Employee or Contractor? A Written Engagement Decision for Every Worker
Many growing firms pay consultants, freelancers, interns and agency workers monthly and call them contractors, while the work looks like a job. We review each non-payroll worker, help you decide the right engagement type, and put the decision and the paperwork in writing.
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Share your requirementsWhat is employees, contractors and freelancers: engagement decisions?
Engagement decisions are the management choices about whether a person should be an employee, an independent contractor, a freelancer, an intern or an agency worker, and the written record that backs each choice. GullyHR provides this as a review and documentation service for Indian startups and small and medium businesses. We build a worker register, score each engagement against control and dependence questions, and draft the contracts. Your own legal or tax adviser confirms the position.
The starting point
When businesses ask us for this
- A consultant has worked only for you for three years on a monthly fee, with your email address and a desk in the office.
- Freelancers take instructions from your managers about hours, method and review, and nobody has asked whether that is still a contract for services.
- The accounts team and the HR team keep different lists of who is paid outside payroll, and neither list is complete.
- Interns do the same work as junior staff, with no training agreement and no clear end date.
- Agency workers sit in your teams, and nobody can say who is responsible if the agency pays them late.
- Contracts for retainers are a one-page email, with no scope, term, notice or ownership of work product.
- A founder wants to scale delivery with freelancers and has not decided which roles should be permanent.
- An investor or auditor has asked how you classify your workers, and the honest answer is that you have never decided.
What the work covers
The service begins with a worker register. Accounts and HR together list every freelancer, retainer, consultant, intern, trainee and agency worker, with the monthly payment, start date and tools used. The line manager answers a short set of questions on each person: who directs the work, who sets hours, whether the person serves other clients, who bears the cost of mistakes and how long the arrangement has run. We score the answers, rank the cases and bring the higher-risk ones to a decision meeting with the owner. For each case the owner chooses to convert, restructure or keep and document. We then draft the engagement letter, contractor agreement or training agreement that matches the decision. Flagged cases are passed to your legal or tax adviser, who confirms the position. We set a rule for future engagements so new freelancers are classified before they start.
Every non-payroll worker is listed in one register.
Freelancers, retainers, consultants, agency workers, interns and trainees are recorded with engagement type, monthly payment, start date, manager and tools, so the real picture is visible at last.
Each engagement is tested against plain control questions.
Who directs the work, who sets the hours, whether tools are supplied, whether the person works for others and who carries the risk are scored and recorded for each worker.
Interns and trainees get their own check.
We test whether the placement is built around learning, has a defined period and a named mentor, or is simply cheaper junior labour, and set a training agreement where it is genuine.
Agency and outsourced workers have a clear accountability map.
We set out what the agency is responsible for and what your business remains responsible for, and what you should ask the agency to show you on pay and records.
Each flagged case ends in a decision, not a debate.
The owner chooses to convert to employment, restructure the arrangement, or keep it and strengthen the paper. The choice and the reason go into a decision log.
The paperwork is rewritten to match the decision.
Engagement letters, contractor agreements with scope, deliverables, term and notice, and training agreements are drafted so the contract describes the way the person actually works.
The process
How it runs
Build the worker register
HR and accounts list every person paid outside payroll, with engagement type, monthly payment, start date, manager, tools used and other clients. Gaps between the two lists are resolved first.
Score each engagement
The line manager answers control, integration, dependence, tools, other-client, payment-basis and duration questions. Interns and trainees answer a separate learning-purpose check. We total the scores.
Rank and review the flagged cases
We sort workers by score and walk through the higher-risk cases with the owner and HR, noting facts that change the picture, such as a real second client or a fixed project.
Decide case by case
For each flagged worker the owner picks convert, restructure, or keep and document. Cases with doubt are marked for your adviser, with a short fact sheet prepared for that review.
Draft the paperwork
We write engagement letters, contractor agreements and training agreements to match each decision, with scope, term, notice, deliverables, confidentiality and ownership of work product.
Set the rule for new engagements
A one-page engagement classifier is added to the hiring and procurement route, so a manager answers the questions before a freelancer or consultant is onboarded, not after.
What you receive
- Worker register covering every non-payroll worker, with engagement details
- Control and dependence scoring sheet for each worker
- Intern and trainee learning-purpose check sheet with mentor and period
- Decision log with the reasoning for each flagged case
- Contractor agreement template with scope, term, notice and deliverables
- Training agreement template for interns and trainees
- Agency accountability map listing what the agency and the company each carry
- One-page engagement classifier for use before any new freelancer is brought in
Who it is for
- Founders who have grown on freelancers and consultants and now suspect some of them work like staff.
- Finance heads who pay vendors and individuals monthly and want a cleaner line between payroll and payables.
- HR leads asked by an investor or auditor how the company classifies its workers.
- Agencies and studios that depend on creative or technical freelancers for core delivery.
- Companies that run internship or trainee programmes alongside regular hiring.
- Businesses that use staffing agencies or outsourced teams for work done inside their premises.
Why GullyHR.
Most firms treat this as a contract-drafting job. We treat it as a management decision first, with a record of who decided what and why. We work with Indian startups and small and medium businesses, so we know how monthly retainers, agency arrangements and intern programmes actually run. We write plain documents your managers can follow, and we leave the legal question with your own adviser.
Design the process
Map how the work runs today, then write the procedure, the forms and the approval route it should follow.
Strengthen management
Settle the structure, the roles and the decisions each level can take without the owner.
Develop people
Train the managers who have to run it — the review, the difficult conversation, the handover.
Automate HR
Configure the agreed process in software, so the document and what people actually do stay the same thing.
The difference
What changes
- A single worker register that HR and accounts both trust, with each person's engagement type stated.
- A scored risk list, so the cases that need attention are separated from those that do not.
- A decision log showing what was chosen for each flagged worker and why.
- Contracts and training agreements that describe the real working arrangement.
- Clear lines on what the agency is accountable for and what the company still carries.
- A rule for classifying every new freelancer or consultant before work begins.
How we are measured
Before work starts, we record where you stand. Every later report compares against that baseline.
We choose the measures with you at the start, from the list on this page, and only the ones your data can support. We do not promise a result. We promise a baseline, and a report that shows the change against it, whichever way it went.
The measures we choose from
Time-to-hire
Days from approved vacancy to accepted offer.
90-day attrition
New joiners who leave in their first three months.
Annual attrition
Leavers over the year, by team and by manager.
Payroll and statutory errors per month
Corrections after the run, and returns filed late.
Open compliance gaps
Obligations without an owner or a due date.
Employees with written goals
Share of the team that knows what it is measured on.
Review completion rate
Reviews finished on time, not just started.
Manager training coverage
Managers who have been taught the part of the job they were promoted into.
Working together
Who does what
| Activity | GullyHR | Your team |
|---|---|---|
| Listing all non-payroll workers | We provide the register format and reconcile HR and accounts lists | Accounts and HR supply every name, payment and start date |
| Answering the scoring questions | We set the questions, score the answers and rank the cases | Line managers answer honestly about how each person is directed |
| Deciding convert, restructure or keep | We present options and consequences for each flagged worker | The owner makes the decision and signs the log |
| Drafting contracts and agreements | We draft the letters and agreements to match each decision | Management approves the terms and signs with each worker |
| Legal and tax position for each case | We prepare a fact sheet for each case and do not give legal advice | Your own qualified legal or tax adviser confirms what applies |
Where the software fits
The register, scoring sheets and agreements are kept as editable documents in a shared drive that you own. Scores are held in a simple spreadsheet that totals the answers for you. If you already use an HR system or a vendor ledger, the register can sit alongside it and be updated whenever a new worker is engaged. The GullyHR software can hold the register, but it is optional.
Ways to engage us
- One-time classification review
- We build the register, score every worker, hold the decision meeting and hand over the decision log. Suited to a company that wants to know where it stands.
- Review plus paperwork
- The review above, followed by drafting of contractor, engagement and training agreements for every case where a change was decided.
- Review of what you already have
- We read your current contracts and vendor arrangements against the control questions and mark gaps, without rewriting every document.
- Alongside wider HR work
- Added to a policy, workforce planning or outsourced HR engagement, so classification is settled as part of the structure you are already building.
Good to know
Questions we are asked
There is no single test. We look at who directs the work, who sets hours, whether tools are supplied, whether the person serves other clients and how long the arrangement has run. Your own adviser confirms how the rules apply to the facts.
No. A contract helps, but how the person actually works matters as much as what the paper says. That is why we score the real working pattern and then rewrite the paper to match the decision.
No. Rules vary by state, sector and facts, and they change. We design the process and draft the documents. Your own qualified legal or tax adviser confirms the position, and we prepare a fact sheet to make that review quick.
We draft the appointment letter and a short transition note covering the start date, role, reporting line and pay structure. Your adviser should confirm tax and statutory treatment before the change takes effect.
Yes. We check whether the placement has a learning purpose, a defined period and a mentor, and we draft a training agreement. Where it looks like regular work under another name, we flag it for a decision.
The work is scoped and quoted in writing after a short call. The scope depends on how many workers you have, how many arrangements are agency-supplied, and whether you want paperwork drafted as well as the review.
We do not give legal or tax advice, supply contract or temporary workers, file returns or statutory forms, run audits or verify backgrounds. We do offer permanent talent acquisition if you decide to convert a role and hire for it.
Prefer to talk first? +91 80958 58589 · hello@gullyhr.com