From EHSToday, Sandy Smith reports her conversation with Matt Faustman, CEO of UpCounsel and a small business expert about independent contractors and how they differ from employees. She writes:
Can you name several advantages and disadvantages for hiring independent contract workers?
Is it cheaper to hire a contractor? Yes, but it needs to be looked at a couple ways. It is cost-effective to hire a contract worker vs. the traditional full-time employee because you don’t have to pay for things like their benefits. However, a lot of times, businesses don’t need a full-time, 40-hour-a-week employee, so they opt to hire the contract worker.
Companies don’t necessarily hire contract workers because they don’t want to offer benefits, or pay the additional fees that come with a full-time employee. This is a labor economy. Businesses are starting to realize that they can take what once was a traditional one-person job, and break it down to [link] specialized workers to the specialized job tasks.
How do independent contractors affect the current workplace environment?
The effect of independent contract workers on companies will depend on how the management team treats their contract workers. If the company makes an effort to integrate the workers, then the affect they have on the environment will be the same that every other employee has. If they are not integrated into the company, they may suffer from a not-so-enjoyable workplace environment. [Regular] employees probably won’t be impacted at all.
Read the full story at CEO Discusses Independent Contract Workers in the Workplace
