It was recently highlighted that specialists believe around 40% of all US employees will actually be consultants or freelancers by the time we reach 2020. In 2017 we were already really high at around 30%. We are looking at a clear upward trend that is moving the entire workforce towards project-based work and mobility. This is really important since it does mean different things that have to be taken into account, like:
- Major companies have to reimagine hiring strategies in order to not be faced by talent crisis. Favoring freelancers over the full-time employees is sometimes a necessity in order to meet specific project needs.
- Individuals are becoming autonomous and increase flexibility while adding a sense of purpose and even increased societal impact.
- There are more consultants and freelancers that will work internationally, remotely and for much shorter terms.
The market is now highly favorable for freelancers and basically the entire remote workforce. So many options are available, ranging from huge freelance websites like Upwork to highly targeted mobile applications like ShiftPixy. Those that want to live a mobile freelance life have more opportunities than ever, with even more being projected to be launched in 2018 and until 2020. Some even take advantage of modern options like blockchain technology in order to perfectly match companies with really good workers.
What Should Companies Do?
An important thing we need to understand is that we still need to have on-site employees for most companies from around the world, expect those that rely solely on internet work. For those companies it is quite obvious that the increased mobility of the workforce is definitely an important factor that is highly advantageous. The companies that rely on brick and mortar operations need to adapt.
What does adapting actually mean? Basically, some of the best employees are moving away from regular jobs. They want to be mobile and be more in control of their lives. Because of this, even really large companies start to divide the work into projects that can be handled by a remote workforce.
Looking for the best employees is always a priority for companies. However, when these workers do not want to work in an office, in an on-site environment, the company has to build an infrastructure that works with the remote workers.
The good news is that moving towards a mobile workforce actually reduces costs for companies. It is the freelancers that take care of their own benefits, like insurance or having the equipment necessary to get the job done. All this practically means that companies pay less for the same job to be done so why not take advantage of this?
Conclusions
The bottom line is that mobility is something that employees and employers have to take into account. Whenever possible, it is advantageous for absolutely all parties involved. It might seem that having workers on-site is the best way to run a company but the advancements made in all industries move the workforce online, which is a great thing, no matter how we look at things.
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