By: James Trowell, head of tax and accounting at contractor specialists, Dolan Accountancy

For most startups, the most common issue they face is cash flow. The need to expand to increase that level of cash flow often involves hiring staff. Whilst this is a positive in terms of managing the ever increasing workload, paying for staff is another story as it absorbs even more of your income. The solution? Look to the flexibility and expertise offered by contractors.

In this article we will explore the top 5 benefits of using contractors to help you grow your business.

1. Affordability

The whole process of recruiting and training staff can soon add up cost wise. Recruitment agencies will often charge a fee for filling your vacancy and even advertising yourself can have an associated cost. You’ll also have to consider the cost of your time to train that person up in the role they have filled as well as their actual salary. By hiring a contractor to fill your position, you have the option to choose someone with the expertise or specialist skills that you need so the time needed to train them is often negligible.

2. Flexibility

Unlike a permanent member of staff, contractor’s can work on a project by project basis, so you could just pay for their expertise as you need it. Contractor’s tend to choose this path as they like to be able to set their own hours, which really could be a massive benefit for you. For example if you dropped an email on a Friday night with a list of assignments, you could be coming in on Monday morning to find the list is completed! Remember a contractor is a small business like you and good ones will be keen to meet deadlines, deliver above your expectations with the hope that you will want to engage in their services again.

3. Expertise

Contractor’s are unlikely to have made the move to contracting unless they are experts in their field. This means they keep up to date with the latest industry trends, be that in technology or statistics. This is excellent news for you, as you and your company can benefit for their knowledge. For example they are likely to adopt cutting edge technology and could suggest a new piece of software which could increase your productivity. Not only do you benefit from this knowledge but you also don’t have to pay for them as a salaried employee in the long term.

4. Attitude

When a new member of staff joins a business, they tend to need weeks if not months of training before they can contribute positively to your turnover. Contractors however are used to working on their own and getting on with the job in hand immediately. This means that they ‘hit the ground running’ so you will see a positive input to your business quickly. You will need to be good at setting clear briefs and expectations though, but you shouldn’t need to sit down and explain everything. Instead you can focus on your business knowing your contractor will be completing their projects in the background.

5. Availability

The great thing about using a contractor within your business is that they only need to work for you when required. So if you have a specific project you need some help on, but dont have the capacity yourself, a contractor can come in and fill that gap in the short term. They also tend to build relationships with their employers so that they can be called back in to make additions to their work or start new projects, with the knowledge that both parties have prior experience of eachother.

About the author: James Trowell, is head of tax and accounting at contractor specialists, Dolan Accountancy. Starting off in the admin team at SJD Accountancy James’ role expanded over the years, working his way to accountant and then team manager. Three months ago, Trowell took on the head of accounting and taxation position at Dolan