How to work with freelancers: 8 collaboration tips

Your talented in-house team drives web design forward, but certain projects demand additional support or specialized skills, like expert copywriting. Instead of onboarding full-time employees for these niche requirements, hiring freelancers or contractors is a flexible, efficient solution. 

If you’re currently working with freelancers, you know that this strategy also allows for a more dynamic and adaptable workflow. It enables your team to scale up or down as needed, ensuring that the best talent handles every aspect of the web development process whenever necessary.

Make the most of these temporary teammates by learning how to effectively work with freelancers. 

How to effectively work with freelancers: 8 tips

Consider freelancers as precision tools in your project toolkit, providing specialized solutions and fine-tuning operations with expertise and flexibility. To fully benefit from freelance talent, you must adopt strategic approaches for onboarding and collaborating with these independent professionals.

With this goal in mind, we’ve compiled 8 tips to help you build a successful working relationship with freelancers, ensuring you maximize their unique skills.

1. Create and use templates

Prepare your freelancers for success by crafting bespoke development maps and templates, detailing everything from API integration specifics to responsive design parameters. These specialized guides act as navigational tools for freelancers, directing their efforts precisely and efficiently from the outset. By handing over a document that speaks directly to your project’s technical and creative nuances, you ensure that every line of code and design element is purposeful and aligned with your strategic vision.

Consider a scenario where you’re developing an ecommerce platform with a unique user interface (UI) that integrates augmented reality (AR) for product visualization. Providing freelancers with a development map that outlines the AR feature’s technical requirements, user flow diagrams, and interactive design guidelines ensures your freelancers clearly understand the project’s innovative components.

This approach accelerates the development process by minimizing back-and-forth communication about the project’s details and design requirements and ensuring the final product closely mirrors your initial concept. 

2. Set clear expectations

Clear expectations regarding goals, deliverables, and timelines lay the foundation for successful collaborations. Articulating project goals establishes a mutual understanding of your overarching objectives, while defining deliverables offers freelancers a roadmap, reducing ambiguity and enabling them to organize their work efficiently. Setting timelines also fosters urgency and helps freelancers prioritize tasks. Combined, these elements ensure timely and accurate project completion.

3. Refer to the original policy

Before working with a new freelancer, it’s best practice to create a comprehensive policy or contract detailing both parties’ responsibilities, including project deadlines, communication protocols, payment terms, and confidentiality agreements. You can refer to this document throughout your working relationship to clarity requirements and resolve any misunderstandings regarding expectations.

4. Streamline the onboarding process

Onboarding isn’t just about familiarizing freelancers with your project — it’s about integrating them into your company’s culture. Providing a comprehensive onboarding experience helps freelancers fully grasp your work environment and project’s nuances, facilitating smoother collaboration.

In addition to outlining their responsibilities, introduce them to essential team members, provide access to critical project documentation, and equip them with necessary collaboration tools. Even as temporary team members, freelancers should feel connected and equipped to contribute effectively from the start.

5. Foster open communication channels

Freelancer management doesn’t stop once you’ve successfully onboarded a new contractor. You have to lay the groundwork to facilitate effective communication by establishing open channels for regular updates, discussions, and feedback. Consider implementing regular check-ins, scheduling project updates, and using communication tools to maintain clear and consistent dialogue. This approach ensures freelancers integrate with your team, fostering a collaborative and high-performing dynamic.

6. Regularly give constructive feedback

Feedback is the cornerstone of growth and improvement in any project, especially when working with freelancers who may not be physically present in the office. Constructive feedback, given consistently, helps freelancers understand your expectations more clearly and adjust their work accordingly. This practice demonstrates that you value and care about their performance.

It’s crucial to be specific. Instead of saying a design needs to be “better,” point out that aligning the elements more closely with responsive design parameters could enhance the landing page’s cohesion. By regularly sharing detailed insights into what’s working and what’s not, you create a constructive dialogue that elevates the project’s quality and fosters a positive working relationship.

7. Incorporate freelancers into existing processes

Integrating freelancers into existing workflows and processes is crucial for maintaining project continuity and efficiency. By familiarizing freelancers with your standard operating procedures, you ensure they can work cohesively with your in-house team, adhering to the same quality standards and timelines. This integration might involve granting access to your project management tools, including them in relevant meetings, and providing clear guidelines on communication channels and project documentation.

When working on a web development project, for instance, you could introduce freelancers to your version control system from the get-go. This process includes walking them through your team’s naming conventions and review process. Taking this approach fosters a unified and cohesive team environment and minimizes the learning curve for freelancers, allowing them to contribute more effectively from the start.

8. Use freelancer management software

While some businesses establish their own freelance management system, you can use freelancer management software to streamline collaboration with independent contractors. 

These freelance-focused tools automate and centralize various aspects of managing freelance work, including workflow management, communication integration, time and expense tracking, performance analytics, and document sharing.

Get started with Webflow

Harnessing freelance talent helps you support your team’s skills with outside expertise and scale project work.

Webflow Enterprise offers robust features – like page branching and dedicated roles and permissions – that help businesses and freelancers collaborate and build websites together.

Join Webflow Enterprise and unlock the full potential of collaborative web design and development for both your in-house team and your freelance talent.