So you have a job that needs doing and it doesn’t fall under the job descriptions of your employees? Then it’s time to call in a contractor. Contractors are hired for everything from management consultancy to roof repairs and everything in between. It’s absolutely essential that you assess potential contractors correctly before you offer them a contract.
Health and safety
It’s vital that you assess your potential contractor in order to protect their safety, as well as that of your own staff and the public. Incidents that happen at your workplace a result of poor work from a contractor, will ultimately lay at your door in a court of law if you haven’t first checked their health and safety compliance. Make sure your contractor has the credentials they claim to have when it comes to health and safety.
Reputation
It’s also worth remembering that whether you appoint a contractor for major building works or a small PR job, if the work they do has negative consequences it will have an adverse effect on your company.
Getting the job done
Essentially, you’ll want the job done to an excellent standard for a fair amount of money and in an acceptable time frame. Assessing your contractor before the job will help determine whether you have appointed the right contractor.
How contractor assessments work
The most sensible way to assess contractors is through a classic two-step approach. Using this approach contractors are assessed in stage one according to their health and safety compliance and basic competency. If they pass stage one you can start assessing them at stage two; this means checking they have the relevant experience, credentials, documentation, testimonials and so on to do the job. Never appoint contractors who haven’t passed both stages. The best way to ensure any contractor you appoint is assessed correctly is to set up an in-house contract management system such as those found at https://www.contractswise.com/. This means you can evaluate every single potential contractor in the same way and ensure that no checks are missed out. It also proves a transparent system for assessing appointing contractors, should anyone claim otherwise.
As you see, hiring the wrong contractor can have dramatic effects on your business. Make sure you have a robust assessment in place so that you find the right contractor every time.