Creating visually stunning, cutting-edge ads for the top video game franchises in the world is not an easy task. For Petrol Advertising, this means needing access to the best sketch artists, 3d sculptors, art directors, and motion graphic artists in the world. It also means that almost every project has a very specific skill set or style that they need, so it makes sense to work with their creative talent on a freelance basis.
But quickly processing payments to freelancers — especially when they’re located in different countries all over the world — can create really big headaches for accounts payable, and they were quickly getting more frustrated and bogged down in the details. That’s what initially brought them to Worksome.
Payments
Better tracking and seamless international payments
For accounts payable, it’s all about the details. This was even more true at Petrol, where they use internal project numbers to keep track of which invoices and payments belonged to which freelancers and projects. Their AP team was wasting an enormous amount of time going back and forth, making sure the project numbers were correct each step of the way, and updating them when they weren’t. They didn’t have the resources to bring on more team members, but it was taking them longer and longer to process freelance payments and they knew something was going to have to change.
International payments were also a big challenge for them since their freelancers operated in so many different countries. Sorting out international wires to banks in different countries was becoming a lot of work because each country has different local laws and regulations. For a freelancer they worked with in China, they weren’t even able to pay them at all, because they were having trouble with bank regulations there.
Once they switched to Worksome, their freelancers would simply include the project number into their initial bills. That meant it was included in the freelance project in the system, from the beginning. No more checking on the status of invoices and payments, or ensuring project numbers were correct each step of the way. And since Worksome handles freelancer payments for them, accounts payable no longer needs to think about international payments, wires, or where the freelancers are located at all.
Batch invoices
Because most freelancers have their own individual system for invoices, sorting out invoices used to add a lot of time for accounts payable. Now that Petrol has batch invoices in Worksome, this is done automatically, in a few seconds. The finance team can pay all the invoices in batch at once and the producers no longer spend time sifting through invoices trying to figure out whether or not a freelancer has already been paid.
For accounts payable, this means time back to focus on more strategic tasks and less manual admin work. And the producers can focus on actual production work, knowing their freelancers will always be paid on time and that they’ll receive a message each time an invoice has been paid out to one of them.
Better processes that translate to time and cost savings
Before Worksome, Petrol’s freelancers would need to send their invoices to accounts payable, who would then need to figure out which producer the freelance worked for, send it to the appropriate producer for approval, get the correct project numbers, and get a W8 form filled out — which lengthened the process even more if someone had never filled one out before. Each of these steps added unnecessary admin work, and it usually took 2-3 weeks before the process was finally complete and the freelancer could be paid.
Using Worksome has taken care of all of those issues simultaneously. The system asks for all of the necessary information upfront when building a new contract, so there’s no hunting down information once a project has begun. And because everyone is working in the same system, there’s no back and forth making sure everyone is aligned.
Eliminating all of this inefficiency isn’t just about making everyone’s lives a little bit calmer, either. Petrol is also saving 14.6 hours per contract, compared to how long freelance admin took them before Worksome. That’s 91% less time spent on each contract.
And when it comes to the hourly cost for their internal teams that are processing all of this, it translates to $3,406 saved monthly and $40,873 saved yearly on freelance admin work. Not a bad extra benefit, considering they were initially just looking for a better way to process international payments.
Building a pool of their best freelancers
Petrol was also spending a lot of time sourcing new freelancers. This was particularly true when a new producer joined. Someone else internally may have already worked with the perfect freelancer for that job, but there was no easy way for that knowledge to be shared and streamlined within the organization.
In Worksome you can add freelancers to your list of trusted contacts and essentially build out a list of freelancers that have done great work for you. That way other full-time employees who might need similar talent for different jobs can utilize freelancers that they know have already delivered great work for Petrol.
The worst part about freelance management pre-Worksome was not having everything in one central location. Receiving random invoices individually was messy for accounts payable. And finding a new freelancer for each project was inefficient. Now, when a new producer comes in they can easily see what freelancers we've already worked with that might be perfect for what they're looking for. That has been extremely helpful for us to build a list of our best talent and easily work with them again, whenever we need to. - Marie Morgan, Director of HR at Petrol Advertising
Happier producers and freelancers
Before, the producers were spending a lot of time dealing with frustration, on both the freelancer and the accounts payable side, because the process wasn’t working for anyone involved. Now, they’re able to focus on lining up the right freelancers for each project and ensuring they deliver excellent work to their clients.
And now that the freelancers can see their bills, payments, and all of the admin related to each project in one place, they’re able to focus on the creative work they were hired to do and design stunning ads for their clients. It’s helpful for them on an admin side as well, so they can better manage their work for their clients.
A faster and more agile way to work with freelancers and contractors
Is your company feeling some of the pains that Petrol was dealing with? Worksome can give you a faster, more agile way to work with freelancers and contractors. This means less admin for you and a better experience for everyone involved.
Click here to request a personalized demo and learn more about how Worksome can help you today.
