The leg that does not exist
You and the person work together daily and are not employer and employee, and nothing in either document creates that line.
Day-to-day direction
Any employment obligation to the person
Promising the person anything about their job
Being the person's employer
YoursThe provider'sCrosses the twoNeither contract
Four matters, and no share: what any one agreement covers differs by agreement. One crosses both, and the handoff is where these arrangements fail. One sits in neither contract. The line that is not there, and the one people keep acting as though were.
Three Parties, Two Contracts
You contract with the provider, the provider employs the person, and between you and the person there is nothing.
The Relationship With No Document
The working relationship you have with this person every day is recorded nowhere and governed by nothing.
What You May Promise, and What You May Not
A promise about pay, title, notice or leave is a promise about a contract you are not party to.
Telling Them Something Their Employer Has Not
News about their own employment reaching the person from you rather than from their employer is a recurring failure.
The Manager Who Thinks They Are the Employer
A line manager acting on an authority they do not have does most of the damage in these arrangements.
Asking the Person to Do Something New
Direction is yours, but a change large enough to alter the job described in their contract is not direction.
When the Person Comes to You With a Problem
They come to you because you are who they see, and half of what they bring is not yours to resolve.
The Word That Should Have Been Routed
A short list of subjects where an informal word from you creates an obligation nobody can implement.