From Business Insider, Maya Kosoff writes about Managed by Q, a start-up that provides on-demand cleaning services and hires workers that are employees instead of independent contractors as is common among many other start-ups. Companies that have hired on-demand workers as independent contractor have been scrutinized and some are involved in lawsuits about the status of the workers. Maya writes:
“The most popular, fastest-growing on-demand startups rely on people to deliver their services — but companies like Uber, Lyft, and Instacart are facing heat for hiring people as independent contractors instead of full-time employees.
Generally, drivers and other independent contractors want full-time pay — or at least predictable pay — but employers have their sights set on maximizing profits.
Employees are expensive for companies. According to the IRS, for common-law employees, employers “must withhold income taxes, withhold and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, and pay unemployment tax on wages paid” to full-time employees. The same is not necessarily true for an independent contractor.
Benefits are another aspect often extended to employees but not independent contractors. And employers but not independent contractors have the right to control how a worker behaves — how to dress, for example, or specific customer-interaction protocol. You have more labor protections when you’re an employee.
So, from a company mindset, it’s easy to see why a fast-growing company like Uber would favor independent contractors.
But hiring laborers as employees not only makes them happy — it gives company more control over their employees. Companies can enforce a dress code or uniform, for example, with employees, or they can dictate on-duty behavior.
New York-based office cleaning startup Managed by Q is bucking the independent contractor trend.
Managed by Q provides on-demand cleaning services for offices using an iPad, which it installs for free, and also offers other services like restocking the fridge or office supplies. With on-demand and subscription services for customers — and now 150 cleaners in New York — its services have become pretty popular: They’re used by other startups like Flatiron Health, Elite Daily, and Uber.
Managed by Q hires its “operators,” as it calls them, as employees, offering full-time and part-time employment with benefits and stock options. The work is flexible, and Managed by Q works with operators’ schedules.
Managed by Q also offers the opportunity to advance. Operators can be promoted to supervisors, with an increase in pay. Bonuses are also up for grabs.
Though it’s operating only in New York for now, Managed by Q — which is named after the Star Trek character and James Bond’s Q Branch — has plans to expand in the future….”
Read the full story at Managed by Q hires cleaners as employees
