Leveraging contract truck drivers to help you grow your business comes with many benefits. Not only can contractors help you fulfil short-term work without the headache of hiring a full-time employee, but contractors can also provide your business with specialisations that you might not otherwise have access to. Keep reading to discover how hiring contract truck drivers can help you drive business growth.
Contractors can help you increase your capacity
Sometimes, it’s a short-term contract. Other times it’s medium term. And often, it’s on short notice. Whatever your current contract situation, you might find you don’t have enough employees to fulfil the work required.
Before you think about hiring an employee for a short stint or sending your operations manager on a long haul, consider hiring a contractor. Hiring a contractor allows you to take on the extra work and increase your business’s capacity to fulfil contracts on short notice.
You can set the hiring duration to align with the expected contract dates, and once the period is over, you are under no obligation to hire the contractor. That way, you can drive your business growth - not to mention your confidence - by having access to professional truck drivers who can fulfil any extra work. Which leads us straight into our next tip.
Contractors can help you to fulfil seasonal work
Another benefit of hiring contractors is that they can help your business secure new work. Consider contractors who can complete summer work and winter contracts that you might not otherwise accept.
The New Zealand summer is ideal for beach time, jandals, singlets and summer harvests. Curtain siders, tankers and tippers are core focus areas for truck driving companies in summer, as fruit and vegetables must be transported in these vehicles by drivers with the skills to operate them safely.
At the core of a summer harvest contract lies the commitment to deliver. Hiring contractors for seasonal work like summer harvests allows you to define the parameters to fulfil each unique contract request and secure the right driver for the job.
Plus, not having burdened employee costs will allow your business to remain flexible according to seasonality.
Contractors can help you to find new work
Not only can contractors help you complete existing work, but they can also help you to complete quotes for tenders. Having access to a range of rates and driver availability will allow you to price your offers accordingly.
Whether you’re an owner operator or you have a large fleet of trucks you’re looking to grow, securing more contracts will ensure your vehicles - and your business - are continuously moving. Motionless trucks lose money, and any downtime comes at a loss to your business. Knowing where to turn to find the resources you need to keep the wheels moving is key.
Plus, contractors allow you to tender different contracts that full-time staff aren’t able to take on - so no one needs to step away from their desk to complete a job on the road while the business tries to find a replacement driver.
Contractors can increase your business’s specialisation
Contractors provide access to specialisation and expertise that you might not typically hire for. Not only that, but paying for a contractor who is highly skilled in their area enhances your business's value. On that note, it’s important to check out contractor ratings, reviews and references so you know they will proudly represent your business.
Even finding drivers with endorsements such as a Dangerous Goods (DG) licence to allow your business to handle and manage dangerous goods is easy with contractors. And that simplicity can help new businesses take on extra work with less admin and management.
Contractors can help save you time…and money
Whether you have a new or existing business, hiring a contractor vs an employee is a common question. There are times when it might not be beneficial to go through the rigmarole of hiring a full-time employee. Particularly when hiring a contractor offers the ease and simplicity of paying an invoice without needing to factor in PAYE and annual leave.
Plus, contractors can fall outside of your business’s annual budget, creating a workaround for allocated headcounts to fulfil any contract commitments. Not only that, but contractors add real value to your business’s growth by reducing the risk of losing money via continued operations, appropriate budgeting and considered tax calculations - even allowing you to calculate your vehicles' tier 1 and tier 2 kilometre rates correctly to claim vehicle expenses.
Choosing contractors to fulfil work that cannot be attributed to staff resources is a smart, efficient and economical way to scale your business. Hiring contractors also has the added benefit of allowing you to test drive contracts before deciding to go for longer versions. By creating detailed job profiles, you will attract the right drivers to help your business grow and best of all, it’s right at your fingertips.
If you’re ready to find the right driver for the role, join Road Ninja today. We’ll help you find drivers suited to any of your commercial contract needs so you can grow your business with ease.
