Are You Ready for a Freelance Workforce?

In the not-so-distant future, more than 50% of the US workforce will be freelance. In fact, the freelance workforce is growing at a rate that is 3 times faster than the traditional workforce. Career success to most Americans no longer means just climbing the corporate ladder. Long gone are the days of staying at one company with your entire tenure. Now more than ever, Americans want flexibility and self-employment as a way to create the freedom to control their career.

Technology is making it easier than ever for today’s workforce to choose where they want to work when they want to work, and who they want to work for. The immediate value of tapping into a freelancer workforce is to plug in the right person, at the right time, to solve the right problem — all in an effort to realize revenue faster. And technology has made all of this possible with the few clicks of a button.

Debunking 6 Myths About Hiring Freelancers

Once associated with more creative fields like music, writing, and design, freelance talent has in recent years expanded into essentially every sector of the economy. Even so, many hiring managers rely on old “knowledge” about freelancers in building their teams. Often, this means they aren’t taking full advantage of this freelance workforce.

To prove freelancers are a great option for your business, we’ve debunked six common myths about them:

Myth No. 1: Freelancers Are Only Good for Quick Projects

A common assumption is that freelance workers are hired to get things done fast and then get out. According to a study commissioned by Upwork, however, only 32 percent of hiring managers hired freelancers in the past year to work on projects shorter than two weeks in duration.

Managers are limiting their teams if they neglect to hire freelancers for longer-term projects and relationships. It isn’t prudent to ignore a source of skilled talent – in this case, freelancers – based solely on the potential length of the relationship between company and worker.

Similarly, maintaining relationships with skilled, high-performing freelancers means companies don’t need to search for and onboard new employees whenever they need that skill set. Additionally, freelancers can be helpful when scaling businesses up or down; companies don’t have to retain unnecessary full-time employees and can save money with project-based freelancers.

Myth No. 2: Freelancers Do Unimportant Busy Work

Freelancers don’t contribute anything meaningful to the company’s bottom line – that’s what regular employees are for, right?

It may be surprising, but, in many cases, freelancers become instrumental team members in completing projects. It often happens that an in-house team cannot handle its workload due to an upsurge in business, and the hiring of a new employee may not be feasible for a number of reasons. In these instances, it makes practical and financial sense to contract a freelancer.

In the Upwork study mentioned above, 84 percent of respondents said their departments would have had to delay, cancel, or extend their workloads if they had been unable to find freelance talent to assist on their most recent projects. Clearly, freelancers can have a significant impact on a business’s bottom line.

Myth No. 3: Freelancers Are Unskilled and Unreliable

People worry that freelancers are only freelancing because they lack skills and/or can’t hold a normal job. In reality, the opposite is true: Freelancers generally choose to leave traditional work because they feel limited in their skill growth and desire more flexibility. Furthermore, freelancers are motivated to perform at their best in order to win new and repeat customers.

Many employers find freelancers are actually more skilled than full-time hires. Freelancers also make it easier for employers to access hard-to-find skills. According to Upwork’s research, 39 percent of hiring managers say freelancers help them find skills that match their needs. In the same survey, 89 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with their most recent freelance hire’s skills, compared to 84 percent of respondents who were satisfied with their most recent permanent hire.

Myth No. 4: Freelancers Have No Work Ethic

A common fear is that freelancers are not hard workers. This is another case where the opposite is true: Freelancers are often perceived to work harder than regular employees, with 81 percent of hiring managers reporting satisfaction with their most recent freelancers hire’s work ethic, compared to 79 percent expressing satisfaction with their most recent permanent hires.

It makes sense: In order to earn repeat business, freelancers must prove themselves to be superior workers. To win new opportunities, they have to receive positive feedback and ratings from prior clients. To earn more money, they have to balance several projects and please each client. To keep up success in the future, freelancers know they have to work hard now.

Myth No. 5: Freelancers Don’t Collaborate

Now more than ever, advances in technology allow hiring managers to navigate the gig economy and manage their relationships with workers within it, including freelancers. Apps like Google Drive allow real-time collaboration between permanent employees and freelancers, no matter where they are located. Similarly, apps like AllWork allow managers to engage freelancers on an as-needed basis.

Myth No. 6: Freelancing Is a Temporary Trend

Think freelancing is just a passing fad? The vast majority of hiring managers disagree with you. Not only are more and more workers in various industries taking on freelance lifestyles, but hiring managers are also quickly warming up to the concept. Companies that encourage the use of freelancers will benefit from the increased access to skilled talent and more workforce flexibility, while those that ignore freelancers will inevitably fall behind.