7 ways a freelancer can make your life easier.

Facing the challenge of being able to tap into the right levels of talent, either because of cost constraints or simply because the required talent is not always employable, is a common issue that several organisations face. A freelancer can definitely come to the rescue.

Are you one of these organizations? If you are, then here’s is a solution for you to consider.

DID YOU KNOW THAT:

• 1/4^th of the European workforce in professional, scientific and technical fields is not on the payroll.
• And neither are more than a 1/5^th of all those in the arts and entertainment.

Instead, they work for themselves, offering specialist expertise to organisations on a freelance or contract basis.

Deloitte again reported, in their 2017 Human Capital Trends report, that companies should no longer consider their workforce to be only the employees on their balance sheet.

They must include a freelancer, independent economy worker and crowd as well.

Complicated? Not really!

Here are some of the pain points a freelancer can definitely help with, plugging in and out of the business.

Typical Pain Points

1.        Urgent talent needs

You are either expanding quickly or have a mountain of projects to deliver on.

And as the workload increases, you need more good people, yesterday! but recruitment is not keeping pace. They have their Q&RM (Quality and Risk Management) to manage too, but it’s realistically around 3 months to fill a role on average; that’s if the role is not too specialized – if it is, it may take even longer.

That’s the typical length of a single sub-project!

How to address this: A freelancer ready to assist on project basis and available immediately is your solution.

2.      Skills shortages

There is no shortage of job applications, but too few candidates have the specialist skills, experience or knowledge you need. Especially in your geographical area unless you want to hire internationally and then that’s a longer and more costly process.

Forget about the added complexity of cultural integration and easing into the existing team and working styles. Your freelancer will plug in and out.

How to address this: Existing global platforms that connect you with global specialized talent virtually and on-demand, can give you access to that specialized expertise that’s based anywhere in the world.

3.      Sporadic needs addressed by a freelancer

You understand that your needs for a particular project are end-dated and once the project is over, what would they do while staying on payroll?

Many times, people end up being deployed to ill-fitting roles to justify their continued employment.

There are as well the cyclical areas of the business; those have steep spikes in workload when there is simply too much work for the existing team to handle, followed by periods of relative low activity when the team’s workload subsides. The energy of the team is sapped during the peaks and anxiety sets in during the troughs.

How to address this: A freelancer can plug in and out as and when needed.

 
4.      Rapid change

In the digital age, everything moves rapidly. There is simply no way to guarantee that today’s skills will remain relevant.

Keeping a heavily skewed permanent workforce is like not having currency hedges in place when dealing with volatile currencies – it’s just not good risk management.

How to address this: Maintain a core team and plug in independent professional consultants with the relevant need of the hour skills as needed.

5.      Talent outflows

You go through lengthy and time-intensive hiring processes, followed by onboarding, socialisation and other trainings to get great recruits company-ready, only to have them leave shortly afterwards, either targeted by headhunters or the competition.

How to address this: Focus your retention efforts on your core team; as for the flexible pool of specialists that you tap into on demand – your freelancer and independent consultant’s pool – this will be a shared pool with other businesses using the same smart model as you.

6.      Uncertainty

Roles are now breaking into smaller segments known as ‘atoms’ (by Adam Grant) and what is left over of the role is becoming harder to define.

The digital economy requires a heady mix of skills cutting across a multitude of functions. Typical situations that you may be facing every day, ‘should you get a reward person to lead your share scheme management, or more of a corporate secretary or financial manager? How about a mix of all?’

How to address this: Flexible access to talent provides you with the opportunity to select a specialist with deep expertise.

7.       The flexible solution

Freelance, contract and independent workers provide a flexible solution to these talent management challenges and have given rise to the newly coined Platform Economy.

Advances in technology have led to an increase in the number of these platforms, making it easier to organise projects in flexible ways.

If you adopt a more sophisticated approach to resourcing – one that integrates core internal teams with external talent brought in at specific points, on-demand, you’ll get a massive skill infusion.

How to address this: Infusing talent into already capable and established teams, when needed, plays a vital role in ensuring sound competitive strategy.

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