Facing economic pressure, unpredictable tariffs, erratic supply chains, and a tough hiring market, many companies supplement their workforce with contingent workers: freelancers, contractors, gig workers, and other temporary staff.
In some organizations, contingent workers account for 30% to 50% of the workforce. They’re more affordable for short-term projects, help companies scale up or down quickly, and provide access to hard-to-find skills.
Plus, contractors are often faster to onboard than employees, since they’re experienced in adapting to new clients and industries, and possess high levels of autonomy.
However, hiring and managing global freelancers also presents unique challenges.
The right contingent workforce management software solutions help businesses streamline hiring, compliance, payments, performance tracking, and more.
Key takeaways:
- Contingent workers help you quickly reduce costs, scale teams, and tap into specialized talent.
- Contingent workforce platforms fill gaps that traditional human resources systems can’t: centralizing onboarding, payments, collaboration, and international compliance.
- With real-time visibility and holistic reporting, companies can confidently scale their workforce to meet future business needs.
Contingent Workforce Software Benefits
Traditional HR and payroll processing software works well for full-time employees. Still, it often falls short for managing contingent workers — or feels like overkill if all you need is a streamlined way to pay contractors.
On the other hand, purpose-built contingent workforce software is designed specifically for non-traditional workers’ needs by offering features like contract flexibility, localized payments, and simplified vendor management.
Other standard features include:
- Optimized task assignment and time tracking capabilities, so businesses only pay for hours worked
- Performance management dashboards that optimize oversight and help managers track output against goals
- Integrated communication channels, like chat and file-sharing, to support collaboration between contractors and internal teams
- Built-in contract templates, e-signatures, and tax compliance support to reduce administrative overhead
- Payroll automation that ensures workers are paid on time and in the right currency, reducing exposure to potential audits and lawsuits
Contingent workforce software also provides reporting tools that give real-time visibility into contingent labor costs to assist with decision-making throughout the hiring process, helping leaders budget more effectively and safely scale talent to align with business needs.
Key Features to Look For
When choosing new business software, it’s essential to align your budget and priorities with the features that matter most.
For contingent workforce software, evaluate which of the following features are a priority for your company, such as:
- Worker classification tools: Reduce misclassification risk and ensure contingent workers are managed with autonomy to avoid potential lawsuits and fines.
- Global payroll and payments: Ensure contractors are paid on time and in their preferred currency, with support for multiple currencies, tax compliance, and local payout options.
- Onboarding and offboarding automation: Manage intricate global contracts, document collection, access provisioning, and project completion.
- Compliance tracking: Ensure you comply with local labor laws, visa/work permit management, and tax obligations.
- Analytics and reporting: Streamline talent management, vendor tracking, and performance insights across costs.
- Integrations: Consolidate your tech stack by ensuring your platform of choice integrates with HRIS, ATS, and finance platforms.
The Best Contingent Workforce Management Software
There are a variety of contingent workforce management solutions on the market.
Here’s an introduction to eight of the most popular platforms:
1. Magnit
Magnit is a leading integrated workforce management platform featuring Maggi, a generative AI companion.
With Magnit, you can:
- Automate tasks and workflows
- Improve resource allocation and hiring speed
- Manage your workforce
- Identify and match top talent to your roles
- Ensure legal compliance
Advanced labor market intelligence helps you make better data-driven decisions across your organization.
2. SAP Fieldglass
SAP Fieldglass solutions help you find, hire, and manage contingent talent. Fieldglass has been around since 1999 as a vendor management system and was acquired by SAP in 2014.
With SAP Fieldglass, you can:
- Streamline processes and improve productivity
- Oversee contingent workers’ records and ensure compliance
- Manage costs and nonpayroll workforce
- Enhance security and mitigate risk
3. Avature Contingent Workforce Management
Avature CWM is a direct sourcing solution that enables you to source contingent workers more efficiently and develop a more competitive talent pool.
With Avature CWM, you can:
- Create your own talent marketplace
- Run personalized recruiting campaigns and post openings to social media
- Build screening workflows and communicate with contractors
- Cut costs across hiring, agency partners, onboarding, and training
- Access interactive dashboards and reports
4. WorkMarket by ADP
WorkMarket is an end-to-end platform for managing independent contractors, with flexible modules for a customizable solution. WorkMarket was acquired by ADP.
With WorkMarket, you can:
- Onboard and pay international contractors
- Automate processes and reduce administrative burdens
- Identify the best workers for your roles
- Analyze contractor spend and usage
- Improve compliance and file 1099-NECs
5. Worksuite
Worksuite contingent workforce management helps you find, onboard, hire, and scale your freelance workforce.
With Worksuite, you can:
- Create custom onboarding workflows
- Build a centralized talent pool and reduce reliance on staffing agencies
- Manage and pay freelancers with integrated compliance
- Mitigate risk and make better decisions with reporting and advanced analytics
- Manage contracts and invoices
6. Lifted, an Upwork Company
Lifted is an Upwork company giving enterprises a single solution to source, contract, manage, and pay contingent talent.
With Lifted, you can:
- Source and hire qualified contractors
- Onboard and manage contingent staff, with fully integrated workflows
- Manage global compliance and indemnification
- Handle cross-border payments, tax documentation, and invoicing
- Gain better visibility and spend control
7. Fiverr Pro
Fiverr Pro is an enterprise solution for managing your freelance workforce.
With Fiverr Pro, you can:
- Source freelance talent
- Manage onboarding, from custom contracts to background checks
- Analyze freelance operations, spend, and performance
- Pay contractors across the globe
- Automate and customize legal and tax compliance
8. RemoFirst
RemoFirst offers an easy-to-use platform to onboard, manage, and pay contractors in 150+ countries, all while maintaining compliance with local employment laws and tax regulations.
With RemoFirst, you can:
- Compliantly hire workers across the globe, without the need to set up a costly local entity
- Onboard, offboard, and manage contractors, while ensuring proper worker classification
- Pay contractors in their local currency
- Aggregate invoices across contractors in one payment, instead of paying each contingent worker independently
How to Choose the Right Platform for Your Business
There are many options, but how do you choose the right contingent workforce management software for your business? It starts with an assessment of several factors, including your company’s size, hiring needs, and business goals.
For example, businesses hiring hundreds of workers may prefer an enterprise platform that can support more complex needs. However startups can save on overhead costs by choosing a platform tailored to managing a smaller pool of contractors.
Similarly, consider geographic reach. If you’re hiring workers across multiple countries, then a platform that supports international payments, currencies, and compliance requirements is a must.
You’ll want a platform that streamlines compliance with local employment laws and tax regulations, reduces worker misclassification risks, manages international contracts, and is regularly updated based on evolving legal requirements.
Reporting and analytics are also critical. Leaders need real-time visibility into workforce costs, performance, and vendor management.
In your evaluation, go beyond near-term goals to think about future scalability. Find a platform that can support more workers, regions, and complex workflows as your business grows.
Finally, balance cost against features. A tool with deep functionality is valuable, but only if it fits within your budget and aligns with your business priorities. You don’t want to buy an expensive solution and use only a fraction of its features.
Hire & Pay Contractors With RemoFirst
RemoFirst’s comprehensive workforce management platform helps businesses employ, manage, and pay contractors in more than 150+ countries with locally compliant contracts — reducing misclassification risks.
With RemoFirst, your contractors get paid on time, in their local currency, while your team spends less time on administrative work.
By managing labor laws, tax compliance, and cross-border payments, RemoFirst gives businesses peace of mind to focus on what’s most important: scaling your business and serving customers.
Schedule a demo today to see how RemoFirst can simplify contingent workforce management for your business.
