Purpose: This guide will help you understand the key differences between managing contractors and employees in BambooHR. By configuring your settings correctly, you can ensure contractors have the right level of access and their information is tracked accurately.

Table of Contents

• When to Create a Contractor Profile
  • Option 1: Non-employee user (no employee profile)
  • Option 2: Contractor with an employee profile
• Essential Settings for Contractors
• Limiting a Contractor's Access and Information
• Reporting and Filtering

Should a contractor get a BambooHR login? The answer depends on their role and how you need to track their information.

Once you decide to create a contractor profile, these are the key fields and settings you must configure:

1. Employment Status:
   • This is the most critical field. Set the Employment Status to Contractor to properly distinguish them from employees in reports and other features that use our standard filters.
   • If you would like to track their EIN, check out this help guide on adding the EIN standard field.
2. Payroll:
   • If you are a BambooHR Payroll customer, you must set the Employee Tax Type to Independent Contractor.
   • For a detailed guide on paying contractors, check out this help guide.
3. Compensation:
   • You can include any fields you need to track their compensation, such as an hourly rate or a project-based fee. You would manage these options through the compensation table.
4. Benefits & Add-Ons:
   • Benefits Tracking: You have the flexibility to either hide the Benefits tab from contractors or use it to track non-traditional benefits (e.g., a monthly stipend). If you wish to hide the Benefits tab, you must create an access level that has each of the tables on this tab set to No Access.
   • Benefits Administration: Your monthly bill for the Benefits Administration feature is based on the number of users (employees or contractors) who are either eligible for or actively enrolled in a benefit plan. This will happen automatically if you add them to a plan's eligibility rules (using the Contractor employment status) or if they are already enrolled. Just make sure the contractor's country of residence meets the plan's country requirements for eligibility.
   • Add-ons: Contractors can be included in any add-on, such as Time Tracking or Payroll. They are treated exactly like an employee in these add-ons, and you will be charged for them as a regular user.

By default, contractors may see information that doesn't apply to them. Here's how you can customize their view:

• Org Chart Visibility:
  • Contractors will appear on the org chart if they have an active status and a hire date.
  • If you do not list a manager for them, they will show up as a floating icon on the side of the chart.
  • If you do not want a contractor to show up on the org chart, consider adding them as a non-employee user.
• Company Holidays:
  • If you enable time off, contractors will see holidays on their homepage by default.
  • Best Practice: To prevent this, go to Settings > Time Off > Holidays and filter the holidays so they only apply to employees.
• Access Levels and Permissions:
  • To prevent contractors from seeing irrelevant tabs (like Benefits or Time Off), it is highly recommended that you create a custom Access Level specifically for them. This would allow you to restrict access to tabs or fields that do not apply to them. You could also restrict home screen features such as Celebrations, Links, Who's Out, Welcome New Hires, and Announcements.
  • If your contractor needs to perform actions in BambooHR for employees, you will need to create a custom access level that grants them access to the proper information.

• How do I find contractors in a report? Use the Employment Status filter. This is the best way to distinguish them from employees in any report. You can do this when creating a custom report or using the filtering capabilities at the top of a standard report.
• Can I filter any report? Yes, you can filter any report to include or exclude contractors based on their employment status (recommended), hire date, or other relevant criteria.