‘Larger companies are pushing freelancers to breaking point’: Small business ombudsman calls for fair treatment
Kate Carnell, The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprises Ombudsman (ASBFEO) is backing freelancers in their push for fairer treatment from large corporations.
“Some larger companies are pushing freelancers to breaking point and there are no rules in Australia that prevent this,” she said.
Yes, something has to be done about this. With the reductions in the proportion of the workforce enjoying fulltime work with each successive employment outlook, this issue is not going away. Not sure anything will happen straight away, but the governments both state and federal will come to feel the love – for want of a better word – from more and more of their constituents.
Some advice: bad payers are dead to you, so don’t fear going after your money, as you need to flick them. There are other clients.
When a large company delays payment unreasonably, after all the civilised requests, you (1) commence proceedings in the local court –
it’s cheap and if they don’t show up they cop a court order to pay, and if they don’t pay the court appoints the Sheriff to seize their assets. Once court listed, it’s publishable, which is humiliating to a big brand, especially when you make it viral. BTDT, and it’s so much fun!
(2) apply to the Supreme Court to have them wound up, and
(3) inform ASIC that they are trading while insolvent.
Those last two hand-grenades – the former of which is publishable widely – always flush out your payment. They cause legal and financial upheaval, and great expense to the scumbags who won’t pay you. They are tactics that will make the most sociopathic CEO or CFO soil themselves.
And they get the result you want 100% of the time!
Agree with your suggestions, I have seen it work very effectively at a stationery supply firm I had done work for. Their accounting system automatically generated dunning letters and the local court forms as required. Perhaps freelancers should use accounting systems that can perform these functions. Then the process of making sure you are paid becomes automated and efficient.
This is not isolated to Freelancers. B to B service providers are caught in the middle.
My business has been put under severe strain, we want to pay our suppliers particularly Sole traders but we cannot do so.
I can tell you the Nine Network, Bauer, Woolworths, National Storage are all well over 45Days.
It is easy to have a go at the small operators but it is the top end of town that are the villains.
SBM
I don’t think Kate Carnell or this article are having a go at small businesses… it’s the big companies and agencies being rightly targeted here.
And Mike… great advice, even while it reduces a freelancer’s future work options. Revenge is a dish best served cold (and with the backing of the courts and Government regulators!)
Thanks for publishing on this important topic Mumbrella! Payment terms need to be legislated. This practice of large companies delaying payment “because they can” can lead to complete financial ruin for a sole-trader or freelancer. I do agree the advice from Mike (6 Jul 17) that “bad payers are dead to you” but some freelancers might not feel they are in the position to just move on. Ideally, legislating this will give freelancers (and all small business for that matter) more power when it comes to collecting money they’ve already provided the service for. It might even be beneficial for the economy because both business and individuals will be more inclined to spend if they have regular cash-flow and financial security.
This is not just a freelancer issue but many creative service providers are caught up with slow paying clients. Even the bigger agencies are vulnerable to slow terms at times.
Do we feel there is a need for an escrow service in our industry where the cash is secure and issues can be mediated by specialists? I’ve been wondering for some time…