An Onboarding Process Checklist for Freelancers

Do you want to increase your annual revenue by 60 percent? This may seem like a silly question, but it’s also possible that you’re not doing the one thing that could help you do that. 

What is it? Creating an onboarding process for your team. Research shows that employees with a good onboarding experience are more efficient and engaged. 

Yet many companies don’t have a process for their employees or freelancers. At FreeUp we want to see you find success with your freelancer. One of the first steps to doing this is an effective freelancer onboarding process. 

Keep reading for an onboarding process checklist for freelancers to help set you up for success. 

Why Should You Use an Onboarding Process Checklist With Your Freelancer? 

Whether you’re working with a freelancer short-term or long-term you should have an onboarding process. Onboarding your freelancer correctly will help you achieve a variety of things: 

1. Make your freelancer feel welcome 
2. Get them involved and motivated 
3. Increase freelancer productivity
4. Achieve project success

“I Think This Is the Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship”

Yes, we misquoted Casablanca, but it’s true. The beginning of your relationship with your freelancer will set the tone for the rest of the work you do together. 

If you want things to start correctly, you need a defined process. This could include a meeting where you spend time discussing goals and requirements. It could also include time for the freelancer to review our branding and any training documents you have. 

We’ll discuss what to include in the onboarding process later; however, just keep in mind that it sets the tone for the rest of your time together. 

Set Expectations

Setting expectations is crucial when working with freelancers. While the freelancer may be an expert in their field, your company is different. 

That means you may have different needs than another business. Having realistic expectations is important on your side, and knowing what your expectations are is important for the freelancer. 

A well-defined process will give you the space to set those expectations and for everyone to be on the same page. 

Encourage Loyalty

Are you planning to work with your freelancer long-term? Building a relationship with them is crucial. It helps create loyalty, and it helps you retain your freelancers for longer. 

Think about this, around ⅓ of new employees leave their jobs after around six months. 

And that’s in-house employees. Freelancers have a high degree of flexibility, especially when they have skills that are in high demand. 

Building a relationship helps because when your freelancer feels connected to you and your company, they’re less likely to see work elsewhere. 

An Onboarding Process Checklist for Freelancers 

An onboarding checklist for your freelancers doesn’t need to be complicated. Ultimately, it comes down to giving your freelancer the lay of the land and setting them up for success. Here’s a quick six-step process that will help you do this. 

Step One: Introduce the Freelancer to Your Company and Your Objectives

Around ⅔ of businesses have said that brand consistency has contributed to revenue growth of at least 10 percent. Your freelancer needs to understand your brand and the message you want to convey to your consumers. 

While basic knowledge of this can come from exploring the face you present to the world (i.e., your website or social media), in-depth knowledge comes from a different place. To truly understand your branding and messaging freelancers must understand your mission and goals. 

This is a great time to introduce that to them. 

Take the time to share how your mission and goals translate into actionable items and your branding. This will help guide their work. 

Step Two: Introduce Your Team 

Will your freelancer be working with other people within your company? Or will their work connect at all? Take the time to introduce your freelancer to these team members. 

This will help them begin to build a relationship, and it will also give your freelancer another point of contact if they need help or have any questions. 

Step Three: Go Over Your Scope of Work

The onboarding process should start the moment you start thinking about hiring a freelancer. You should invest time in creating a scope of work and document it for any position you want to hire for. 

This will help you begin to lay out what you will need from a freelancer and what basic responsibilities they will have. 

When you’ve already built a scope of work, it helps as you interview and hire. It can always be adjusted later if you remove or add on responsibilities.

When your freelancer starts, this document will help you begin to set expectations. It will list their responsibilities, deadlines, expectations for communication, and more. 

Take the time to go over it with your freelancer. Give them an opportunity to ask any questions they have about the scope of work and make sure to update it with any clarification needed. 

Step Four: Make Sure the Freelancer Has Access 

Do you need your freelancer to help with Quickbooks? Or WordPress? Or some other platform that requires access? 

Make sure your freelancer is set up as a sub-user on any accounts they need to access. You can include any login information and standard operating procedures (SOPs) in your scope of work. 

Step Five: Training (If Needed) 

Do you have specific processes your freelancer needs to follow? You can do training one-on-one or through SOPs. 

Make sure to discuss how they will learn your procedures and the required schedule for that during the onboarding process. 

Step Six: Start the Feedback Loop

Feedback is essential for you and your freelancer. It helps you learn how to communicate with each other and how to work together. 

The onboarding process is the perfect place to start this practice. Talk to the freelancer about why feedback is important to you and then ask for feedback. 

This will allow you to start to normalize the practice of asking for and giving feedback. At this stage ask them about whether the information they’ve been given helps them feel comfortable and confident in starting their role. 

A few months down the line consider revisiting the onboarding process with your freelancer and asking if anything was missing that they wish they had known when they first started. 

Finally, talk to the freelancer about how you’ll give feedback in the future and how they can give you feedback when needed. Don’t leave it here though, continue to ask for feedback throughout your journey with your freelancer. 

Start Your FreeUp Journey With the Right Freelancer

An onboarding process checklist process for freelancers can help set you up for success on your project. Make sure to take some time to build one and utilize it with your new FreeUp hires. 

Are you ready to get started on your next project? Book a call today with one of our account managers to get your next job request in.