This article is based on a webinar hosted by WorkMarket.
With the rapid changes occuring in the work market today, businesses are looking for ways to meet the demands of their clients, while maintaining the health of their employees and contractors. Along with this is the added challenge of the increasing demand of employees to provide more flexible and remote work arrangements and the willingness of candidates to switch jobs to find those benefits they need.
Workers Actively Searching for Flexible Work
A Glassdoor survey found that 89% of their users are either actively looking for jobs or would consider better opportunities. And many employees are already dipping their toe into the gig economy by supplementing their current income with gig work. ADP Research Institute report on the Gig Economy highlighted the changes in the workforce, finding that 16% of workers are already classified as short term or 1099-Misc (or freelance, contingent, contractor) with a 10-year growth rate of 15.
Gig Workers don’t want to go back to the Traditional Workforce
Contingent Workers have Specialized Skills
The reality is that those who enter the gig workforce have honed and built a skill set that is unlike many others. In fact, the contingent and freelance groups are the most highly educated members of the workforce. Founder and President of WorkMarket, an ADP company, recently spoke at a recent event and touched on this very topic. He said, “Freelancers perform better than full-time employees. Why? They show up on-time more often, they get better satisfaction scores and are more engaged.”
56% of individuals surveyed in ADP’s gig economy report stated they preferred to be classified as a 1099-MISC worker instead of a W2. And this number is growing.
As technology continues to evolve, so will the way that we work. As more top talent migrates to a 1099-MISC work environment, if you are not looking towards this talent strategy, then your business will suffer, and the talent will go to your competitor, who can support their chosen work lifestyle.
The Future of Work is Here, and the Future is the Labor Cloud
In our most recent webinar touching on how to unlock the power of the contingent workforce, WorkMarket’s General Manager, Jens Audenaert, spoke on the next cloud revolution. First came cloud platform-as-a-service (PaaS), then infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), followed by software-as-a-service (SaaS.) As these technologies have begun to be standard operating models for many businesses and users, a new revolution is forming: Workforce-as-a-Service (WaaS).
Despite the push towards greater results with fewer costs, by and large, we have not changed the way we approach our workforce. The default response to any increased demand is still the age-old 40 hour a week W2 worker, which is great - if you have the time to recruit and onboard a new full-time employee. But what about the times when you needed that new employee yesterday? The traditional way of approaching your workforce needs will eventually directly affect your ability to drive business results. As Jens stated, “So all in all, having an extended workforce that you can tap into helps you drive business results by having flexibility, better SLAs and margins, and giving you access to the talent the way it wants to engage with you.”
The Next Cloud Revolution is Here
Not tomorrow. Or next year. But now. And it is known as the labor cloud. Labor clouds are where businesses like yours can source contingent workers from a database of pre-screened and vetted freelancers looking to collaborate with exciting, new projects. In the same way that cloud solutions revolutionized how business procure software, labor clouds, and the Workforce-of-a-Service (WFaaS) revolution is changing how we obtain talent. Learn more about how to tap into this valuable resource.
Read more:
Free Download: Freelance Management Systems 101
Blog: What are Labor Clouds and Why Should My Business Care
Watch the webinar: Unlocking the Power of the Contingent Workforce
