By Lawrence Akers

Let's face it, most businesses and freelancers may question the value of a service like Artisan, especially when they're used to doing their resourcing directly. For a business who clings to a "this is the way it has always been" statement, they can easily lose sight of the fact that, right in front of them, is a convenient "plan b" or a way to ensure that they engage freelances in a compliant manner.

Although we may be preaching to the converted to you, the reader, we wanted to give you a few good reasons as to why going through an agency is better for you.

1. Instant Network!
Why spend hours building up lists of potential clients or freelancers when you can easy tap into a ready made network? When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense to align yourself with an existing network which is being managed by people who understand the needs and skills of our industry. Your time is worth money so why would you want to waste it with chasing when you could spend it getting work done?

2. Keeps Invoicing Clean
When you’re building a relationship with someone, you’ll want to make sure that the terms and conditions of business that you’re working under are clear, transparent and beneficial to all parties involved. If you go through an agency, it all comes down to a weekly time sheet and weekly invoicing. Most people will be very excited to get rid of the headache that is payroll and know that their weekly hours are being handled professionally and that they’re being paid or charged accurately and on time.

3. Best Practice
Did you know that there are taxation and superannuation liabilities when taking on freelancers that don’t have an Australian Company Number? An ABN, which many people invoice under, doesn’t suffice. The ATO to a quick questionnaire that gives you the answer as to whether that liability exists for your business. If it does, you might choose to go through an agency such as Artisan to mitigate your taxation and superannuation liabilities. Additionally, all our freelancers are covered for Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurances giving you real peace of mind. Imagine you’re a freelancer and you’re asked to take your own equipment on site however, in an unfortunate situation, you take a virus in and bring down the companies network; do you have insurances in place to cover the costs that would follow? What about Workcover? As a direct freelancer, if you hurt yourself on site, then it’s unfortunate but sympathy is about all you’ll be entitled to get. Going through an agency like Artisan ensures that all parties involved are covered and operating under best practices.

4. You’ve Got a (Clued In) Friend
Not only are the Artisan gang friendly to talk to, they’re pretty clued in about what is happening around the industry too. Now, if you wanted to know what’s happening out there, what resources do you currently have to answer that question? You want to know how much a position is worth? You want to know if certain industry sectors are busy? You want to know if a certain skill set is worth learning or how hard it is to find? Who are you going to call? Building a relationship with a specialist means that you’re going to get good advice, up to date trend information and some good chat in the process.

Do you have an experience that you would like to share? Why not send us an email and we'll publish it in future Xposes.