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Interested in freelance public relations, marketing and design work for independent contractors? Working as an affiliated consultant for Walker Sands Communications can be a great way to apply the skills and expertise that you've acquired over the years to interesting strategic marketing, public relations, and design projects. Here, we've attempted to answer many questions you might have about our affiliate program.
Will
I be an employee of Walker Sands Communications?
Why
should I want to be an affiliated professional for
Walker Sands?
Will
I be paid on an hourly or flat fee basis?
How
much should I charge you?
Can
Walker Sands Communications guarantee me a certain
amount of work per year?
Must
I work exclusively for Walker Sands Communications?
Will
you pay for my expenses?
Will
you provide me with a computer?
Will
you oversee and control my work?
Do
I need to work at Walker Sands' offices?
Are
there certain hours that I need to work?
Will
I receive health insurance, sick leave, pension benefits
and paid vacation?
Will
you just pay me or do I need to submit an invoice?
Will
I receive any training?
Will
you promote me on your Web Site?
Will
you withhold taxes for me?
Should
I incorporate or otherwise form my own legal structure?
Can
I subcontract my work to others?
Can
I voluntarily become an employee of Walker Sands?
Is
it ever the case that I will qualify for employee
status automatically?
Are
these your final answers?
Will I
be an employee of Walker Sands Communications?
back
to top
No. Should we mutually decide that you are to serve
as an affiliated professional of Walker Sands Communications,
you will be retained as an independent contractor
or vendor, and not as an employee of Walker Sands
or its customers. As an independent contractor, you
will enter into an Independent Contractor Master Agreement
(the “Agreement”) that will define our
relationship and the terms and conditions under which
we will do business in detail. If you have formed
a company through such means as incorporation, you
will simply be a vendor of ours and we will define
our relationship and the terms and conditions under
which we will do business through a Master Services
Agreement (also the Agreement).
Why should
I want to be an affiliated professional for Walker
Sands? back
to top
Affiliating with Walker Sands Communications gives
you incremental exposure in the marketplace to our
powerful network of contacts. More importantly, it
is incremental business for you because we will periodically
engage you to conduct services for us and will compensate
you accordingly.
Will I
be paid on an hourly or flat fee basis? back
to top
Either. In some cases, you will be paid an hourly
rate that we mutually agree to. In other instances,
we will mutually agree to a flat fee arrangement.
This will be defined in the Work Definition of our
Agreement.
How much should
I charge you? back
to top
As an independent contractor or vendor, you determine
your own rates. If you are new to being an independent
contractor, you should be aware that independent contractors
incur various costs that might not otherwise be incurred
if they were employees. You should price your offerings
with these costs in mind to be sure that you are not
surprised by them later. At the same time, if you
price your offerings too high, we may decide that
you are too expensive for us.
Can Walker
Sands guarantee me a certain amount of work per year?
back to top
No. We utilize independent contractors and other vendors
only on an as-needed basis. We cannot predict the
specific nature of the work we will be doing for our
clients. Moreover, typically we only engage independent
contractors or other vendors when special skills are
required that we do not have access to internally
from our full-time professionals. Accordingly, it
is likely that we will call upon you for your services
only on a sporadic basis and we therefore cannot make
such guarantees.
Must
I work exclusively for Walker Sands? back
to top
No. As an independent contractor or vendor, you may
offer your services to any prospective client you
wish to. We encourage you to do so because we are
not able to guarantee initial or continued use of
your services. You may also work for multiple clients
simultaneously if you like. Our concern will be that
there is no degradation in the quality of your work
for us because your resources are over-committed.
Will you
pay for my expenses? back
to top
No. As an independent contractor or vendor to us,
you are in effect an entrepreneur who is responsible
for his or her own business, its expenses, and its
ability to generate profits or losses. The only expenses
that we will reimburse you for, subject to the terms
of our Agreement, are those that are directly associated
with the work you do on our behalf or on behalf of
our customers.
Will you
provide me with a computer? back
to top
No. As an independent contractor or vendor, you are
responsible for all of the tools and materials you
need in order to provide your services to us and your
other customers.
Will you
oversee and control my work? back
to top
No. You are responsible for your own work, including
methods used and sequencing of work steps. However,
we will on occasion provided detailed high-level guidelines
or specifications indicating what it is that you need
to do for us. We also reserve the right to accept
or reject your work, to provide feedback on your work,
and to edit your work prior to our presenting it to
an Walker Sands customer.
Do I need
to work at Walker Sands' offices? back
to top
No. You do not need to work at our offices, nor do
you need to work at the offices of our customers.
As an independent contractor or vendor, you may choose
where you wish to perform your services. However,
part of your work with us may require that you occasionally
visit our facilities or those of our customers for
periodic meetings.
Are there
certain hours that I need to work? back
to top
No. As an independent contractor or vendor, you set
your own hours. Our concern is simply that any deliverables
you prepare for us are delivered to us in a timely
manner and that your schedule does not negatively
impact our service levels to our customers.
Will I
receive health insurance, sick leave, and paid vacation?
back to top
No. As an independent contractor or vendor, benefits
are your responsibility and you should structure your
work so as to afford the benefits you need. Anyone
classified by the company as an independent contractor
is excluded from benefits plan participation. Based
on local, state, or federal laws, certain independent
contractors may need to be re-classified by us as
employees, in which case such benefits will be made
available to them on a go-forward basis. In addition,
we recognize that health insurance is an important
issue for independent contractors and we are investigating
various referral mechanisms that will allow you to
find good coverage, as well as the contingent possibility
that we may be able to offer benefits to independent
contractors directly in the future.
Will you
just pay me or do I need to submit an invoice?
back to top
You need to submit an invoice to us in accordance
with the terms of our Agreement.
Will I
receive any training? back
to top
No. As an independent contractor, you are responsible
for your own ongoing training efforts. Presumably,
we are contracting you because you already know what
we need you to know and are an expert in that field.
Will you
promote me on your Web Site? back
to top
Yes. In addition to many other factors, our ability
to attract business may be helped by our client's
learning that we have formed a contractual relationship
with you. Accordingly, part of our Agreement gives
us permission to post your information on our Web
Site under an “affiliated professional”
designation for as long as the Agreement is in effect.
Will you withhold
taxes for me? back
to top
No. As an independent contractor or vendor, taxes
and any necessary withholding are your responsibility.
Penalties can apply if you do not withhold on a timely
basis. You should also be aware that as an independent
contractor, you will bear responsibility for incremental
obligations such as Medicare and Social Security that
are otherwise split between employer and employee.
This will typically result in an incremental 7.5%
tax on your total revenues and you should price your
offerings accordingly. Consult with a tax professional
for full details.
Should I incorporate
or otherwise form my own legal structure? back
to top
This is of course your own decision and you should
seek the advise of your own counsel on this issue.
For a variety of reasons, we prefer to work with affiliates
that have formed a legal structure of some kind. More
importantly, there are a number of benefits to your
doing so, not the least of which is limited liability.
Can I subcontract
my work to others? back
to top
Yes. As an independent contractor, you may employ
or otherwise engage others to assist you in conducting
your work. Our concern is simply that any deliverables
you prepare for us are of the highest quality level
possible.
Can I voluntarily
become an employee of Walker Sands? back
to top
Yes. We advertise our full-time employee positions
on our Web Site in the Career Opportunities section.
You should feel free to apply for full-time employment.
In addition, should you work with us as independent
contractor now and choose, at some date in the future,
to convert to full-time employment, we will consider
you for an employee position along with all other
applicants.
Is it
ever the case that I will qualify for employee status
automatically? back
to top
Yes, various regulations and laws may require that
we convert you over to employee status if you should
fail to meet the requirements of being an independent
contractor. It is our intention to be in full compliance
with these laws and, accordingly, we may convert you
to employee status after discussing it with you. As
these laws change or are clarified, our policies may
change over time to fully comply with these laws.
Are these
your final answers? back
to top
No, Regis. We reserve the right to change the answers
to these questions at any time based on new policies
or new information.
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