Steady work has lots of clout for workers in the outsourcing world, but so does money.  A well paid, happy worker will more likely remain productive and loyal to you.  A minimally paid worker may get disgruntled and will probably be continually looking for better opportunities.  If they find one, they may drop you fast and without a second thought.

Don’t Micro Manage Your Workers

Some freelancer sites actually allow you to require workers to have a webcam recording them while they work along with software which tracks their activities on their computer.  The idea is this allows you to closely monitor a worker’s activities and productivity during the time they work for you, ensuring they aren’t doing personal stuff on the job: surfing the web for their own purposes, making personal calls or business calls unrelated to your project, or even sleeping on the job!  Micro-managing is one thing, and most people hate it; but this sort of close monitoring is more like Big Brother watching you.  Would you like your boss to watch your every move whenever they like?  I didn’t think so.

If you hire someone and pay them a decent hourly rate or for a project then there’s little reason for them to slack off and be unproductive for long periods of time.  Let’s face it: at some point all of us have worked for someone else, and we’ve all done personal things on company time: making personal phone calls, checking our personal email, chatting online with friends, and so on.  Though you won’t have to pay overseas contractors for sick days or holidays only machines don’t take coffee breaks or chat on the phone with friends occasionally.  In the end, you’re working with people, not machines, so treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve.  Doing so will definitely make for a happier and more productive working relationship.