Hiring in start-ups: employee or freelancer?

There are several things to consider when you choose between an employee and a freelancer. Here are a few of them;
Price.
If you would hire a freelancer year-round, it will be more expensive than hiring an employee. On the other hand, an employee is a recurring cost that remains in the books until you fire them. If you only have nine months per year of work for the employee, you still need to pay them 12 months. Don't forget to count this idle time in your comparison with the freelancer.
Risk.
Hiring an employee is, in most countries, a higher risk than hiring a freelancer. You can hire a freelancer for a specific task or a project. When the project is finished, the freelancer will no longer represent a recurring cost in the books. If you fire an employee, usually, you owe them severance pay. In most European countries, employees are highly protected and expensive to fire.
Motivation.
A freelancer works for himself, whereas an employee works for you. The quality of work is potentially good from both. The freelancer wants a happy client, whereas the employee wants his employer to be satisfied. In my opinion, the quality of work depends more on the individual than on their legal status.
In general, I recommend start-ups to keep their recurring costs as low as possible, and working with freelancers is a great way to do that.

As a side note, I want to point out that there is another solution for temporary work to reinforce your team, and that is working with a staffing agency. You hire someone through the agency to work in your company, but the person will technically not be on your payroll. You will pay the agency directly, and they take care of all the paperwork.
The cost of hiring a person through a staffing agency is usually situated between the cost of an employee and that of a freelancer.


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Top 10 about the author; Erik Victor
1. is a serial entrepreneur and started his career in Engineering
2. currently a majority shareholder in corporations in the fields of Industrial Real Estate, Wealth Management & Investment funds, and International Tax Planning
3. has a passion for the dynamics of young businesses and actively endorses several start-ups
4. is an engaged member of several think-tanks and an international conference speaker
5. has a business footprint in six countries
6. speaks five languages
7. personal life - resides in Europe
8. Erik (48) is known as a discrete and private person, a family man
9. loves to spend his limited holidays in the mountains or at sea on his yacht
10. Erik has no social media accounts



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