Three emails to find someone for Tuesday
An investigation needs starting next week and none of your employed consultants can take it. A director emails three associates. One is on holiday. One replies two days later. The third says yes, but needs the background, the terms of reference, the client's policies and access to documents. Those go by email too, with attachments, to a personal address.
A month later the associate's invoice arrives. It includes travel and a day more than the director remembers agreeing. Nobody can find what was agreed, so it is paid, with a slight grumble.
Why associate work gets messy
- Associates are outside your systems, so everything reaches them by email.
- Availability is asked for each time rather than known in advance.
- The terms of each assignment, such as days, rate and expenses, are agreed in a conversation and not written down in one place.
- Case documents go to personal inboxes and stay there after the assignment ends.
- Invoices arrive in varied formats and are checked from memory.
Associates are often experienced and valuable. The admin around them is what makes using them feel risky.
What it costs
Directors spend time on phone tag instead of client work. Sensitive files end up outside your control, which your own data protection advisers would rather they did not. Invoices are paid without a clear link to agreed work, and disputes are awkward because there is nothing to point to. Clients sometimes notice that an associate lacks context a staff consultant would have had.
| Stage | By email | Through the hub |
|---|---|---|
| Finding someone | Emails and calls | Availability shown, offer sent to shortlist |
| Agreeing terms | Conversation | Assignment with days, rate and expenses accepted online |
| Briefing | Attachments to personal address | Assignment folder, access ends when work closes |
| Recording time | In the invoice | Logged against the assignment as it happens |
| Paying | Checked from memory | Invoice matched to agreed and logged work |
How we build the associate hub
- Associates have a profile with specialisms, locations covered, day rates and a calendar where they mark availability.
- When work comes in, a director sees who is available and suitable, and sends an offer that sets out the client, work type, estimated days, rate and expenses policy.
- The associate accepts online, and that acceptance becomes the record of what was agreed.
- The briefing, terms of reference and case documents are shared in an assignment area with access for that associate only, ending when the assignment closes.
- Associates record time and expenses against the assignment, and any overrun against the estimate is flagged to the director before it happens, not after.
- Invoices are either generated from logged time or uploaded and compared with it, and differences are highlighted for approval.
- Approved invoices pass to Xero or QuickBooks as bills, ready for your normal payment run.
Associates use a simple web page and their own email to sign in. Nothing needs installing on their devices, and nothing stays there once work closes.
What changes
Associates tend to like it too. They know exactly what was agreed, they have one place for everything about an assignment, and they are paid on time because their invoice matches the record. Good associates have a choice of consultancies to work with, and being easy to work with helps you keep them.
Finding cover becomes a few clicks rather than a round of emails. Associates start with the full context, which clients notice. Sensitive documents stay inside your environment. Invoices match what was agreed and logged, so payment is quick and nobody feels short-changed. And directors can see, over a year, which associates they rely on and for what, which helps planning.
Do associates feel like hard work?
- Finding an available associate means emailing several people.
- Terms for each piece of work are agreed verbally.
- Case files go to associates' personal email addresses.
- Associate invoices are checked from memory.
- You have had at least one awkward conversation about days charged.