Managing a self-employed workforce comes with a variety of costs from the cost of tools to the time spent on staff to perform admin tasks.
These unnecessary expenditures often weigh down on business owners with tight profit margins. While initially the Wise system has been built to help the logistics industry and last-mile delivery sector, we are on a mission to revolutionise the self-employment industry and improve the way businesses engage their subcontractors.
In this article, we will discuss how it’s possible to reduce a lot of the traditional costs associated with managing self-employed individuals
1. Digital Document Sharing & Storage
Exchanging and storing documents, contracts and identification are essential when it comes to onboarding new subcontractors and getting them out on the road, costing businesses on average £540 per year when using solutions such as WeTransfer and Dropbox.
With the Wise system, both main contractors and subcontractors quickly and easily share and review digitally-submitted documents for FREE. This cuts down on admin, saves time and reduces the amount of paperwork.
On top of this, by managing and exchanging these documents digitally, companies are able to enhance their information security. By removing the physical storage of these documents, you can limit access to only specific workers and monitor activity.
2. Digital Document Signing
Typically the average business spends £400 per year, on tools such as DocuSign, that allow for the signing of documentation – Wise provides this service for FREE. Within the Wise system, identification, contracts and policies can all be sent, uploaded, submitted and signed securely, allowing you to access them whenever you need to
3. Admin staff & software
The Wise system acts as an interview scheduling tool, helping you prepare for your workweek by receiving an overview of any upcoming interviews and progress made by self-employed applicants in the Wise app. Ahead of these interviews, the platform also collects all essential information and allows identification to be uploaded and contracts/policies signed digitally.
A full-time worker or employee on the national minimum wage costs around £17,000 PA in 2022. By using the Wise system, not only do you save time on admin (making your employees more efficient and giving them more time to develop their skills and focus on company growth), you also negate the need to hire additional admin staff as your company expands.
4. Pre-employment background checks
As part of the Wise onboarding process, there is the option to submit if a subcontractor has passed or failed your background check, if they have passed you will be required to upload the document as evidence. Wise does not add any extra costs to any of these processes and the information is all held within the platform.
5. Contract Reviews
Compliance and legal protection are an essential part of the service that Wise offers to all of its customers, main contractors are all eligible for a free contract review worth £250. Our in-house compliance team will check that your current contract matches your subcontractor’s responsibilities and make sure that your business is fully prepared for any forthcoming HMRC audits. If it doesn’t, a member of the Wise team will tailor your contracts and offer guidance on the necessary steps to safeguard your business.
If you currently don’t have any contracts, we will get in touch to learn how your business operates, based on this we will then create a customised contract for you to use for your subcontractors depending on your carrier. The Wise system accommodates multiple carriers, it is important to recognise the importance of having individual contracts for each carrier you work with to ensure you remain compliant.
6. Payroll
If your subcontractors choose one of the Wise products, Wise also facilitates payments free of charge on behalf of the main contractor, which traditionally has incurred a cost per head.
While there are some free tools available to you, they will not be best suited for your business’s needs and able you to scale up your business. Often free software offers one feature such as storage only, transfer only or signing documents only and provides a feature limit, requiring you to either pay to be able to access all features or run out of space of your free versions.
As a whole, the Wise system is able to offer your company ongoing savings and improved efficiency in a number of administrative areas – if you’re interested in hearing more you can book a FREE demo of the system from one of our specialists!
