The question usually arrives as "should we hire someone or bring in a consultant?", and it is really two questions. The first is about the work: is it a backlog that will keep changing, a deliverable with a finish line, or a role that will exist for years? The second is about the person: how they are engaged, how they are paid, and who carries the paperwork. Getting the first one right matters more, and the second matters less than most hiring managers expect.
The figures below come from the profiles of vetted consultants on Turbin and from engagements run through Turbin to date. Rates are the hourly rates consultants set on their own profiles, before Turbin's fee is added.
What are the three ways to engage a Workday consultant?
There are three: a contract, a consulting project and a permanent hire. A contract is hourly work at the consultant's rate, with weekly timesheets approved by your lead and one monthly invoice. A consulting project is a defined deliverable on a short fixed-scope statement of work, priced from the same rate and an hours estimate. A permanent hire is a full-time employee on your payroll, placed with a 90-day guarantee.
| Shape | How you pay | Commitment | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract Hourly, the most common shape | The consultant's rate plus a flat 20%, from weekly timesheets on one monthly invoice | None; 30 days' written notice ends it | A backlog that will change: stabilization, tickets, phase-two work |
| Consulting project Fixed scope, under the same MSA | One agreed price: the same rate and fee times an hours estimate | The deliverable; the consultant carries the overrun risk | A deliverable you can name: an integration, a model, a year-end |
| Permanent hire Full-time, on your payroll | A salary, plus a placement fee that depends on the role | A 90-day guarantee from the start date | Work that will still be there in two years |
Contracts and consulting projects run under the same MSA with Turbin, so the work can move between the two shapes. Permanent placement fees are quoted per role.
Contracts are the default for a reason. 72% of consultants on the network take part-time work, and the median engagement on Turbin is 15 hours a week, so most Workday needs are a fraction of a person rather than a whole one. A salaried hire for a part-time workload is either an expensive hire or a person who drifts into other work, and neither is what you were trying to buy.
How is each shape priced?
A contract is priced by the hour, a consulting project by the deliverable, and a permanent hire by salary plus a placement fee. At the network median of $92 an hour, a contract bills $110 with Turbin's flat 20%, and the consultant receives their full rate. On the median engagement shape of 15 hours a week for 6 months, that comes to about $43k in total. The fee is its own line on a monthly invoice, on Net-30 terms.
A consulting project uses the same rate and fee, multiplied by an hours estimate both sides agree before the work starts. You get one number, one statement of work and one invoice schedule, and the finish line is written down rather than implied. It suits deliverables that can be specified up front: if you cannot say what done looks like, the estimate will be a guess, and a contract is the better fit.
A contract carries no long-term commitment and no early-termination fee: 30 days' written notice ends it, and you pay for the work performed. If the first week is not billing-quality, the consultant is replaced within 72 hours at no charge. A permanent hire carries a placement fee that depends on the role, so ask for it when you scope the search, and a 90-day guarantee from the start date: if the hire resigns or is let go for performance, the search reruns at no extra placement fee.
Does W-2, 1099 or corp-to-corp change anything for you?
Not on Turbin. W-2, 1099 and corp-to-corp describe how a US consultant is paid and taxed, not what they cost or how good they are. Turbin is the contracting party and engages and pays the consultant whatever their setup, so you sign one MSA, receive one invoice, and pay the consultant's rate plus a flat 20% in every case.
The three setups are worth knowing anyway, because every route you compare will mention them. A W-2 consultant is an employee of the firm that engages them for the length of the project, with income tax withheld by that employer. A 1099 consultant is self-employed, invoices for their services and handles their own taxes. A corp-to-corp consultant works through their own company, which contracts with and invoices the engaging firm. Canada and the UK have their own equivalents, from incorporated contractors to UK limited companies, and the client-side answer is the same.
Hired directly, the setup becomes your team's question. Legal reviews each agreement and the classification, AP onboards each consultant as a vendor, and four consultants means four agreements and four invoices on four schedules. Through Turbin the setup stops at the consultant: one MSA signed once, a rate confirmation for each consultant after that, and one monthly invoice built from the weekly timesheets your lead approves. Ending an engagement works the same way for every setup, on 30 days' written notice.
Which shape fits which problem?
Match the shape to how the work will change. A backlog that keeps moving is a contract: post-go-live stabilization, a ticket queue, or a project where nobody is sure how big it is yet. Paying by the hour protects you from paying for scope you did not use, and part-time hours keep a specialist close at hand without a full-time cost.
A deliverable you can name is a consulting project. Two integrations, an Adaptive Planning model, a security redesign and a payroll year-end all have a finish line, which is what a fixed scope needs; the year-end guide covers that last one in detail. You get one price, and the consultant carries the risk of an overrun.
Work that never ends is a permanent hire, or a long contract if the skill is rare enough that a salaried search would take months. Tenant administration, release management through Workday's two feature releases a year, and a Workday team lead are the usual examples: if the work will still be there in two years, hire for it. If you are not sure, start with a contract. Three months tells you whether the role is real and whether the person fits, and converting costs 10% of base salary rather than a new search.
Can a contractor convert to a permanent hire?
Yes. If the consultant wants the role, Turbin never blocks the conversion, and the fee is 10% of first-year base salary. It is often the safest way to make a permanent Workday hire, because three months of real work in your tenant tells you more about a person's module depth and working style than any interview loop can.
Say the intent when you describe the project. The matching engine then draws the shortlist from consultants who have said they are open to permanent roles, which avoids an awkward conversation three months in with someone who prefers contract work. Most do: only 17% of consultants on the network are open to permanent positions, so a contract-to-permanent request draws on a smaller pool, and saying so up front keeps the shortlist honest.
Questions we get asked.
No. The rate on the consultant's profile is the rate, and Turbin's flat 20% is the fee, whether the consultant works W-2, 1099, corp-to-corp or under a Canadian or UK equivalent. Turbin is the contracting party and engages and pays the consultant, so their setup never appears on your invoice as a different number. You see their hours, their rate and the fee as its own line.
It is more predictable, not cheaper. The SOW is priced from the same consultant rate and an hours estimate, and because the consultant carries the risk of an overrun, the estimate usually has some cushion in it. Choose fixed scope when the deliverable is nameable and you want one number. Choose hourly when the scope is a backlog that will change.
Your own lead. The consultant submits a timesheet each week, the person you name on your side approves it, and the approved weeks roll into one monthly invoice from Turbin on Net-30 terms, with each consultant's hours and Turbin's 20% as separate lines. That keeps hourly spend visible week by week, which matters most on a backlog where the scope moves.