What Are The Advantages in Hiring Freelancers?

They were most commonly classified as itinerant workers because they moved from ‘place to place’, often moving from town to town to get work, not so much from company to company. They were all manual workers or labourers in some manner, and during the harvest season when extra hands were needed to help with the crops, they got the most amount of work. Otherwise they struggled to find work and have an income. It was a classic case of qualified individual being unable to connect with the specific employment opportunity so the solution was a lot of door knocking and very likely, 99% rejection. In those moments when work was secured, it was a matter of extra hands being needed for a very specific task and for a specific period of time only.

Advantage #1 of hiring freelancers then is the ability to suddenly boost manpower in the face of an unusual or unplanned, increased workload. Most importantly, however, it is to handle this increase entirely without the concern of what to do with those individuals after the work level drops away.

Much therefore, revolves around the benefit of freelancers being available to start work quickly and take on roles as short-term workers.

Other than taking on freelancers because of sudden increases in work volume, there may also be instances when there are sudden but temporary changes in the company’s type of work. For instance, an accounting firm might be asked to help produce a corporate profile as part of their client company’s annual report but to do that, a specialist business writer is needed but only to complete that one single task. The accounting firm hires a freelancer for the task and then releases the person once the task is complete. The required work is done, and there is no change to the accounting firm’s overheads and the cost is probably passed on to the client anyway.

“… freelancers being available to start work quickly and take on roles as short-term workers.”

Knocking on from this rapid boost in manpower comes a rise in company cost and expenses. This is inevitable, but there is good business reason for it. What is key is that because a freelancer is engaged on a short term, employed only as needed essentially, then there is no long-term impact on fixed overheads. It is just a momentary cost which very likely, can be passed on to a client or taken up as part of business growth since the cost of the extra manpower is entirely related to the rise in work volume, for instance.

The work volume drops away – maybe because it is the end of a festival period for instance – and the freelance workers and their associated costs also drop away. This is Advantage #2 and it is a big one because it allows for management of costs, and manpower becomes a variable cost and not a fixed one.

“… manpower becomes a variable cost and not a fixed one.”

Advantage #3 comes with time and experience, and technology in the 21st century because now, the employment of freelancers need not be an emergency solution for manning only. Organizations are now consciously and deliberately choosing to staff up to half their workforce with freelancers, sometimes even more. Companies talk about the ability to bring in freelancers who are workers with a wide spread of experience across many companies and even industries so that when they work alongside the full-time employees, there is also huge transfer of knowledge and skill to the staff.

“The ability to bring in freelancers with a wide spread of experience across companies and industries.”

Just three advantages? There are more but this should be compelling enough for you to explore gig staffing now.