We can’t say how often we get asked to make employee handbooks for Independent Contractors, especially among business owners.
Most of the time, they just don’t know the difference. Sometimes, they do. Either way, you do NOT want to mix up your contractors and employees. The IRS will get involved, even if it’s not right away.
So, what exactly can you do here? You want your contractor to understand how your business flows, but you don’t want to misclassify.
We got you!
But before we begin, we need to discuss the difference between an employee and an Independent contractor. In short, Independent contractors are normally other business owners, freelancers, etc. They don’t follow *all* of your policies because they are an independent entity.
Hence, the Independent part.
Now, here are the dos and don’ts.
You don’t “train” Independent Contractors. They should NOT go through the same training processes as your employee.
You CAN show how you like certain tasks to be done through your SOPs. The whole point of SOPs is to show how you operate your business
You CAN share your expectations or goals for projects.
However, since they are the professionals you are hiring, you’re trusting them to bring your vision to life the correct way so you normally are approving the end result versus having someone managing a process you’ve set.
You CAN explain the background, mission, etc of your company and things in use they should be aware of. Again, this falls under SOPs and how you operate your business.
If you are an independent contractor, make sure you are being compensated for time spent (or have this worked into your pricing) for each individual business.
Not everyone is the same. 
You were hired because you were trusted to complete the job for a specific business.
Learn the overview of the businesses you support at the bare minimum. (This should be a given, but oftentimes, it’s not)
If you need assistance with making sure your processes are set before you build your team, visit the Services page or contact us with your concerns and hopeful results and we can build out a custom proposal for you.
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