Evaluating a new tool or solution isn’t always quick or easy. But for Jonjo Neeves, Head of Operations for That Lot, it was very clear how Worksome would be able to help him and fix the issues they were having: “Nobody needed to go in-depth about how it would help us, we could see that very quickly”
They could already feel how painful it was that everything was so manual for their teams when it came to working with independent contractors. Their HR team did payroll and most of their contractor management was handled by them. They were spending so much time bogged down in the admin that the thought of automating it so they could focus on the more strategic functions of their jobs made using Worksome a no–brainer.
And the results speak for themselves. They used to spend 14 hours per freelancer contract on admin — now it’s down to 1.96 per contract. That’s 88% time savings per contract, which translates to £72,282 per year saved on admin costs, based on the hourly rates for their staff.
Worker classification and IR35
That Lot is an agency that likes to pride itself on being process light so that it can focus all its energy on enabling great creative work. This made IR35 an absolute nightmare for them, as they needed someone with the opposite kind of mindset to handle managing this aspect of their freelancers. When we asked Jonjo about the worst parts of freelancer management before Worksome, the answer was quick and clear.
Before, they were dedicating a senior production lead to try and figure all of this out. And that person was not happy to be the one in charge of it all. Now that Worksome handles all of this — and indemnifies, in the event of a misclassification case — that production lead can focus on the portions of their actual job that they’re passionate about, like strategic resourcing, forward planning, and actual producing. Not only is everyone more confident about the compliance side of things now, no one is stuck with the work that none of them wanted to do in the first place.
Removing the need for contractor-specific knowledge and admin
And it’s not just the legal aspect of freelancer management that was frustrating the team. There were so many other admin sides to contingent workers that were taking up a lot of time for team members who needed to be focused on other things. Because different parts of contractor management fell on different departments — HR, legal, finance — it also meant a lot of siloed information. This was creating an enormous amount of back and forth for everyone, searching through email chains, trying to remember which hiring manager worked with which freelancer, and aligning on information.
Implementing Worksome solved all of this by relieving the need for contractor expertise at all and housing each part of contractor management in one system. With everything in one place, they no longer need to keep track of contractor information or spend time making sure everyone has up-to-date information.
Working more easily with freelancers
That Lot would never be able to deliver great work for their clients without the talented freelancers they work with. Worksome has just made it a lot simpler to work with them. Before Worksome, Jonjo was also spending a pretty large amount of time supporting their freelancers and making sure they had everything they needed. Now, he rarely has to answer any questions from them at all unless they pertain to the work itself.
This means their freelancers get a better experience because they feel supported by both Worksome and That Lot. Whenever they need help or have questions on the contract side they’re able to use Worksome as a resource, and that’s something That Lot was never able to provide them with help on before. And because That Lot always wanted to focus on providing an excellent experience for their freelancers, this is another plus side to using the platform.
The support they receive from Customer Success
After going through the initial Worksome training, That Lot found it thorough that they rarely need help or support in the actual platform. Where they do leverage Worksome’s CS support is when they need things tailored to their specific business needs.
No business operates the same, so there have been times when they needed Worksome to adjust to their specific needs. One example of this is when they wanted shorter payment terms than is standard for Worksome, to keep their best freelancers happy. Worksome has always been able to accommodate for specific needs like this.
And although you can’t manage absolutely everything in Worksome, adding recruiter functionality into the platform — so that our customers can manage their relationships with their external recruiters there as well — is a functionality that’s coming soon, in part because clients like That Lot have been so open about wanting it. The platform is always expanding and growing based on what our customers need.
What needs does your business currently have?
Many of the contractor management pains that businesses feel can be similar across the board — too much admin, worker classification, the friction and back and forth that comes along with working with contractors — and your business can see the same great results That Lot has enjoyed by implementing Worksome.
But chances are you might have a few contractor-specific problems of your own that need solving. Request a personalized demo today to learn more about Worksome can help you work more easily and efficiently with your contingent workers.
