Article
7 min
How to Improve HR Efficiency When Managing a Contingent Workforce
Contractor management
Global HR

Author
Michał Kowalewski
Published
December 05, 2024
Last Update
January 31, 2025

Key takeaways
- Manual processes, such as outdated spreadsheets for onboarding and payroll, can cause errors, slow scalability, and create compliance issues.
- Staying ahead of changing labor laws and tax regulations is crucial for avoiding fines and penalties. Deel's Compliance Hub tracks updates in real time, ensuring your contracts and payroll always stay compliant across multiple regions.
- Solutions like Deel automate contract generation, tax form collection, and payroll management, helping organizations scale faster, reduce errors, and stay compliant across multiple regions, all from a single platform.
The gig economy is here to stay with an expected 43 million gig workers expected by 2025 in Europe alone.
But managing a global contingent workforce comes with its fair set of challenges.
Particularly, new employment laws and tax regulations (such as Bill No. 2499 and Senate Bill 399) will get organizations to have to comply with U.S., EU, and APAC labor laws at the same time. Paying contractors in multiple currencies and navigating tax withholding for each region can also put you at a higher risk of mismanagement and penalty fees.
Not to mention that many companies are still manually onboarding contractors using outdated spreadsheets that only cause errors and miscommunication. Reliance on manual processes and disconnected HRIS tools to manage contingent workers slows down scalability and increases costs.
Deel is a leading solution designed to address these challenges, enabling organizations to manage their contingent workforce efficiently and at scale. The tool will ensure contractor agreements comply with local labor laws in over 150 countries, automate payments in multiple currencies, help you handle onboarding, and much more—all from a single place.
Let's explore more strategies to improve speed to hire for contingent workers and assess the effectiveness of contingent staffing solutions.
Importance of HR efficiency for managing contingent workers
Inefficiencies directly impact time-to-productivity, compliance, and operational costs. Delays in onboarding, for instance, can cause project setbacks or payroll errors. These will further lead to disputes and potential time delays or even fines (when payroll isn’t properly executed).
This is why your primary goal when measuring HR efficiency in contingent workforce management remains looking at how you’re scaling. As your business expands its contingent workforce, so will your needs and even the challenges you face.
Here’s how HR efficiency plays a role and why improving it is important:
- Time-to-productivity. Streamlined onboarding processes ensure that contingent workers can start contributing quickly. Delayed onboarding due to manual paperwork or misaligned systems can set projects back, particularly in fast-moving industries like tech or logistics. For example, automating document collection and contract generation can cut onboarding times by as much as 86 hours per month1.
- Compliance management. Missteps in compliance—such as failing to adhere to local labor laws or misclassifying workers—can lead to fines, audits, and reputational damage. Efficient HR systems centralize compliance tracking, enabling businesses to adapt to changing regulations. For instance, Deel’s compliance tools ensure that contracts meet local labor standards, reducing the risk of errors2.
- Cost control. Administrative inefficiencies, like duplicative tasks or manual error corrections, can significantly inflate HR costs. By implementing automated solutions like Deel Contractor or Employer of Record (EOR), companies can reduce payroll errors, improve accuracy in benefits administration, and streamline workforce planning. This not only saves time but also helps maintain budget predictability.
- Scaling with agility. As companies grow their contingent workforce, HR must handle increased complexity without slowing down operations. Inefficient processes—such as manually adjusting payroll for multi-currency payments—can create bottlenecks. Platforms with integrated payroll and worker classification systems enable companies to rapidly scale up or down without sacrificing efficiency.
- Worker satisfaction and retention. Efficient processes enhance the worker experience by ensuring accurate and timely payments, clear communication, and seamless access to resources. Happy contingent workers are more likely to continue collaborating on future projects, saving businesses from constant recruitment efforts
See also: 9 HR Processes to Automate Today [How to Do It With Deel]
Deel HR
Common inefficiencies in managing a contingent workforce
Here are a couple of the HR pain points you can expect and how to address them:
Onboarding delays
The process of onboarding contingent workers often involves collecting and verifying tax forms (e.g., W-8BEN in the US) and creating contracts that comply with local labor laws. These processes can be time-consuming, especially when working across multiple jurisdictions with differing legal requirements.
Manual tasks, such as chasing documentation or setting up new hires in HR systems, further delay onboarding and reduce time-to-productivity.
Automating these steps with a centralized platform can accelerate the process. For example, platforms like Deel offer pre-vetted, localized contract templates and automated tax form collection for over 150 countries, streamlining onboarding while reducing errors.
Payroll complexities
Global payroll management introduces challenges like managing multi-currency payments, navigating fluctuating exchange rates, and adhering to country-specific tax regulations. Payroll cycles also vary significantly—monthly in Europe vs. bi-weekly in the US—making coordination difficult.
Without integrated systems, businesses risk late payments, non-compliance with tax obligations, and dissatisfied workers. Simplifying payroll processes through integrated platforms can help ensure timely, accurate payments and reduce administrative overhead.
Solutions like Deel’s global payroll automate tax calculations, manage compliance with local tax laws, and support payments in over 120 currencies, removing common pain points associated with international payroll.
See also: Paying Your Contingent Workforce: Optimizing Payroll and Payment Methods
Data and reporting silos
Fragmented HR systems create inefficiencies in accessing and consolidating data. When payroll, compliance, and contract management are managed on separate platforms, generating reports (e.g., cost-per-hire, retention rates) becomes time-intensive and prone to errors.
This lack of real-time insights makes it difficult to optimize processes and identify bottlenecks, delaying critical business decisions.
Centralized solutions that integrate data and provide advanced analytics can improve reporting accuracy and enable faster, more informed decisions. For example, Deel’s centralized platform integrates with diverse HR systems and offers analytics for leaders to make better decisions on time.
Compliance risks
Labor laws for contingent workers vary widely across countries and change frequently. Companies must stay updated on requirements such as minimum wage adjustments, worker classification rules, and benefits compliance.
Misclassifying workers—such as treating contractors as full-time employees—can result in fines, back taxes, and reputational damage. Additionally, country-specific requirements (e.g., pension contributions in Germany or private insurance in Switzerland) add layers of complexity.
Businesses can mitigate these risks by implementing systems that track labor laws and notify HR teams of changes. Tools like Deel's Compliance Hub provide centralized compliance tracking, ensuring contracts and practices are always up-to-date with local regulations.
See also: Compliance Challenges When Managing a Global Contingent Workforce
Deel Contractor of Record
Best practices for improving HR efficiency
To improve the impact of contingent workforce on HR efficiency, you’ve got a couple of hands-on options:
Prioritize automation for scalability
Manual processes like contract generation, document collection, and tax form handling can be time-consuming and prone to errors. These inefficiencies slow onboarding, delay projects, and overburden HR teams, especially as your workforce grows.
How automation drives efficiency?
- Automating contract generation tailored to local labor laws can cut onboarding times by weeks. For example, generating compliant contracts for new markets no longer requires manual legal reviews.
- Automating document collection ensures tax forms and compliance paperwork are accurately completed and securely stored.
Pro tip: Start by automating processes that cause the most delays, such as contract creation and document management, to free up HR time for higher-value tasks.
Consolidate systems for a unified view
Fragmented HR systems make data hard to track, increase errors, and slow down decision-making. Having scattered information alone makes it more difficult to create accurate reports.
Deel brings and automates all your HR processes—contracts, payroll, compliance, and analytics—into one system. This way, you can handle everything without having to switch between different platforms.
How to save time by consolidating vendors into one tool: With Deel Global Payroll, Outreach cut its payroll vendors by 75%. Consolidating payroll data from four sources into one platform improved efficiency and reduced errors. This gave their finance team easier access to workforce spending information.
Pro tip: HR teams can set up access permissions in Deel so legal, finance, and HR can collaborate using shared, real-time data. This gives all departments access to consistent data and improves cross-team collaboration.
Focus on workforce analytics for continuous improvement
Metrics like time-to-onboard can highlight inefficiencies in specific regions or teams, enabling targeted process improvements. Data on cost-per-hire or payroll accuracy provides a clear picture of areas where resources are being overextended or errors are occurring. Deel’s analytics provide visibility into metrics like time-to-onboard, cost-per-hire, and payroll accuracy.
How to use insights from Deel to reduce inefficiencies: Zip Co achieved a 30% reduction in compliance costs and cut administrative time by 20%. When local tax regulations delayed payroll onboarding for one of their employees in Cyprus, Deel came in to fix the issue before the payroll cut-off.
Pro tip: Use these insights to make a case for further investment in automation tools or workforce resources. For example, you can use Deel’s analytics to show how HR automation can reduce onboarding delays and justify the costs for new automation technology.
Establish a proactive compliance framework
Failure to comply with local labor laws or tax regulations can result in hefty fines and legal disputes. For example, misclassifying workers as independent contractors rather than employees can lead to significant back taxes and penalties. Not staying on top of changing tax laws or minimum wage rates in different regions can cause payroll errors, leading to delayed payments or non-compliance with local wage requirements.
Deel’s Compliance Hub lets you monitor regulatory changes and avoid risks like worker misclassification or payroll errors. While Deel provides the compliance reports and documentation for correct audits, your team will save time and reduce the risk of penalties.
How to ensure compliance with minimum wage increases in multiple regions: With Deel’s Compliance Hub, you automatically track minimum wage changes automatically so your contingent worker payroll is always compliant with the latest laws. You'll receive notifications when minimum wage laws change so you can proactively address them and avoid payroll errors and other legal issues.
Pro tip: Create a compliance calendar to track deadlines for filings, contract updates, and benefits contributions. By syncing these tasks with Deel’s automated updates, teams can reduce manual tracking and ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
Continuous Compliance™
How Deel supports HR efficiency for global teams
Optimizing HR workflows for faster contingent hiring doesn’t have to be a burden. Below is a recap of how Deel’s features tackle inefficiencies in global workforce management:
- Automated onboarding: Use pre-built, region-specific contracts and automated document collection to onboard both employees and contingent workers without the manual work.
- Global payroll: Deel’s Global Payroll solution simplifies payments across multiple regions, integrating with HR systems and local tax requirements.
- Compliance Hub: Stay ahead of regulatory changes with real-time updates and alerts.
Ready to see how Deel can transform your contingent workforce management? Book a demo and discover how Deel can help you simplify global HR operations, reduce inefficiencies, and scale your workforce effortlessly.

About the author
Michał Kowalewski a writer and content manager with 7+ years of experience in digital marketing. He spent most of his professional career working in startups and tech industry. He's a big proponent of remote work considering it not just a professional preference but a lifestyle that enhances productivity and fosters a flexible work environment. He enjoys tackling topics of venture capital, equity, and startup finance.