6 Awful Things You Should Never Do to Freelancers

Have some of the freelancing horror stories you read about online or heard from your colleagues in the industry caused you to have some concern about booking a freelancer for your next project? As this short feature will show, freelancing is a two-way street. There’s a chance on both the client’s side and the freelancer’s side for things to turn sour. For every problem a client faces with a rogue and unscrupulous freelancer, an honest freelance worker somewhere else in the world will be facing client-related problems like absurd deadlines, rude account managers, and late payments. The lesson to be learned here is this: in order to maximize the gains from a relationship between a client and an independent contractor, both parties must treat each other with mutual respect.

If you’re a prospective client searching for a freelancer for your next project, it’d help to read up on the do’s and don’ts of hiring. This article details the don’ts of dealing with freelancers—the actions and kinds of behavior that you should avoid at all costs when working people who may not be your permanent employees but still play a major role in helping you achieve your business goals.

Never lie about the project’s terms of reference. Many freelancers bewail getting extra work or being made to do tasks that are completely different from what was agreed upon. To ensure optimum fairness between the both of you, you should enter a formal agreement about what you expect, what type of output the job is limited to, and how the contractor will be compensated. Once these expectations are in place, it will be easier to maintain trust and goodwill in the client-freelancer relationship.

Never low-ball your prices to a ridiculous degree. You may be looking for a freelancer in order to get maximum value for your money, but there is a limit to how much you can haggle for prices. Freelancers have their own families to feed, and often, it is the best ones who demand higher prices because they are confident in their skills and the kind of value they can provide. You should either screen for rates that already meet your budget, or negotiate closely within the price point. Don’t expect a sunny working relationship with your freelancer if you ask to pay only half of their hourly rates!

Never “ghost” your freelancers. When a romantic interest suddenly ceases contact without any warning, it is called “ghosting.” That same can be said of a client who suddenly stops communicating with their freelancer in the middle of a project. Needless to stay, it’s one of the worst things you can do as someone who works with a freelancer. If something urgent has come up and you suddenly need to terminate your arrangement, at least have the decency to inform them.

Never delay payment that’s already been agreed upon. This is a horrible thing to do to a freelancer, full stop. It is only reasonable to compensate them on time for the work they’ve done, as like you, they have bills to pay and mouths to feed. Barring emergencies, you should already have money set aside to pay a freelancer for their work. If you can’t afford to pay on time, then you should postpone getting a freelancer on board.

Never make promises you can’t keep. It is bad practice, for example, to lure a freelancer to work for you for cheap by promising higher rates and a greater workload in the future. If this is but a mere tactic for recruitment, and you have no intention of staying true to such a pledge, then you will be hiring in bad faith. To avoid this, be honest about your own situation and the limits of what you can promise to your freelancers.

Never resort to passive-aggression. If you’re aware that your freelancer is still in the process of perfecting their craft, resist the urge to take any unnecessary digs at them. Lay off the comments about how your niece or nephew could have done it better, or if you could have gotten the same work done for cheaper with someone else. Your freelancer would be perfectly happy to receive feedback and implement the changes you need for the project, but without this kind of negative attitude.

If these pitfalls are avoided, hiring a freelancer can be extremely rewarding. It will be a chance for clients and freelancers to learn about each other’s goals, to do excellent work together, and to form long-lasting partnerships. It is also pretty much a guarantee that a “dream” client who follows this code of conduct will inspire loyalty, quality work, and admiration from their freelance partner.

Keep these tips in mind, and turn those freelancer horror stories into mutual success stories!