Should You Spy on Your Freelance Workers?
Doing spy work can be cool if you are James bond or Sherlock Holmes, but NOT when you are checking on your freelancer’s work. To sneak up on your remote workers doesn’t only show lack of trust, but it can be counter-productive as well. Get into a freelancer’s shoes and imagine yourself trapped inside Big Brother’s house. How would you feel knowing that you are being watched 24 by 7?
Getting Out of the Corporate Spy Game
Working with a freelancer is not the same as having employees. In the corporate setting, you implement electronic surveillance like monitoring internet use, telephone calls, data accessed, and fax. Employers spy on their people to make sure that everyone’s productive, to prevent sexual harassment, and to protect trade secrets. But when you are working with freelancers, there are old practices that don’t work and you need to ditch old rules.
Cautions to Take in Hiring Freelancers
Before Hiring
1. Do a background check of applicants. Many websites will charge you a fee for a detailed report. Sites like criminalsearches.com and detectiveunlimited.com will only give you basic results in the public archive. Know that every country issues a security clearance which you can request. The easiest way to do a check on someone online is to use Google. Just type in the name and see what comes up.
2. Check how many years a person is doing freelance work and how frequent work is. Compare this with the size of project one has handled. Some freelance sites show you how much a freelancer has earned so far and money speaks a lot – which means the clients are satisfied with the work done to pay that much.
3. Although feedback and rating are subjective, learn to read between the lines. You can even ask a freelancer why he/she got a low score on a certain project.
After Hiring
1. As a client, it is your task to set deadlines, goals and schedules. Inform your team by email. Understand that freelancers are engaged in multiple projects and you don’t have to talk to them everyday. For more protection, you can set everything into fine print.
2. Trust your team to collaborate well by making it easy to share and update documents. A simple way to manage documents is by using Google Docs. You may also run Microsoft Office Share Point Server, or use many collaboration and project management tools online like Basecamp.
3. Get smart with your people by setting a metric in order to measure their performance. You must set clear objectives for the project. Doing this can help you sleep better at nights, where you don’t have to reinforce your ideas and wishes on your workers all the time.
At the end of a work day, it’s all about trust and respect that will determine your project’s success. Learn to trust and be trusted. If you respect your people and trust them to do well, chances are, they will return the favor and exceed your expectations. Leave spy work to real spies!
Do you think that spying on your freelancers’ work will make your project successful? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
How to Hire Someone
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Are You Being Watched? Why companies implement monitoring software.
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