Successful freelancer and business collaborations: How to do it?

Freelancing is not new. Even 10 years ago, this way of working was rare and often adopted by creative professions. Today, France has caught up but does not yet count 30% of freelancers among all workers, as is currently the case in the United States. Nevertheless, the American trend seems to cross the Atlantic and reach European countries. Some visionary companies positioned themselves on the subject by integrating this type of collaboration relatively early on (Deezer, MAIF, Ubisoft, Mazars, Shine...). How do they integrate freelancers into their teams today? What are the practices to know to promote good collaboration with these profiles? In this article, discover a summary of the testimonies of freelancing experts during a conference held at the Free-Up Festival: Frédérique Guénicot (author of the book “Freelance in Business”), Kevin Bouchareb (Group Director of HR Strategy & Future of Work at Ubisoft), Stéphane Pinatton (freelance agent at OMS) and Charly Gaillard (founder of Beager).

Freelancing in France: where do we stand?

From CDI to Total Workforce Management

Historically, France has been particularly attached to the CDI contract. An almost exception all over the world. The purpose of this contract is to secure both the current employee and the company that uses talent. The CDI, which appeared at the end of the 1800s, was a major development in employment law. The first was followed by better known advances such as the establishment of 5 weeks of paid leave and, more recently, the transition from 39 hours to 35 hours.

The Future of Work that we are talking about today (early 2000s) focuses more on issues of flexibility at work. We are questioning the environment or working time, corporate practices, and now it is the methods of collaboration that we are coming to discuss. Today, two challenges arise in this historic professional relationship. On the one hand, companies are culturally driven to favor permanent contracts, even though it would sometimes be preferable to set up a collaboration of a more limited duration, corresponding to the expected achievements. On the other hand, employees are now looking for meaning in their work since the CDI framework does not seem, at first glance, sufficiently adapted to the quest for flexibility in the professional career of talents.

To meet these two challenges, companies and talents alike have developed new practices. Talents start as freelancers. Businesses are being tempted by total workforce management. Thus, the contract has become a modality, serving above all to frame collaboration. It is therefore not a question of abolishing the CDI but of allowing other frameworks to co-exist. Collaborating with freelancers allows, for example, to benefit from a portfolio of skills for a short and defined period of time (between a few weeks to a year).

An enriched corporate culture

Collaboration with freelancers is not limited to a simple exchange of services, it represents a real opportunity to enrich the culture of a company. Contrary to the widespread fear that the arrival of freelancers could disrupt existing codes, freelancers bring a new perspective to the practices put in place. Far from setting them in motion, they can make them more efficient. They act as catalysts, shaking up established lines while fully mastering the codes in force. Freelance interim managers have in fact made it the basis of their expertise.

If companies are enriched by the diversity of committed profiles, it becomes necessary to change their culture in order not to harm any talent. Like an employer brand, why not develop “a freelancer brand”? Establishing a welcoming policy for these external talents would, among other things, make it possible to better share the company's culture. The freelancer will thus have the ability to understand the ins and outs of the mission and to have in his possession all the keys to successfully carry out the project. It is not only a question of welcoming him well, but of informing him of the necessary information: referents on the project, internal organization, political issue, etc.

Business innovation will certainly require the acceptance of this hybridization. And what better way to assess the success of the collaboration than to see that the freelancer was able to adapt to your internal culture, by taking the time to understand your challenges, your organization and your culture.

A relationship to be structured

So how do you integrate these independent profiles into your teams? Let's go step by step. Companies that use freelancers are already seeing the main operational benefits: the integration of expertise that is rare on the market, the rapid completion of an understaffed team, the saving of research time... From a strategic point of view, freelancers also bring:

• greater resilience for businesses, capable of rebounding in the face of economic cycles,
• greater competitiveness, due to the learning culture that is set up more intuitively with freelancers,
• an acceleration of internal innovation, allowing the company to change its culture but above all to remain connected to the market

It is therefore important not to exclude anyone from these transformations. However, HR teams are still too often left out, even though they are impacted by these changes within the teams. Freelancers are rarely recruited by HR, still too often excluded from Purchasing decisions, managers of Intellectual Services. The tripartite relationship, combining Operational, Purchasing and HR jointly, must be established to promote the smooth integration of the self-employed. For the time being, the collaboration of these three stakeholders remains difficult, in particular due to the lack of an internal referent. Who should freelancers turn to: Purchasing for payment, Operational staff for the project, HR for logistical questions? Deezer found a solution by creating a dedicated contact person: the Chief of Freelance.

But there are many other practices to propose, whether they are already in place within a few pioneer companies or even at the idea stage.

Tips for working better with freelancers

There is no shortage of ideas to make freelancers and businesses collaborate more efficiently. Experts, such as Catherine Barba (Founder of Envi), Frédérique Génicot (freelance expert and author of Freelance in business), Kevin Bouchareb (Expert Future of Work at Ubisoft), Stéphane Pinatton (freelance agent at One Man Support) and Charly Gaillard (Founder and CEO of Beager), have already thought about the question and listed some ideas during the Free-Up Festival.

Here are some ideas for best practices to put in place:

• Build a freelance bible : using freelancers can cause some fears among employees who are not used to it (competition for a position that has become vacant, different remuneration schedule for employees, etc.), which it is necessary to reassure. This document would make it possible to acculturate all employees and to disseminate good collaboration practices between freelancers and employees/companies.
• Create an onboarding booklet : unlike the previous document, this welcome booklet would be intended for freelancers in order to receive all the information they need to understand the company's culture.
• working with freelance communities : despite the popular idea that freelancers are solitary workers, they often group up with other freelancers to benefit from advice, recommendations or simply exchange with professionals who are going through the same experiences. They can be pools of independent freelancers or often grouped around communities made up of freelances-business collaboration experts.
• Do change management : it is not always easy to transform your business and it can even create resistance when the change is too abrupt. Change Management would in particular make it possible to evangelize employees but above all to implement good practices specific to the company to welcome freelancers.
• streamline internal processes : innovation requires updating methodologies and adopting new ones based on current practices. Here, freelancers and businesses would benefit from being facilitated from a financial, operational and HR point of view.
• Convincing the Comex : beyond the evangelization of employees mentioned earlier, operational teams (the most aware of the advantages of freelance profiles) have a problem of acculturation on the subject

The freelancing train is on. Even if it is not yet launched at full speed in France, this phenomenon is going beyond the trend to take hold structurally. For companies, the challenge is significant: it is becoming necessary to move from a culture that favors permanent contracts to a culture adapted to Total Workforce Management. Some companies are already leading by example, pioneers in the field. But one last option has still not been mentioned and would perhaps be one of the most efficient: to help companies adapt to the market, why not ask freelancers directly how to proceed?