Let’s face it, the need for a helping hand is going to come along sooner or later, especially if you plan to grow your business. But what if you aren’t ready to make a full time, or even permanent part time new hire? This is where staffing agencies, otherwise known as temp agencies, can come in handy. Especially during these tough economic times, temp agencies are full of eager employees who can provide a lift to your company, without significantly impacting your payroll.

When working with temporary hires or any employees at all, it is important to have proper employment contracts in place. These employment contracts clearly outline responsibilities, payment structures, non disclosure items, and much more. Employment contracts can also stipulate that any employee leaving your company is not to elicit business or contract work from any of your existing employees. Among other items contained in these agreements are specifications of intellectual property rights, causes for early termination and confidentiality agreements.

For more information on successfully using employment contracts, visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center. Here you will find a plethora of resources devoted to small business management, subcontractors, and staffing agencies.

When things get tough as a management consultant, who are you going to call? A subcontractor of course! Hiring a subcontractor gives companies the luxury of acquiring much needed assistance, without throwing off their payroll by having to make a new hire. Often times, the monies paid to the subcontractors can be included in the budget for the project, meaning there will be very little cost to the consulting company.

Subcontracted management consultants need to be handled carefully, however. If managed correctly, they can be a valuable source of assistance and insight. Mismanaged, however, they can potentially turn into a nightmare. One sure-fire way to keep subcontracted management consultants on focus and on target is with subcontractor agreements. These agreements are mutually beneficial contracts between both parties that clearly define items such as:

• Scope of Work
• Payment Structure
• Measurement of Success

With these agreements in place, you can better manage the consultants that you subcontract to help manage your business. To learn more about dealing with subcontractors, visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center.

Hiring subcontractors is risky. Unless you have used them before or if you have received great referrals from them, you do not always know what you are going to get when you hire a subcontractor to do some work for you. So how do you protect yourself from shoddy subcontractor work? With a contract of course! As the name implies, subcontractors do contract work – this should come as no surprise. So make sure that you use a well-written contract to protect yourself and your company from any errors and omissions or other liability that hiring a subcontractor comes with.

By protecting your interests, you also make for a much better experience for both parties since there will be few, if any, questions about the specifics of the project. Of course, this also hinges on a well-written contract in the first place, but that is something that you and the independent contractor should be able to come to an agreement on.

For more tips on working with subcontractors and managing your risk as an IT Project Manager, visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center. Here you can find ideas on managing deadlines, creating timelines and managing a project smoothly from start to finish.

Many software developers and software maintenance contractors have been wondering just how responsible they are for the software they develop or maintain. The simple answer is “what does your contract say?” Many times the subcontractor who created the software will reply with “well, I didn’t specify that in my contract.” At this point, the ball is out of their court. Depending on what details the contract does contain, the developer or maintainer could be responsible for much more work than they originally anticipated.

It is always recommended that software developers and maintainers (or any independent contractor for that matter) have very specific legal documents drawn up any time they enter an engagement. These subcontractor agreements should clearly outline the entire scope of the project, who will be responsible for costs incurred outside of the scope of the contract, and how long the maintenance agreement will last after the software has been delivered.

For more tips on how to protect yourself as an independent contractor, visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center. Here you can find articles specifically dedicated to subcontractors and helping them manage their business.

As a project manager, supervisor, or even team member, it is easy to lose track of the big picture by getting wrapped up in the littlest aspects of things. This is where timelines come in handy. A timeline allows you to see the entire project and where each piece fits in, sort of as a cog in the machine. If one piece is missing, the machine will not run as smoothly as it would have, if all the pieces were in place.

Now as any project manager knows – no project will ever be perfect, so how do you minimize the gaps in the scheduling and completion of the project? With timelines. With a visible timeline, you can see each part, how it segments into the next part of the project, and how much you will be delayed if one piece is not functioning properly. By having the timeline visible, you can see where best to move resources from one part of the project to another so that you don’t fall behind too far in the overall picture.

To learn more about project management as a marketing consultant, visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center. Here marketing managers and other consulting professionals can find valuable resources for their small business including ways to keep projects running smoothly and tips on reducing your company’s risk when entering a new project.