{"id":9362,"date":"2022-07-01T14:51:08","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T14:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordcorp.com\/workday-partner-sis-vs-independent-contractors-why-choose-one-or-the-other\/"},"modified":"2023-10-19T08:04:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T08:04:40","slug":"workday-partner-sis-vs-independent-contractors-why-choose-one-or-the-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oxfordcorp.com\/es\/insights\/blog\/workday-partner-sis-vs-independent-contractors-why-choose-one-or-the-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Workday Partner SIs vs. Independent Contractors: Why Choose One or the Other?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Workday is an on-demand enterprise management cloud software solution specializing in human capital management (HCM), financial management, and planning. Workday was dubbed the most popular HR app<\/a> by the sixth Businesses @ Work report released in 2020, according to data from 7,400 Okta customers. Per Okta\u2019s Chief People Officer Kristina Johnson, Workday ranked number two overall by number of users.<\/p>\n

The software giant got its start in 2005 and quickly grew to be a leader in HCM, offering apps and tools to benefit many large organizations as well as influential small-medium enterprises worldwide. It\u2019s been listed in the Businesses @ Work report for years due to its attractive \u201cone-stop-shop\u201d convenience. Workday\u2019s real-time access to business planning, financial management, and HCM make it a coveted, all-in-one, well-rounded system\u2014thus making it a savory skill for consultants to master. Doing so can inevitably boost one\u2019s appeal in the IT\/IS realm.<\/p>\n

But Workday doesn\u2019t make this an easy task. Not only is the training program itself challenging to pass, but to get certified on Workday, it\u2019s required that you work as a Workday employee, a systems integrator employee, or as the employee of a company who\u2019s deployed Workday. Additionally, in 2018, Workday announced that product implementation partners were no longer allowed to certify or use contractors to work on their products, with market experts believing the more stringent controls were in response to an increased demand for independent consultants in the IT space. In other words, they believe Workday was trying to eliminate the use of independents to force partnerships and remain exclusive.<\/p>\n

According to one article<\/a>, Workday contractors\u2014many of whom were previous employees of Workday\u2014accused the SaaS vendor of \u201cmanipulating the labor market and consulting rates by barring previously certified operatives who now work as independent contractors from the environment and thereby effectively creating a mechanism through which they can dictate access, salaries, and rates across the environment.\u201d They even threatened to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor and the European Commission.<\/p>\n

Though, as rigid as the rules are when it comes to Workday, it\u2019s still possible to become or hire an independent consultant in the field\u2014and it\u2019s typically worth the extra effort.<\/p>\n

Comparing Workday Partner SIs<\/a> and Independent Consultants: How Do They Differ?<\/h2>\n

There are several differences between an SI consultant working for a Workday partner and an independent consultant with Workday knowledge and skills and market insight.<\/p>\n

A key difference is that SI consultants are employed as full-time employees (FTE), working directly for their employer and performing tasks under that umbrella of employment. They may receive benefits, education, and training paid for by the Workday partner. They would be certified in a Workday product HCM, financials, and any other functional modules that Workday provides and the organization utilizes. Their employer can assign them multiple assignments simultaneously.<\/p>\n

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an easy determining factor of employee versus independent contractor is who pays the taxes<\/a>. If you\u2019re an employee, your employer generally withholds income taxes, social security taxes, and Medicare taxes and disburses those taxes directly to the IRS on your behalf. They will also pay unemployment tax on wages paid to you.<\/p>\n

Independent contractors, though, typically handle tax withholdings on their own. These would be considered self-employment taxes,<\/a> and all independent contractors are subject to them at a current rate of 15.3%. In most cases, you will also have allowable deductions to offset some of the expenses an employer would typically cover. An accountant or tax professional can help you handle your taxes appropriately.<\/p>\n

Another way of determining your status as an employee or independent consultant is the degree of control the company has over an individual or the level of independence a person has over themselves to conduct business. \u201cCommon law rules\u201d defined by the IRS cover the behavioral, financial, and relational aspects of doing business, such as:<\/p>\n