Consulting Services for
Video Game Companies
Services to Handle Co-Employment Issues
Co-employment, aka joint employment, refers to when a person works for two or more employers at the same time (in our case, the staffing company and the client company), and when both the client and recruitment service benefit from the professional services of this person.
While the idea behind co-employment is a win-win situation for all parties involved, it poses a risk for liability for companies who are not careful to manage the situation. If managed correctly, contractors working on assignment through Wired Talent should always be considered employees of our staffing agency.
With co-employment, both the staffing company and the client exercise different levels of supervision over the contractor. When we hire employees for contract jobs, we pay their wages, make decisions regarding discipline and discharge, and communicate with them as the employer.
Our clients supervise things like the contractor’s day-to-day work, determining pay rates and making decisions about ending the assignment or converting the contractor to their payroll. But because contractors are not full-time employees, companies must be cautious of how they treat their contractors, making sure it’s not identical to the treatment of full-time employees.
Wired Talent’s Responsibilities
Some areas are solely our responsibility and minimize the amount of risk you have to deal with:
- Payment of wages / compliance of wage and hour laws
- Workers’ compensation
- Unemployment
- I-9 contract employment verification
- Contract employment taxes withholding
Responsibilities Wired Talent Shares with Clients
For some areas, there’s a fine line between what’s considered our responsibility versus yours. Depending on circumstances, responsibility can fall on both you and us for the following areas:
- Liability for unsafe working conditions
- Discrimination
- Sexual harassment
- Family and medical leave
- Invasion of privacy
- Contract employment benefits
Game Plan for Reducing Risk in Co-Employment
Minimize your risk by making clear distinctions between employees working full time and those working contract jobs. Strategies include:
Use separate forms for employees and contractors. We’ll help you redesign forms like acknowledgement of company policies, confidentiality agreements and more to reflect Wired Talent as the employer.
Consider the extent contractors share in full-time employee perks. Consider how much those working in contract jobs should participate in work functions, employee discounts and bonus programs as well as have access to purchase order sign-offs, petty cash and facility keys.
Be clear in the expectations of full-time employment. Don’t lead those in contract jobs to believe they’ll convert to full time for doing a good job. Have contractors sign at-will employment agreements disclaiming no guarantees for full-time employment. Wired Talent uses similar language in applications and agreements.
Allow Wired Talent to act as the employer. Let us know about contractor attendance, performance or company policy violation issues. We’ll handle the situation for you. And tell us about transfers/reassignments, assignment extensions, pay rate changes, fall off, or conversions to full-time employment so we can act accordingly.
Our video game recruiters can help efficiently manage co-employment issues with minimal risk to you. Learn more about the staffing services we offer to companies in the game space.