The last 5 years saw a rise in contract and freelance workers. This has been partly accelerated by the fact that the world has been living at the mercy of a raging pandemic. Experts predict this trend to continue into the near future, not only to cut costs but also as a means to increase flexibility and productivity. At the same, businesses that are focused on long-term business strategies will also continue to hire full-time employees. Both these trends are predicted to exist side-by-side along with re-onboarding and re-skilling due to the constantly changing market.
There is going to be an increase in diversity in terms of type of staff hired at a company, i.e. freelance/contract and permanent. Companies who are experiencing this phenomenon for the first time will have a comparatively hard time adjusting to this dynamic while organizations who have already been practicing this flexible or liquid style of the workforce will have a greater and richer mix. These changes also have a couple of implications on HR policies, programs, and technology. HR will have to consider various viable strategies to attract and retain freelance and contract-based temporary staff while also hiring permanent staff to increase agility and adaptability. These include but not limited to Employee Engagement, Learning and Development, Performance Metrics, and benefits for full-time staff and temporary staff.