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Moving away from Deel for contractor management: A guide to choosing an alternative

November 12, 2024

11 mins approx

Moving away from Deel for contractor management_ A guide to choosing an alternative-1

​​Businesses must tackle substantial challenges while expanding beyond borders and building a global workforce. Managing contractors diligently and ensuring compliance across geographies are among them. 

When ensuring efficiency and compliance assume priority, the intricacies of contract management increase. This may cause several issues:

  • Differing labor laws and regulations across varying jurisdictions pose legal and compliance challenges, which, if left unaddressed, may lead to grave legal repercussions, penalties, and utter chaos.
  • Misclassification of workers or contractors is a significant risk in contractor management, often resulting in costly legal and financial consequences, such as penalties and lawsuits.
  • Working with a contingent workforce involves facilitating conversational interactions, understanding expectations, and setting up routine catchups to keep contractors engaged and committed to goals. 
  • Employing people with diverse cultural backgrounds and norms mandates that differences between people be respected and understood to ensure strong professional relationships and meaningful collaboration with contractors.
  • Contractors should have easy access to essential tools, training, and relevant resources for ensuring the project’s success because understanding their critical requirements in a remote setting becomes an imperative need.
  • Managing payments across borders, and that too fairly and timely, for contractors is mission-critical. This calls for a strong understanding of local tax regulations and best payroll practices.
  • With everything in place, regular performance monitoring is of the utmost essence to ensure that contractors are aligned with the ultimate objective.

To address these challenges, implementing contractor management solutions like Deel can help businesses efficiently hire, manage, and pay international contractors while ensuring full compliance with local regulations.

What is Deel contractor management?

Deel, an Israeli-American payroll and EOR services provider, is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company provides contractor management services in over 150 countries. Much like similar platforms, Deel enables companies to onboard, manage, and pay international contractors in full compliance with local regulations.

The platform also enables the automation of payments, ensuring contractors are paid on time, in their preferred currency, and in complete compliance with local tax regulations. 

Additionally, Deel enables contractor engagement by streamlining communication and providing access to essential resources. This empowers businesses to manage international contractors with ease while focusing on growth.

As more and more companies turn to Deel for global workforce solutions, it’s worth examining – Can this tool drive success for your company. too? 

To make an informed decision, it’s essential to consider the key features that any global contractor management provider must offer.

Must-have features of a global contractor management provider

Working with contractors is one thing, but managing them the right way is an entirely different challenge. 

A business that masters contractor management will surely be able to attract top talent, establish smooth communication with remote teams, and ensure timely and accurate payroll disbursements. To ensure such readiness, one must employ a capable contractor management provider equipped with essential features. 

Let’s center our focus on the must-have features a global contractor management provider should offer.

Automated onboarding

A robust contractor management platform lets you simplify and accelerate the onboarding process. It offers features like quick registration, easy document submission, and secure credentials verification, ensuring a contractor’s seamless integration into your business ecosystem.

Multi-currency payment

A capable contractor management platform is fundamentally necessary for employing global contractors, as it can easily link with payment portals that’ll help you simplify currency exchange management and facilitate international payments seamlessly. A well-rounded system addresses every step of the process, such as invoice generation, payment gateway integration, payment tracking, compliance management, and so on.

Instant contract generation 

An ideal contractor management software will help reduce offload administrative burdens by automating the process of generating contracts based on prespecified parameters and frameworks. It ensures accuracy in creating locally compliant contracts when needed, safeguarding you from unforeseen business risks.

Compliance considerations

When managing contractors from across the globe, staying compliant with various laws and work policies is paramount. For instance, misclassifying contractors in different countries will have a bearing on the final taxes to be paid and may also imply penalties and risks.

A reliable contractor management software always keeps compliance front and centre by:

  • Helping you generate work contracts
  • Connecting you with local compliance experts
  • Managing contractor payments
  • Assisting you in generating accurate and compliant invoices
  • Helping you obtain data compliance certifications

Multifaceted capabilities

An indispensable aspect of a good global contractor management solution is its all-encompassing features. For instance, it should be able to provide a holistic overview of all your projects, helping you keep tabs on who is working on what and manage deadlines accordingly, contract statuses, payment timelines, and more.

Holistic offerings

When managing contractors globally, one also needs to factor in crucial steps like managing worksheets, time tracking, and more. With a robust contractor management platform, there’s no need to invest in disparate tools for specific requirements, thus putting a curb on unwanted operational expenses. Such a platform is a holistic solution that offers everything under one system.

Contractor role–fit assessment 

An ideal contractor management helps you identify top talent from around the world. Some platforms do this through comprehensive assessment tools to help determine whether a candidate should be onboarded as a contractor or an employee.

Deel contractor management: Uncovering areas for improvement

Let’s circle back to our initial analysis of the Deel contractor management tool. For a platform as popular as Deel, maintaining exceptional features and services is essential to stay relevant. While there are some areas where Deel contractor management solutions truly excel, it is just as important to recognize where they fall short. 

After all, a product or service should justify its value; otherwise, what’s the point? 

Listed below are some challenges in Deel contractor management compiled based on the customer feedback at G2—the most trusted software marketplace to make well-informed software decisions based on authentic peer reviews:

Higher platform cost than expected

Several reviews highlight that Deel’s pricing structure might not be the most budget-friendly option for businesses with smaller teams. The per-head cost may be a bit steep for smaller teams or freelancers with just a few clients. 

For smaller businesses with limited needs, smaller remote teams, or those new to global contractor management, the pricing might be substantial. Some users also observed that additional fees for specific services or features were not clearly communicated upfront, which could lead to unexpected costs eventually.

Limited support for multiple languages or currencies

Some reviews point to the fact that offering functionalities exclusively in the English language may be limiting, suggesting a need for multilingual support, particularly in languages like Spanish and Portuguese. 

Additionally, users expressed a desire for a a local currency converter that updates according to the country where contractors reside, so they can see the variability of what one will receive at the time of payment.

Some reviews point to the inconvenience of not having any options for contractors to make transfers in their local currency. Contractors further reported issues with the platform’s withdrawal fees, which are sometimes higher than other options, and occasional delays in payment processing. 

Additionally, the interface appears overly complex for contractors who only require basic payment services.

 Quality of ongoing product support

While the platform offers a range of functionalities, the potential for high fees associated with some of its services tends to add up and impact the overall cost-effectiveness for businesses, as suggested by some reviews.

In addition, the need for improved customer support experience was brought up with some reviews stating that response times can sometimes be slower than expected, which can be frustrating when urgent issues arise. The two areas requiring pressing attention were occasional support delay concerns and impersonal and automated communication support that was akin to interacting with a bot.

Payroll processing timelines 

Various reviews imply that the platform’s payment processing timelines can be improved. As per reviews, Deel charges significantly higher fees than various other service providers. Despite that, transfers through the Deel platform are unusually long, even stretching for days on end to arrive.

Benefits and insurance administration 

Deel falls short in benefits and insurance administration compared to other such providers, potentially due to high fees, support delays, compliance complexities, and the absence of uniformly localized benefits across countries. 

Overcoming challenges using Multiplier’s contractor management solutions

To deal with the potential gaps that persist in global contractor management platforms like Deel, Multiplier presents a promising alternative – a practical and efficient way to address the challenges mentioned above. 

Cost-effective solutions

Many G2 reviews indicate that Multiplier is often regarded as better priced compared to Deel. Its flexible plans, lower administrative fees, intuitive user interface, comprehensive compliance management, and seamless integration with existing HR systems offer more bang for the buck. 

Further, its cutting-edge features help reduce administrative burdens and help companies ensure compliance with local employment laws, making it easier to expand internationally without the usual headaches.

Additionally, the highly professional customer support further enhances the user experience, providing a reliable and efficient solution for managing international employees and contractors.

Versatility across geographies

Multiplier’s sophisticated suite of features is behind its ability to handle multiple currencies and languages, enabling more seamless transactions and communication. 

The platform offers impeccable support for multiple currencies and languages, which is particularly beneficial for managing an international workforce. This vital feature eliminates the need for disparate conversion tools and services, simplifying the payroll process and compliance complexities.

Best-in-class person-to-person support

Multiple reviews attest to the extremely positive experience that Multiplier offers with its attention to detail and customer-centric approach. Its dedicated worldwide support team is available across regions and time zones, committed to addressing all the queries users may have and resolving them as promptly as possible.

Payroll and local expertise 

While Deel is known for its extensive customization features, this can affect scalability as businesses grow. On the contrary, Multiplier’s excellence in offering scalable, automated solutions with a localized approach leads to efficient and effective payroll management aligned to each country’s regulations. 

Region-specific benefits and compliance management

Unlike Deel, which adopts a more generalized approach, the Multiplier global contractor management places a premium on localized benefits and insurance administration, which has a significant impact on contractors’ experience. 

By delivering top-class benefits that are globally compliant and locally relevant, Multiplier’s benefit coverages are better aligned across countries in terms of better service and process optimization.

While both Deel and Multiplier offer unflinching support for managing contractors globally, Multiplier stands out with its focus on helping businesses of all sizes and types expand their global footprint.

By streamlining the onboarding process, payroll and compliance management, and benefits administration in a cost-effective manner, it helps companies address their international workforce management needs in a significantly better way.

Switching from Deel to Multiplier contractor solutions: A step-by-step process

For businesses considering a transition from their current service provider to Multiplier, understanding the steps involved is essential. Here’s a ready-to-use guide to ensure a seamless switch, should you decide to make the change.

  • Start with a thorough evaluation of the contractor management practices to ascertain what aspects of those should be improved or transferred when transitioning to a capable solution provider.
  • Follow a series of steps necessary for making a move, such as transferring crucial contractor data, payment details, documents, and so on.
  • Make it a point to ensure that all regulatory and compliance imperatives are addressed amidst the transition.
  • Focus on training and guiding all the team members involved in the contractor management process. Everyone involved must know how to leverage the well-rounded capabilities that Multiplier offers.
  • Sensitize contractors about the transition and any pertinent information about the new platform they must know.
  • Finally, before the large-scale deployment of the platform, it’s critical to pilot the system beforehand to ensure the switch from Deel to Multiplier is seamless and complete.

Making the right choice with Multiplier

After evaluating the challenges with Deel and the best alternative available, it’s time to consider—is Deel truly ideal for your requirements? 

While Deel is a great contractor management platform, it primarily caters to large enterprises where budget constraints are minimal. But if you’re looking for a cost-effective contractor management platform with top-tier features and scalable solutions for organizations of any size, don’t look any further. Multiplier has got your global workforce management needs covered. 

When considering a global contractor management solution, discerning whether it offers everything you need to manage contractors globally and effectively in one unified platform is crucial. Not all platforms provide comprehensive capabilities, but Multiplier differentiates itself with a robust, intuitive software solution. 

Assess firsthand how the Multiplier contractor management platform can manage their complex contractor arrangements efficiently. 

Book a demo today.

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