Hess Associates

1) Specialized knowledge and expertise

2) No long term commitment

3) Load balancing

4) External unbiased perspective

5) Financial

People have two kinds of families; work families and home families. And if it’s a family business the two families are intertwined. So for the sake of clarity let us discuss only the work family.

Firstly, from time to time special needs arise within a business that require a unique kind of expertise. Frequently the most efficient manner of acquiring those skills and expediting the project is through a consultant and this would be the first reason to hire one.

Secondly, a well defined set of activities and milestones and the piece that the consultant will play in this scheme needs to be generated. The consultant arrives at point A and leaves at point B and there is no long term commitment from the client.

Third – The obvious advantage is that staff can proceed with their work assignments without the additional burden of a multitude of tasks. The added load is absorbed by the consultant and the workload would be evenly distributed despite the added tasks.

Fourth – Many consultants have had lots of experience in their niche and understand the pitfalls and best practices and will point out from their experience the best way for the client to proceed without being biased by political baggage that work families are burdened with.

The fifth and final reason to use a consultant is that financially you wouldn’t have to pay benefits and other perks which permanent employees receive. Tax contributions would also be unnecessary. Just another reason to use consultants and to keep your work family humming and happy.

But by now you are wondering “What does my home family have to do with all of this?”. If you hire the right consultant(s), you will be able to leave work on time and spend more time with your home family!

Herbert Hess