The Motley Fool, a leading financial and investing advice publisher, faced challenges managing a large network of freelancers across multiple departments. After implementing Worksuite, they streamlined their freelancer management process, leading to significant cost reductions and improved operational efficiency.
The Challenge: A Growing Talent Pool on an Archaic System
In 2020, The Motley Fool had a talent pool of around 450 freelance contractors — writers, editors, researchers, and consultants — and were looking to continue scaling their network.
The problem wasn't ambition. It was infrastructure.
International contractors were direct-invoicing the company, with payments going out as manual wire transfers. Domestic freelancers were managed through a well-known online platform, but as the talent network grew, so did the fees — and the platform's rigid benchmarks were a poor fit for The Motley Fool's specific use cases.
"All of our international contractors were direct invoicing us, and we were sending wire transfers. So it was a really archaic system."
On top of that, freelancer documents were scattered across Google Drives and online document storage sites. There was no centralized location to match paperwork to individual tasks and freelancers, and no standardized procedures for invoice processing.
"There were no standardized procedures — basically the contractors would send an invoice on a monthly basis to their manager, who would review it and upload it to an online document storage platform. Then our finance team would have to go through that individually to send payments for each person. It was a lot of work."
The Motley Fool evaluated several solutions to centralize documentation and end-to-end talent management. None met their criteria.
The Solution: A Flexible, All-in-One Platform for Recruiting, Onboarding, Compliance, Task Management, and Payments
After research and recommendations from their finance team, The Motley Fool reached out to Worksuite.
"We quickly figured out that the offerings with Worksuite were much better, and obviously tailored to contractors."
The Motley Fool discovered they could use Worksuite as a talent pool hub across their multiple entities around the world. All tasks and documentation could be centralized. Compliance could be maintained through a single entry point, with entity-specific and local regulatory requirements segmented through Worksuite's Global Shield infrastructure.
"It's a huge thing to have all paperwork under one system so we can reference it. This was not in a centralized location before, it was all over the place."
During implementation, Worksuite worked with The Motley Fool's internal development team to build custom API payment integrations within their content management system. Rather than a full-scale switchover, they staged a phased rollout — one country at a time — to maintain high volumes of automated payments with zero downtime.
From there, The Motley Fool partnered with Worksuite to customize the platform and work toward full adoption across all teams.
"The user interface is simple. You can customize things with tasks and projects, and there are different customizable fields on the profile. So you can personalize the onboarding experience a lot more. Worksuite's product offering was great out of the box."
Before Worksuite
After Worksuite
International payments
Direct invoicing and manual wire transfers
Automated global payments via custom API integrations
Document management
Scattered across Google Drives and online storage platforms
Centralized in a single system of record (FMS)
Compliance
No standardized procedures; entity-specific requirements handled manually
Unified compliance through Worksuite, segmented by entity and jurisdiction
Invoice processing
Managers reviewed individual invoices; finance processed payments one by one
Real-time spend visibility via Insights Modules; hiring manager approval built into workflow
Freelancer management cost
Escalating platform fees as the talent pool grew
Significant fee reduction with Worksuite, on the US side alone
Headcount
Required an additional finance team member to manage workload
Eliminated need for additional hire; freed up existing team for higher-value work
The Result: Streamlined End-to-End Freelancer Management, Plus Significant Time and Cost Savings
The biggest difference since adopting Worksuite has been for the finance team. There is now complete transparency into freelancer invoicing, spending, and payments — with accurate spend and budget tracking across all projects.
"Our hiring managers need to approve spending on a weekly or monthly basis. Now they can see in real time how much money they're spending with the Insights Modules. That's been really key."
The cost impact was immediate.
"We ran the numbers and Worksuite is going to save us a significant amount of money, just for the US side of the business — and that's purely in fees."
Beyond fees, Worksuite streamlined daily processes enough that it was no longer necessary to hire an additional finance team member. The existing team gained time back for growth and development in their roles.
What's Next
The Motley Fool plans to implement additional Worksuite features, including strategic organic recruitment of freelancers within their existing network.
"The customer service has been great, and I feel like we're getting the white glove treatment. The Worksuite team is really responsive and willing to help us build custom solutions, so they're a great partner. They're going to continue to help us grow and scale efficiently."
"If you're looking for a comprehensive platform to help you pay and manage contractors and their contracts with compliance — Worksuite is the best product out there."
— Michael McCoy, Contingent Workforce Program Manager, The Motley Fool
Key Results
30% reduction in freelancer management costs
Increased compliance and transparency across departments
Streamlined onboarding and payment processes
Solution
With Worksuite, The Motley Fool centralized their freelancer data, automated workflows, and gained real-time visibility into their freelance workforce, allowing for more efficient management and quicker decision-making.
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