As Project Manager I'm from time to time facing the challenge of working with a client who is unaware of USA or Canadian laws about the relationship with a freelancer / independent contractor
A solution that worked for me is to educate the client. By “educate” I mean discussing with client about what I can do or not with freelancers. Within the legal boundaries.
For example, one of the tool I use is the attached PDF file. Made by the US Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service/IRS. A nice summary of the key differences between a freelancer and an employee.
This document says on page 2 that according to USA laws, freelancers are free to set how, when, or where to do the work.
For example, when I discuss with freelancers I would use the following type of language and tone
- ”Are you available tomorrow at 10:00am for a meeting? If not, then could you suggest another time convenient for you within my availability?”
Instead of “I want you to attend tomorrow meeting at 10:00am” - “How much time do you need to complete this item? What is your forecast/estimate in hours to do this item? When can you deliver this item?”
Instead of, “You have 10 hours to do this item and I want it done by Friday next week at 5:00pm”
Your thoughts about this? Any other tools or tips you would like to share with other Project Managers facing the same challenge of working with a client who is unaware of USA or Canadian laws about the relationship with a freelancer?
File source: www.irs.gov/file_source/pub/irs-utl/emporind.pdf
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| freelancer-laws-summary-usa-irs.pdf | 282.02 KB |
Comments
I think dealing with
I think dealing with freelancers is the same everywhere. You make an agreement (contract) with them and they're suppose to provide services according to that contract, the main difference with employees is the fact that they're working with you not for you or under you, you can't give them orders because you're not their boss.
Ordering people in a traditional way won't work well for high skilled and smart employees let alone freelancers :)
My clients specially the big ones usually have trouble understanding this, they treat freelancers or even contractors as their colleagues but they're not.
That PDF you shared is really useful tx
Presentation at DrupalCamp NW 2012
There was a presentation at DCNW12 which might provide some other ideas for getting contractors up to speed quickly on projects, by kae76 & waako.
http://camp2012.nwdrupal.org.uk/sessions/permission-come-aboard-capain
Videos from the sessions are on this vimeo channel, at present this session doesn't seem to have been released yet.
http://vimeo.com/user14852728/videos