The “art of delegation” is one of the most challenging skills for businesses to master. If you don’t already know this, one of the first things you’ll learn as a business owner is that you can’t handle everything independently. More things need to be done than hours in the day, and the company proprietors are struggling to keep up.
If you want to free up time to focus on the big picture for your company, delegate as much as you reasonably can.
Think About Hiring Freelancers
Using outside contractors to complete tasks is a good idea, especially in the early stages of your company’s existence.
One advantage of hiring contractors rather than full-time employees is that there is no need to commit to them long-term. As a result, you may shift gears quickly and easily without worrying about the potential fallout from having to lay off staff.
Hiring the correct individual for the job is another perk of hiring contractors. The different tasks you need to be completed may call for different sets of skills.
Elance and Craigslist are great places to look for freelancers. Those needing assistance with a specific project can post details and wait for bids from interested parties. Other options include looking for “virtual assistants” or “executive assistants,” distinct job titles.
Make Sure You Have The Proper Contractor Agreements
Obtaining written agreements outlining the terms and circumstances of your collaboration with contractors.
Most importantly, the written agreement must specify who will own any intellectual property developed throughout the transaction. Unless otherwise agreed upon in writing (with exceptions beyond the scope of this discussion), the contractor will own the copyrights to the work he produces for you under U.S. copyright laws.
That’s why your company and the contractor must agree in writing that your business will own any IP created by the contractor for your firm. Alternatively, the contractor may want to maintain some of these rights, in which case the price or other agreement terms may need to be adjusted accordingly.
You can use search engines to find samples of contractor agreements. Socrates Media and LegalZoom both sell contractor agreement examples for a price. You can also talk to a lawyer about your circumstances.
Some words to keep an eye out for include (and this is by no means an entire list, but an example):
o _______ Parties’ Names
Description of the Project: o ___
Price o ____
o _______ Ownership Provision Regarding Intangible Assets
Date Range for Completion: o ___
o ____ Termination clause detailing each party’s exit options
Using Third-Party Services
You can find temporary or permanent employees at a variety of foreign businesses. Most will provide coverage if your primary helper is out sick.
TasksEveryDay, BrickWork, and YourManInIndia are just a few such businesses. People with bachelor’s degrees often charge between $7 and $10 an hour.
Consider Overseas Outsourcing
While outsourcing may strike some fear, leaving it out of this plan would not reflect the modern business world.
Today’s globalized economy has made it standard practice for businesses to hire employees in other nations to cut costs and increase productivity.
Read this part regardless of whether or not you intend to use outsourcing in your organization. It will give you valuable insight into the strategies employed by your rivals. Even if you decide against outsourcing yourself, you must understand how the current market functions to remain competitive.
And so, how does outsourcing function? As long as the “physical presence” of the individual is not essential, you can now outsource just about any task. You can engage a virtual assistant in another country to do things like to make phone calls on your behalf (to set up meetings, get flowers for your spouse, investigate a gift for your child, etc.).
The following are some of the main reasons why many businesses prefer to outsource overseas:
(1) Due to differences in the cost of living between the United States and other countries, foreign labor is significantly less expensive. In some nations, a bachelor’s degree holder can be hired for as little as $7 per hour. That identical person in the United States might set you back $25 or more per hour. Professionals with advanced degrees, such as computer engineers and research scientists, can be hired for as little as $15 per hour when they would cost $45 or more in the United States.
(2) You can keep your business open around the clock, seven days a week. Because of the time difference, you can delegate an overseas worker a project before you leave for the day and return to find it completed. Think of the time you could save if you didn’t have to wait for your team to finish a project before you could continue working on it today.
It’s hard to ignore the allure of having twice as much done in half the time for a fraction of the cost. But your inner-most-American self feels dishonest because you believe it sounds great. This is because we, as business owners in the United States, take great pride in our nation and would never intentionally act dishonestly.
Now think about this alternative and tell me which is better for America. Let’s say you run a business that can function without customers visiting your location.
Scenario A: You pay a $12 hourly wage to a full-time American assistant. She has two kids in school and a high school diploma. Since you don’t have an office, your assistant does all of her work from the comfort of their own home. In the morning, you assign her work, and at the day’s end, she returns it to you, done. You’ll review them the next morning and return them to her for corrections. This continues until she is unwell for a whole week. Until she recovers, you’ll have to take on all the household chores independently. Reduced output is inevitable. (Total monthly cost: $1,920, excluding lost productivity of 50% due to your assistant being unwell.)
Scenario B: You engage an Indian virtual assistant to work for you full-time at a rate of $6 U.S. She’s pretty intelligent and has a bachelor’s degree. You delegate your work to her at the day’s end, and by the time you go to the office the next morning, she has completed all of it. You use the money you’ve saved to hire a high school graduate and stay-at-home mom in the United States as a virtual assistant for $12 per hour. The U.S. assistant spends four hours daily on your requests for updates, which you email her each morning. Everything goes back to square one. When your Indian virtual assistant calls in sick, her company will provide a replacement so that you have minimal downtime. (The yearly total is $1,920, the same as in Scenario A’s monthly total. Because of the quick turnaround, you can work around the clock and get twice as much done daily. Because of this, the amount of money your business pays in federal, state, and local taxes in the United States will increase as it expands. For the good of our country, which option do you recommend? That’s up to your discretion.
Think About Your Staff
Finding qualified workers can be accomplished through word-of-mouth recommendations or newspaper ads. You can advertise open positions on online job platforms like Monster.
After completing a thorough screening process on the remaining candidates, an offer can be extended.
Check if the potential employee has a MySpace or Facebook page, and if so, read their profile. It’s incredible how much information can be gleaned about potential employees simply by reading the personal pages they share with their friends. They could boast about their involvement in the community or their penchant for engaging in questionable activities.
Sign Legal Employment Contracts
You should have formal agreements in place with your employees just like you do with your independent contractors. Any original works created by your employees will belong to you, but any patentable innovations they come up with will remain their property.
All intellectual property created while under an employee’s employ belongs to the company; therefore, include that in any employment agreements. You may also want to have a provision stating that the company will hold any patents resulting from the employee’s work for the company, regardless of whether the employee developed the idea while on the clock.
A non-compete clause is another essential item to think about including.
Socrates Media and LegalZoom both sell employment contracts for purchase. You can use search engines to find lawyers, or you can consult someone who specializes in your particular issue.
Make use of Payroll Services.
Using a payroll service, such as Paychex or ADP, is recommended if you have employees. They will handle payroll processing and reporting to relevant authorities. The cost is fair for what you get. Try it once, and you’ll realize why it’s so important.
Get covered by workers’ comp.
You need to get workers’ comp insurance if you have employees. Most payroll services already have affiliate agreements to handle this for you so you can deal with them.
You Need to Delegate More
Always keep an eye out for opportunities to delegate. Do it, and you’ll be happy you did.
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