead of working with one freelancer, you can choose a few that you work with on a regular basis. That way, if one is not available, you can work with the other. This will help ensure that you always have a freelancer available when needed.
These are some factors to consider when deciding to hire remote employees vs freelancers. With both options, you can find skilled individuals who will do certain tasks with ease. The only differences are the costs of each option and the levels of dedication you get. For example, if you are looking for someone to complete a quick, one-time task, you are better off hiring a freelancer. This would be the most cost-effective option. On the other hand, if you need someone to take care of repetitive tasks in your organization, it will likely cost you more, but the best you can do is hire a remote employee.
