Believe it or not, freelancers can be loyal to their client, which means you. Many companies have resisted any plan to hire freelancers like writers, editors, graphic designers, and virtual assistants (just to name a few), despite their growing need for them. The persistent fear and concern have to do with reliability and excellence, or the lack of them. Unlike a dedicated remote staff, freelancers have been known to bail out of a contract or an engagement, sometimes without warning. Sometimes, they do stay but deliver work that is of subpar quality. As a result, companies that do want to hire them shy away and just resort to using their overworked in-house staff who are also running out of creative juices.

But there is a key to avoiding this nightmare scenario. It means finding a platform or structure that does cultivate a team of dedicated freelancers who can be loyal for the long-term. These freelancers stop becoming individual workers-for-hire but become part of a dedicated remote staff, who are capable of the same loyalty and efficiency as a company’s full-time staff, without becoming one. They will provide your company the attention and diligent service that it needs and is paying for. That’s how you get and maintain a consistent pool of loyal, hardworking remote workers.

First, let’s take a look at why freelancers are supposedly quick to jump ship and transfer from one gig to another, sometimes without warning. That’s because of their perceived lack of financial security. Full-time employees who report to work everyday can rest in the knowledge that they have a job that pays them regularly. The only thing they have to take care of is their performance. Freelancers do not have that luxury. They do worry as to whether their present client will keep them or end the contract tomorrow. A loss of a client means a loss of regular income projected for the next few months. To counter that scenario, freelancers tend to get as many clients as possible, regardless of whether they can meet all their requirements at the same time. They want to make as much money as possible in the shortest possible time. Those who behave this way do not show the loyalty that a dedicated remote staff does.

Another reason why individual freelancers tend to job hop is that they are individuals who do not have a measured sense of accountability. They do know they have to report to the client representative. But they do not feel that they are part of a team that they have to answer to. Sometimes, the client representative does not interface with them often enough; this infrequent or lack of contact tends to make the individual freelancer looser or more relaxed about complying with his deliverables. If nobody from the client side is checking on him, then he just might focus on other projects that do keep a close eye on him.

All these reasons can be addressed by transforming individual freelancers into a consummate, hardworking, dedicated remote staff. Loyalty develops and is maintained over a long period of time because this kind of structure provides the freelancers the kind of security that he does need. First, they are made up of editors, writers, administrative assistants, designers, and the like do not work as lone wolves. They work as a team who answer to an outsourcing company project manager; the outsourcing company, in turn, ensures that the relationship built with the client is maintained and enhanced. Because they keep delivering their requirements on time and in excellent quality, the client does not take his business elsewhere. Payment continues for a long time from the client to the outsourcing company who then pays the freelancers who are now a dedicated remote staff.

With financial security in the bag, the need of these individual freelancers to job-hop lessens.

Another advantage of having a dedicated remote staff run by an outsourcing company is that a project manager keeps tabs and monitors the work of the individual freelancers. Unlike other client representatives, he does not just assign the job and then disappear. The project managers of an outsourcing company act as executive, manager, mentor, and friend to the freelancer. They make sure that the project process is working, the work is being done, and that the freelancer is motivated. He listens to their woes, addresses their challenges, and sometimes addresses a training workshop or two to enhance their skills. He also establishes virtual teamwork among these freelancers and makes them work as one. More important, he ensures that the freelancers are paid.

Freelancer professionals can be loyal, too. They can become a dedicated remote staff. HOPLA can make many of these teams accessible to you. Remote team building is our specialty. If you are looking to hire freelancers, give us a call, and you just might find that loyalty and longevity of stay among your freelancers will never be a problem again.