Should an employee or a freelance be hired?

Employee or freelance: Who to choose? There is no universal answer to this question. However, at Coder.comwe are convinced that freelancers represent an optimal solution for many startups.

Having experienced both a structure mainly made up of employees and an organization turned towards freelancers, we were able to observe the forces and limits of each model. Here is our feedback to help you make the right choice!

The advantages of freelance

1. Experience

When you go up a start-up,, The budget is often limited. Unless we raise funds, the solution is often to turn to young employees, cheaper, dynamic and connected, but sometimes inexperienced and requiring training.

Freelancers, on the other hand, provide immediate expertise. Thanks to their experience, they offer relevant solutions, optimizing time and budget, without having to bear the cost for recruit an employee Senior full -time.

2. Productivity

Even with all the energy in the world, young or low -skilled employees are generally less productive than experienced freelancers. This has an obvious consequence: you will spend less time has manager A freelance and the latter will generally spend less time than a young employee on equivalent tasks.

Our experience shows for example thatA professional freelance developer goes up to 10 times less time than a beginner developer on an equivalent task.

The needs of a start-up change quickly, but employees do not necessarily change at the same rate, nor in the same direction!

Typically, we rather need Back-End developers at first. Then comes the need to improve the site's interface, then the need to do there business promotion. This represents different specialties than one employee will find it difficult to master in full.

With freelancers, you access specialists for each mission and adapt your collaborations according to needs.

4. Motivation: customer satisfaction

The success of a freelancer depends on the satisfaction of its customers, and their loyalty. This model pushes freelancers to provide quality work and to be reactive. A satisfied customer can cause new contracts and create a positive word of mouth to acquire new customers and thus widen professional network. The freelance is thus ensuring to understand the needs of his client as much as possible. A successful project is the best advertisement he can do with his work!

For example, on Redator.comour freelance freelance editors enter the list of favorite editors of certain customers and therefore respond more regularly to collaboration requests. Customer satisfaction, loyalty, new projects, Increase in turnover !

We can therefore think that a freelance will be more important to the satisfaction of its customers than an employee.

The benefits of the employee

Of course, the use of an employee also presents his advantages And you have to think carefully about the advantages of each profile according to the needs of your start-up.

1. The involvement

A permanent employee can be more involved in the company's vision and strategic decisions. This involvement can result in a better understanding of long -term issues.

However, it strongly depends on the intrinsic motivation of the employee: some professionals are passionate about their work and conversely, for some employees, only the salary at the end of the month is important.

2. Availability

Unlike freelance, which often juggles between several customers, an employee is dedicated to your company, guaranteeing increased availability.

In addition, an employee is generally present in your premises, unless he is hired in telework Complete, which facilitates direct collaboration and instant exchanges.

However, this availability can be altered by absences (leave, sick leave, resignations).

3. Cost

If freelancers may seem expensive on time, their productivity and their specialization often compensate for this price. Conversely, an employee generates significant fixed charges, even in the event of a drop in activity.

However, this must be qualified by taking into account the higher productivity of freelance: a high time cost is quickly profitable if productivity is 10 times higher.

It is therefore interesting, on this point, to compare the freelance Compared to that of an employee, according to the needs of your start-up.

Freelance or employee: What to choose?

There is no unique answer. Your choice depends on your needs, your budget and the phase in which your startup is located.

If you opt for freelancers, invest time to define your needs and find the right profile. This guarantees effective and serene collaboration and you can delegate work to a freelance More easily.

What if you Look for talented freelancers,, Coder.com is there to help you find the best profiles adapted to your project!