Running an internal exercise in your business to identify all the critical documents that are relevant to you, your business and your jobs now and into the future will be worth its weight in gold. This forms the foundation of whether your onboarding process is going to be successful or not.

The exact documents, their structure and how detailed they need to be will vary from industry to industry and even from job to job. It’s important to get professional advice if you are unsure of what your requirements are in any given scenario. That being said, here are some of the most common documents that need to be collected.

Subcontracting Documents

• Subcontractor business and contact details

The stock standard basic information to collect from a subcontractor include their business name, ABN, address and phone number. It’s also important to identify the primary contacts for the contractor for anyone who is going to be involved with your business. Also identifying the GST status of the subcontractor and doing a quick search on the ABN lookup to check it is valid and accurate can save some headaches later on. In some circumstances it can be worthwhile to store a copy of the contractors logo, business card and/or other advertising material for reference.

• Commercial contract

The contract spells out the terms and conditions of your arrangement with the subcontractor and is the most critical document of all. Failing to get a valid written contract signed and agreed to before work begins is opening your business to untold and unnecessary risks. It is also important to remember that a contract may also include several documents for larger projects and may be subject to change throughout the duration of a job when variations occur and are agreed by both parties.

• Scope of work

A scope of works is a thorough and detailed description of the work that needs to be completed. The size, scope and detail of your scope will vary depending on the complexity of the work involved. Be sure to get the subcontractor to sign-off on the scope to show they have taken in all the information and addressed any concerns ahead of time.

• Insurance certificates

Typical insurances include Public Liability, Workers Compensation, Professional Indemnity and/or Personal Accident & Sickness insurances. Insurance can extend to individual situations where specific insurances are required such as tools and equipment. When it comes to insurance, you need to get a copy of their ‘certificate of currency’ which details the insurance and triple check the contractor is covered for the level of insurance you require. Also important to note with insurance is that it can expire if the contractor misses payments, so you need to get updated copies regularly.

• Qualifications, licenses and tickets

Ensuring that your subcontractor has the correct skills and qualifications is important for your peace of mind that they’re capable but may also be a legal requirement. Allowing a subcontractor who is not adequately qualified or that has lapsed qualifications is a huge risk to your business and your clients. Licenses and qualifications expire and need to be monitored to be confident they meet their requirements.

• Right to work e.g. VISA, police checks, working with children.

Depending on your industry it may be important to check that the subcontractor has the right to work as a contractor in Australia. While their ABN is the most significant factor for a contractor to run a business in Australia it may also be necessary to get copies of their Visa conditions to stay within the law. Running background and police checks is a regular occurrence in industries where personal safety is paramount.

• Terms & conditions

When you sign a contract with a subcontractor spelling out the terms and conditions of the agreement, it may be worthwhile to check if the contractor has terms and conditions of their own. In some cases where a subcontractor provides their T&C’s attached to a quote or invoice, they can have a bearing on the engagement. Watch out for any inconsistencies and make sure they are dealt with in writing prior to work commencing.

• Safety documents e.g. SWMS, Site assessments & inductions

Safety documentation is another non-negotiable step to ensuring you are meeting your compliance requirements. Whether the subcontractor is working from home or working on a commercial construction site, there are important safety steps you need to address. Typical documentation includes Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS), location specific Site Assessments, General and site specific inductions as well as ongoing Tool Box Talks all contribute to a safe working environment. The checks and balances in a safe working environment are constant and need to be regularly addressed and updated.

• Payment documentation

The subcontractors invoice is the most obvious piece of payment documentation that you will need to collect. Once again, you need to scrutinise even an invoice to ensure that it meets minimum standards e.g. is the ABN supplied valid and current? You may also be required to or at least benefit from also collecting quotes, details of any negotiations and in NSW a subcontractor statement supplied with each invoice.

The main takeaway here is to thoroughly examine what documentation you need for any work you are hiring a subcontractor to complete. Understand that each piece of documentation is important for different reasons and any gaps in your paperwork may expose your business to unnecessary risks. If you would like more information on best practices for collecting all this documentation you can read on here.

The post What Documents Do I Need From My Subcontractor? appeared first on SubbieHub.

So how do you manage the process of onboarding subcontractors efficiently, to save you time and ultimately, that doesn’t require a full-time admin manager to solve? Stay tuned, that is precisely the question we are going to answer.

Why do I need contractors to go through an onboarding process?

In a nutshell, onboarding is about getting a subcontractor up to speed on the job and collecting the right documentation to set the project up for the best possible outcome. Some parts of onboarding are essential e.g., collecting insurance documents, others are more optional such as introducing the subcontractor to your team. The downside is that if you want your business to stay compliant, some level of onboarding is required, the upside is that if you do it right you will get better results from contractors, in a shorter space of time, while minimising your admin and creating a positive environment for all.

1.   Reduce the time it takes for a contractor to hit peak performance

Whether a subcontractor is new to your company or just new to a job, the speed at which they can understand the what, how, when and where of the job that needs to get done, the quicker they can hit peak performance and deliver results, period.

By taking the contractor through a structured onboarding process, you get the opportunity to give the contractor all the tools and resources they need to complete the best job possible.

Imagine the difference between a contractor turning up on-site freshfaced with no idea where anything is to the contractor who already has detailed scopes, drawings, lay-outs, safety protocols etc. completed and uploaded to a mutually accessible database? The productivity gains are limitless.

2. Ensure all compliance requirements are met

The red tape is very real when you’re hiring subbies and there are certain documents that are simply essential if you want to stay on the right side of the law. Meeting your compliance obligations typically requires a long list of documents that need to be collected, verified for accuracy, monitored for changes and managed efficiently.

The difference between a business that has no handle on the level of compliance for their contractors and one that is completely on the ball, is an efficient onboarding process. The trick to minimising the time it takes to meet these obligations is to leverage technology that takes away the leg work such as SubbieHub.

You can find out what sort of documents need to be collected to meet your compliance requirements in our article ‘What documents do I need from my contractors’.

3.   Reduce the threat of issues arising during the job

Taking the time to give a subcontractor the heads-up on how your contract works, what the expectations are, what the quality standards etc. are means they will be far less likely to fail at meeting those requirements of the job. Having this in writing and delivered in an onboarding process with the consequences of poor performance will make it crystal clear what is required.

Having a documented process that fosters high performance is the best way to gain significant boosts to your job performance and productivity. Assumptions and miscommunications can be the death of any project and they are a threat that can be eliminated. The great news is that creating an onboarding process doesn’t need to be a daunting task. You can read about how to make a simple and efficient onboarding process here.

4. Manage safety to reduce the risk of incidents or accidents

Work, Health and Safety (WH&S) create a range of legal requirements and obligations on all parties involved in a working environment. You have a legal responsibility to manage the risks of the job and worksite and to communicate and interact with a subcontractor to ensure a safe working environment. Building safety management into your onboarding process will give you confidence that you’re meeting those obligations.

Using an onboarding process to communicate the safety standards and responsibilities involved in a job means that all team members receive a thorough and consistent message. Having an audit trail of the process is an essential ingredient to prove you are taking the necessary steps to effectively manage risks in the workplace.

5. Peace of mind that the job is in good hands

Having confidence in your contractors and team members to deliver great results is essential for you to be able to step away from micro-managing every detail of every job. Your onboarding process is the single biggest ingredient in making sure that a contractor has the relevant skills and qualifications, meets your standards, and is a good fit for you and your business.

At the end of the day, the performance of your subcontractors reflects on you, your brand, and the client’s overall satisfaction with the job. By completing an onboarding process and not cutting corners, you can be confident that you have hired a subcontractor that ticks all the boxes and that you have given them the best chance of delivering exceptional results.

The post 5 Reasons Why You Need Efficient Contractor Onboarding appeared first on SubbieHub.

The beauty of a well-designed onboarding process is that it is repeatable and consistent for you and your subcontractors. The challenge to creating a great onboarding process is that there are no hard and fast rules and no limits on what you can include in the method. However, there are some very specific best practices that will help to guide you to build a process that delivers the best results.

Tip 1 – Know what documents you need

Get crystal clear on the documentation you need from all your subcontractors at each stage of the project. Demanding unnecessary info and documents will very quickly frustrate both your admin teams and your contractors. Some documents are essential before work can commence while others are just a nice to have. Understanding what you need and when you need it will make for a smooth flow of work by eliminating obstacles and roadblocks. You can read more about what specific documents you need to look at here: ‘Subcontractor onboarding that actually saves you time and money’.

While you’re compiling your list of essential documents, be sure to include the reasoning behind why you need it. Typically, this will be for compliance reasons but also extends to protecting the safety and welfare of everyone involved in the job, improving communication, preventing mistakes and so on.

Tip 2 – Empower your admin with the right tools

If you want to make a big reduction in the time and effort it takes to onboard a subcontractor, then the most powerful tool you can use is technology. The effectiveness of online systems such as SubbieHub has grown exponentially over the last 2-3 years. Technology is getting better and better at handling even the most complex onboarding process and delivering it in a way that is easy, accessible, and convenient for both businesses and subcontractors. Here are three essentials for a good onboarding system:

• Validation checkpoints: Documents need to be reviewed and validated to ensure they meet minimum standards. The best way to ensure those validations take place is to have a system that is monitoring and tracking each and every document at any given point in time.
• Reminders: Subcontractors need to be reminded of the tasks they need to complete, and businesses need to be reminded of the tasks they need to complete. Auto-reminders are your best friend and will shave hours of time chasing up subcontractors and writing to-do lists on your own.
• Audit trails: When there are multiple people handling different aspects of a subcontractors onboarding, it’s essential to have oversight over who has done what, when and where. These types of audit trails give you powerful reporting capabilities to stay ahead of the game.
• Set the rules: Both your admin and subcontractors need to know what is acceptable and not acceptable throughout the onboarding process. People will always try to push the boundaries and having a system with set rules will remove the guesswork and prevent unnecessary mistakes from happening.

Tip 3 – Design your onboarding for the subcontractor

The onboarding process is one of the first and last experiences a contractor will have with your business and leaves them with a lasting impression.

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make in their onboarding process is not understanding who their subcontractors are. Typically, a subcontractor is going to be time-poor and see your ‘onboarding process’ as extra admin for them. If you have a good understanding of who your subcontractors are, you can tailor the wording, the delivery and implementation to suit the circumstances.

There are a few simple rules to follow to keep your contractors happy and on-side.

• Keep it simple: An onboarding process doesn’t need to be overly complicated. Make sure you are getting the right documents at the right time as efficiently as possible and you will be on the right track. Remember that not all documents are essential on day one. Knowing which documents you need and when will help you make the process less cumbersome.
• Make it easy to access: In today’s digital world if your onboarding process isn’t accessible anywhere at any time of day you’re going to get friction. Subcontractors are busy and will need to be able to access or engage with your onboarding process at a time and place that suits them or else you are creating an additional roadblock.
• Stay consistent: Building your onboarding process in a way that takes advantage of online systems removes the human tendency to make changes on the fly. As a result your onboarding process will be far more consistent for all subcontractors you onboard and deliver you consistent results.

Onboarding subcontractors doesn’t need to be an overly time-consuming and painful task if you can get the fundamentals right and systemise the process. Build your process using best practices and leverage technology to automate the time-consuming aspects of the process and you will make a dramatic impact on the time it takes and the results of your subcontractors.

The post 3 Tips for Simple Contractor Onboarding appeared first on SubbieHub.