Now that the pandemic has shown everyone just how easy it is to work remotely and flexibly, more and more employers are planning to stick with freelance, part-time workers even after they return to “normal.” In fact, 60 percent of US business leaders surveyed would prefer to “share talent” with other companies, and 60 percent anticipate a core workforce with fewer full-time staff over the next few years.
The benefits of hiring more freelancers have become clear. Freelances allow businesses to scale quickly and fill those hard-to-fill roles easier. A freelancer may offer a wider range of skills than a full-time employee and companies are seeing firsthand just how beneficial this can be. Especially smaller, start-up companies who have big plans for rapid growth. Imagine hiring one freelance who could handle design, marketing, and copywriting. Being able to tap into these skills on a flexible basis means companies can utilize these strengths exactly when and where they need them.
While freelance work has its perks for employers, it also offers flexibility to workers, including control over when they work, how, and on what projects. In 2020, 2 million workers joined the freelance economy, raising the percentage of American workers engaged in freelancing full-time by 8% to a total of 36%.
When the pandemic first hit and many people lost their full-time roles, a lot of workers turned to freelance. And many of them are sticking with it. A recent study from Fiverr found that 80 percent of the skilled contractors surveyed said they expected to earn the same or more in 2021 as in 2020.
Companies of all sizes continue to work with more and more freelancers to help them run their business across all types of job functions, diverse skill sets, and departments. Freelancers can include:
- Gig workers performing specific tasks on a flexible basis
- Shift-based W2 workers who are paid hourly
- Event staff to support seasonal or peak-time functions
- Tech, IT, and web development consultants
- UX design, branding, content, and marketing experts
- Flexible data entry, admin, accountant, and HR roles
Post-pandemic, companies should be ready for an even more accelerated shift to freelance workers. Managing and paying this flexible workforce is much different than how they currently manage full-time, salaried employees. There are a lot more moving pieces including making sure you’re classifying these workers correctly, organizing their projects efficiently, and issuing on-time payments.
If you’re company plans on hiring more freelancers this year, make sure you’re utilizing a freelancer management and payments platform. That way, you can onboard and manage your entire freelance team all in one place. By choosing a platform that also handles payments, you can remove that entire admin burden from your in-house team and know for sure that this piece of your workforce is being classified and paid correctly.
Ready to learn more about how AllWork can help you classify, onboard, manage, and pay your freelancers? Get in touch to schedule a demo.
