5 Reasons Hiring Freelancers Is a Good Investment

As we are bearing witness, the Covid-19 pandemic is bringing two distinct changes to our workforce: an increase of freelancers in the marketplace and the acceptance of remote work.

Freelancers. Since April, millions have lost their jobs; the US unemployment rate currently stands at 11.1%. With the $600 additional weekly unemployment benefit from the CARES Act expiring at the end of this month, many face a tough financial road ahead, and some are taking matters into their own hands by diving into the warm waters of remote freelance opportunities.

For example, Upwork has been seeing a two-fold increase in new freelancer registrations. And experts agree these workers are a force to recognized in the new economy. A Toptal survey pointed out that 90% of companies depend on freelancers to augment their professional workforce. It’s no wonder, given 57 million Americans, or 35% of the country’s workforce, make their living as self-employed.

Remote Work. Meanwhile, Covid-19 has fundamentally accelerated the acceptance of remote work. Every aspect of life as we knew it changed because of the pandemic. Work, meetings, school and social gatherings are all being handled remotely. Buffer’s 2020 State of Remote Work, which surveyed 3,500 remote workers, found that 98% of respondents said they want to continue to work remotely, at least for some of the time, for the rest of their careers.

Given the trends, we will continue to see a robust and growing freelance market. Companies should embrace this new world order.  No doubt, freelancers will be in much higher demand than in the past year, and this is backed up by new research from UpWork. Among the findings, 47% of hiring managers were more likely to hire freelancers since the 19 pandemic began than in years past.

Here are five reasons why hiring freelancers are a good investment.

1. Lower Expenses. About a year ago, I noticed a trend. As the CEO of a digital marketing agency, I saw that many companies like hiring in-house marketing expertise over agencies. But hiring a contractor versus a full-time staff employee versus can present a dramatic cost savings to the employer, particularly when the work requires significant expertise, but fewer than 40 hours per week.
2. Greater Flexibility. The second trend I saw was that many talented marketers were choosing to go independent. They realize that working for themselves often pays better than working for someone else and provides a much better work-life balance. This flexibility also benefits the employer. They can have a finite project, knowing that there is a beginning and an end date; or they can have an ongoing, part-time project knowing their funds are not going to idle time.
3. Choose the Desired Expertise. When you hire a freelancer, they bring with them, for the most part, a particular set of skills and expertise that the employer needs to bring to a project. For example, I’m working with a PR freelancer, and I brought him on board to help with a particular assignment, and that’s all the work that I needed to farm out.
4. Lower Risks. When you hire a freelancer, you as the client know that you’re not going to be on the hook for many costs associated with hiring full-time employees, such as unemployment insurance or health benefits. When the freelancer’s project comes to a close, or, if the freelancer is not producing the results that were outlined from the onset, then the client can make a change and terminate. No messy departure to deal with.
5. Higher Expectations. When you’re in a freelancer-client relationship, the onus is on the freelancer to turn up the results. By producing high-quality work, the freelancer can position themselves for more freelance assignments. As the client, there’s a different kind of expectation between freelancers and full-time workers, given that freelancers know the clock is on, and it’s on them to start producing.

In this changing economy a great opportunity is reaching a tipping point for businesses. Covid-19, improved technology, and a realization that spending time working from home is largely an improvement over going to the office are colliding factors in driving the growth in freelance labor. Luckily for businesses, freelancers require little supervision, because as independent contractors they are representing themselves. They’ve likely performed multiples of similar gigs previously and hold a know-how to approach a project swiftly and intelligently with little hand-holding — after all, their livelihood depends on it.