Employers like to use independent contractors when they can because doing so allows them to avoid expenses associated with employees — taxes, training, promotions, overtime, benefits, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation insurance, FMLA leave, 401K matches, and so on.

Advantages of being an independent contractor over being an employee include more control since you're your own boss. You might earn more as an independent contractor, and the tax benefits can include deducting your business expenses. The drawbacks to being an independent contractor include more responsibility.

A contractor – also called a contract worker, independent contractor or freelancer – is a self-employed worker who operates independently on a contract basis.

The principal contractor must: plan, manage, monitor and coordinate the entire construction phase. take account of the health and safety risks to everyone affected by the work (including members of the public), in planning and managing the measures needed to control them.

The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done. If you are an independent contractor, then you are self-employed.

A contractor is not an employee; instead, they run their own entity (such as a sole proprietorship, limited liability company or limited liability partnership) and are contracted out by organizations to work on particular projects or assignments. Their contract relationships can be short- or long-term.

There are a number of advantages to being a contractor. Contract work provides greater independence and, for many people, a greater perceived level of job security than traditional employment. Less commuting, fewer meetings, less office politics – and you can work the hours that suit you and your lifestyle best.