Five tips for working with freelancers

Not all studios (be they in-house or agency) will need to use freelance resource, but for the most part there will come a time when freelancer support is your only solution to staffing that crunch campaign.

Or perhaps a member of your team is going on leave for a period of time. Whatever the case may be, it is always worth trying to tie down some details so that when someone does start, they can hit the ground running. And from a freelancer perspective, there is nothing worse than starting a role to find you can’t do anything because your login hasn’t been set.

So with that in mind, here are my 5 top tips to save you time and hassle:

1. Accounts & systems access

If freelancers need access to things such as the server, your Project Management app or an email account on your domain, then either have generic accounts ready to go or have to hand the necessary request forms, so that you’re not scrabbling around at the last minute trying to find out who is in charge of setting up new accounts, or who the owner is of a given system. It may also be the case that once access is granted, there are further permissions then needed - essepcially with Microsoft Sharepoint.

2. Equipment

If freelancers are using your Macs, then test it out before hand to make sure it is up and running. Check that the machine is connected to your network, that the ethernet port is live and that any peripherals are charged and ready to go. Also check that cables aren’t missing or the Wacom tablet will be using hasn’t ‘lost’ its pencil.

3. Fonts and font management software

This might suprise you that it is in the top 5, but finding out which font to use and/or how to access the font management software is right up there with the most common issues freelancers face when starting. It seems simple, but having this sorted can literally save hours and hours over the first day or two. And when you have someone for just 5 days - losing a few hours really matters.

4. Timesheets

If your studio completes timesheets (either for internal use or for client), let your freelancer know this when they start. Finding out at the end of the week they needed to log their time by job number in a system they can’t access isn’t ideal for anyone. And make sure they are clear on how many hours need to be logged, how time is logged for setting up, for client reviews or for downtime.

5. Guidelines

A simple Google doc with file paths for the server, brand guidelines, IT support, the timesheet app, your project management tool and so on is an absolute godsend. And depending on the nature of the work, documentation, user guides or spec sheets for what they are working on is worth its weight in gold as well. Be they build guidelines for display ads with a link to a master template, spec sheets for motion or user guides for creating editorial content for your CMS - whatever it may be, all of the above will save time and reduce likelihood for work needing to be amended.

There is nothing ground breaking here, but after many years of contracting I can confidently say a lot of time has been lost due to the above points especially when there are multiple contractors starting on the same day for a large project. In all, just try get ahead of the curve a little - it’s less stressful for everyone this way!