Contracting employees is a growing trend especially in developed nations and it’s often for tax reasons, there’s a whole lot of benefits that employers have to provide legally that can be circumvented simply by hiring a contractor. It then becomes the contractor’s legal obligation to fulfil on these requirements. Increasingly what governments have done is used legislation and regulations to provide baseline rights for workers/employees. In some circumstances these baseline benefits, while fair for employees, can make expanding a business difficult in that it increases risks and costs to the business. A solution to this for businesses seeking to expand while dealing with tight budgets and uncertain economic climates can be to contract another business to provide a service as opposed to hiring an employee. This transfers the legal obligations to the company contracted, who is forced to meet the regulatory requirements. While this can be advantageous to the business the big downfall can be if you contract a company to provide services and they fail to deliver adequate services. This can be problematic because you don't get what you paid for and you now have a contract with another legal entity, and it can be really messy trying to sack them because they can sue you for breaking the contract or failure to pay. Another problem is that if the services provided are essential to the success of your business, and they are poorly performed, it can put your very business at risk. It becomes extremely important when you enter into contractual arrangements that you have a checklist so you can ensure that all the pitfalls and perils of contracting that specific service are managed.One of the most commonly outsourced tasks is cleaning, and Commercial Cleaning Expert Nicholas Pastras has put together a comprehensive list of questions to ask a potential cleaning contractor to ensure they have the experience, insurance, and know-how to fulfil the contract. You can download the list from the Smart Clean website and use it as is if you are hiring a cleaner, and if you are hiring any other type of contractor, it still provides a lot of valuable insights you can apply to any contractor interview process. Some of the general themes Pastras recommends you consider are as follows. Compile questions about the competence of the contractor Before you hire contractors, you have to make sure that they are actually competent, and that they have the professional qualifications and certifications necessary to be able to perform the core tasks that you are hiring them to do. If the service they are providing requires some kind of academic training, or if it’s regulated by a professional body, you have to check to see if the principles of the firm you are contracting have the necessary qualifications. When you compile your checklist, make sure you include questions about how the contractors train their staff, and whether all your dealings will be overseen by people who have professional qualifications. Some contracting services don’t require any academic or professional qualifications. In those cases, there won’t be a professional body that regulates or monitors the qualifications of your contractors, so it would be a bit difficult to tell the competent ones from the incompetent ones. In such cases, you may want to hire contractors who at least have some form of certification from a third party standards watchdog. Organizations such as the Better Business Bureau and the International Standards Organization often monitor companies and service providers, and they issue them with certificates if they meet certain standards of quality. When you compile your checklist of questions to ask prospective contractors, make sure you include a few queries about whether or not the contractors have the ISO 9001 Quality Management Standards certification, or whether they have any other certificate from an industry-specific quality monitoring entity. Compile questions about the experience of the contractor Experience is very crucial when you are looking to hire contractors because you don’t want to be outsourcing your business functions to people who are learning on the job. Inexperienced contractors are more likely to under-deliver or to mess things up altogether. When you are compiling your checklist, make sure it includes questions about the experience of the contractors. Ask the contractors if they have any references. Good contractors won’t hesitate to put you in touch with some of their other clients so that you can confirm on your own that they are really capable of delivering great services. You have to make sure that the references that the client provides have requirements that are similar to yours — a contractor may be able to deliver on a small contract, but that doesn’t mean they are able to deliver on a larger contract, or on a contract that is more technically engaging. It’s not just about experience, it’s about relevant experience. Compile questions about the legality and the liability coverage of the contractor You have to ensure that the contractor you hire is compliant with all relevant laws, and has proper liability coverage. If the contractor doesn’t have the proper legal license to operate his business, any work that he does for you could be called into question, and you too could end up in legal jeopardy. If the contractor doesn't have proper or adequate insurance coverage, your company assets could be at risk if there are any insurance claims that arise as a result of actions that the contractor takes on your behalf. Ask the contractor to provide you with his insurance information, and make sure that you review it thoroughly. Check with any relevant licensing bodies to ensure that the contractor has the legal permission to perform certain specialised tasks. If you have concerns about the extent of the contractor’s insurance coverage, call the insurance carrier and ask for general information about the particular insurance package that the contractor has. Ask if the contractor is willing to commit to all your conditions in writing Finally, you must ensure that your contractor is willing to commit to all your requirements in writing. Don’t ever go into business with a contractor who wants you to exclude certain parts of your agreement from the final contract that you will both sign. If the project you are undertaking is time sensitive, make sure that the contract includes a timeline that outlines specific milestones and completion dates. If you sign a contract that is open-ended, you have high chances of getting unfavourable rulings in case of disputes. Before you start interviewing potential contractors, make sure that you compile a list of all the things that you expect them to do. During the interview, ask them if they are willing to commit to each item on that list in writing. Verbal and handshake deals rarely end well when you are dealing with contractors.
