Battling the dark side of coworking

Jessica Stillman — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:01:15 +0000

Independent and remote work may be on the rise and, as many experts have told us, this offers great benefits, from access to new markets for previously underemployed talent to the joys of autonomy and control for workers. But not every aspect of the change is rosy. Provision of benefits like health insurance is an often mentioned problem as is downward pressure on wages, but on Deskmag recently, Nina Pohler identified another potential problem: exploitation of independent workers by those contracting out work.

“While coworking spaces might come pretty close to the ideal working space, at times they can also be spaces where some of the worst characteristics of a capitalist economy are being reproduced — just like in an ordinary workspace,” she writes. Independent work may solve many problems, but it doesn’t get rid of asymmetric relationships between those handing out work and those completing it, she states. What does she mean by this?

If there is a big difference between the partners in a work relationship, sometimes the stronger party gets all the advantages and benefits, while the weaker party has to bear the full risk and disadvantages.

Usually the strong partner is someone who is established and well connected. Often these people or companies are very good at communicating and selling, they act mainly as project managers, while contracting out the actual development or design work to other people. The subcontractors in turn are often newcomers who don’t have a big network, who are rather inexperienced and not as good at selling themselves and their work. Usually these people are happy that someone subcontracts them work and they don’t have to spend time on acquisition, communicating and networking. The relationship between the main contractor and the subcontractor can be win-win situation, but rather often it is not.

The result of this unequal balance of power, Pohler claims, can be impossible deadlines, insane hours, failure to pay for revisions to a project and extremely long lag times before payment for subcontractors. And coworking spaces, she feels, may be inadvertently making the problem worse. “It is easy to find young, skilled and motivated people as subcontractors, and it is easy to build relationships on the assumption that everyone is more or less the same and equal,” she writes.

Pohler may diagnose the problem in her article, but when it comes to solutions, she simply advocates for greater discussion of the issue and more openness in the community.

Is that an adequate solution, or do you think independent workers need to do more to protect themselves?

Image courtesy of Flickr user JD Hancock.

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3 Mistakes Your Subcontractors Might Make and How to Prevent Them

Celine Roque — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:00:36 +0000

Many freelancers I know, including myself, have outsourced tasks to subcontractors at least once. From a virtual assistant to the odd “extra hand” you hire from time to time, it’s common to have someone else help you with a project. Doing so makes you more productive, and it allows you to take on large projects that you can’t handle yourself.

Still, it’s tough to keep an effective relationship between the primary contractor (you) and the subcontractor (your hired help). Subcontractors can make mistakes that interrupt your workflow, hurt the project, or altogether defeat the purpose of hiring them.

So, what are these subcontractor mistakes you need to watch out for?

They defer all decisions to you. What’s the point of hiring a subcontractor if they’re going to email you every time a minor decision needs to be made? I’ve had subcontractors who contacted me several times each day, asking me to decide on things that they should take care of on their own. This made me feel like I might as well have done the work myself if I was going to spend several hours guiding them step-by-step.

While it’s possible that the subcontractor you hired may be indecisive by nature, you can minimize this problem by creating rules that your subcontractors can use whenever they’re hesitant to make decisions. Let them know the boundaries that separate your area of responsibility from theirs.

For example, during a recent e-book project, I told my writer that adding, subtracting and rearranging sections of the e-book was fine, if she thought such modifications would improve the final product. But if she was going to add or remove whole chapters, she should let me know and wait for my approval before proceeding.

Establishing a clear line between the things I hired her to control (sections and smaller units of the e-book) and the things I want to control (chapters and larger units), meant that she knew whether a particular issue was important enough to defer to me.

If you’re worried about losing control, don’t establish boundaries that are outside your comfort zone. Let your subcontractor’s area of responsibility start as something small, then give them more decision-making power once they gain your trust. But as you’re doing this, be clear with them about the changing boundaries.

They break their contract. They might try to steal your clients, break your non-disclosure agreement, or re-sell their work to others. Prevention is always the best way to get deal with this problem. Before hiring someone, do an extensive online search and ask for a list of references you can talk to on the phone or via Skype.

Establishing a solid two-way relationship between you and the subcontractor is also a good way to prevent them from harming your business. Remind them that they need you more than you need them. Let them know that you can refer them to your friends, give them bonuses for very successful projects and provide them with stable long-term work.

They miss their deadlines. I’ve been disappointed several times with subcontractors who miss deadlines. One of them even took the responsibility of hitting the deadline so lightly that she said to me, “Oops! I forgot to do it, I’m so so sorry.”

So was I. I never hired her again. I avoided this problem with succeeding subcontractors by emphasizing the deadline using boldface or capital letters. I’ve also moved it from the last line to the first line of my project specifications template. It also helps to include a line or two about the consequences of missing the deadline.

For large projects, you can request regular updates, say, every day or twice a week. If you’re working with a particular subcontractor for the first time, don’t just ask for a report, see the actual draft — even if it is far from perfect. Let your subcontractor know that the point of regular reporting isn’t necessarily to correct mistakes. You only want to ensure that the project is progressing at a reasonable pace.

Hiring subcontractors doesn’t have to mean that you’re leaving yourself open to these types of problems. By taking the right preventive measures, you can treat your subcontractor as your partner rather than just someone who does the grunt work for you.

Have you ever hired a subcontractor? If so, what experience did you have with them?

Image by Ginny Austin from sxc.hu

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Battling the dark side of coworking

3 Mistakes Your Subcontractors Might Make and How to Prevent Them