Umbrella Companies: How do you know you’re choosing the right one?
Umbrella Companies: How do you know you’re choosing the right one?
Working through an umbrella company is a great way to ensure hassle-free payment without the stress of navigating the IR35 legislation. But, choosing which company you should work through can be difficult. We’ve also written an article on how payroll works when working as a Locum, which is a great resource to refer to.
To help you navigate the Umbrella process, we’ve created a list of factors you should consider before committing to an umbrella company.
What will be your take-home pay?
The convenience of using an umbrella company, unfortunately, comes with fees. This is standard across the board, but the amount can vary. So, it’s important to shop around the various companies, ask questions and find the one that gives you the best value for your money.
What are the perks?
Many umbrella companies come with perks included, so make sure to capitalise on this! Typical benefits include free coffees and discounts on retail or hospitality venues.
Don’t forget to enquire about this with potential companies as the value of these perks could make a slightly higher fee worthwhile.
What is the payment operation like?
Each umbrella company offers a different amount of payment runs each day. Some will operate a same-day payment policy, whilst others may take some time between receiving payment from the agency and getting into your bank account.
It isn’t a cause for concern if they don’t offer same-day payment, but it is something worth considering and preparing for prior to signing up.
What reviews do they get?
Like any other service, it’s worth checking in to see how satisfied previous customers are after using an umbrella company, this will help you understand what your experience with a company may look like.
Spend some time looking at all reviews, from the positive experiences through to the critical reviews as the way a company responds to them can give you crucial insight into how they deal with complaints and queries.
What is the service like?
The kind of service you receive from an umbrella company can be the difference between a pleasant or stressful experience.
As we suggested before, looking at the complaints they receive and their response will show you whether a company is helpful or defensive.
Hopefully, while you’re using an umbrella company, everything will run smoothly. But, should you need something, you want to be able to contact the company knowing they will provide you with empathy and kindness.
Understanding their customer support process will also be an important point to consider whilst making your decision, is this via email and chatbot only, or do they also offer phone support?
What We Do
Here at Hunter Gatherer, we want to ensure that you work with the best umbrella companies. To do this, we require that accredited companies go through a stringent audit. We do this to prove that they are legitimate, have quality assurances in place, are legally compliant, have valid insurance, and that they do not avoid tax.
So, when partnering with us, you can be confident that you will always receive a quality service.
Our team is here to help! Get in touch for more information about working with us through an umbrella company.
