A recent study conducted by the freelancers’ resource site Elance.com showed a very encouraging trend for the world’s freelancers. According to the survey, which was conducted last September 2012, 57 percent of the 3,000 independent contractors who participated in the study reported an increase in their income, with 67 percent sharing that they expect their income to increase some more in 2013.
These figures show that freelancing work is becoming more in demand. In fact, even large companies are now relying on freelancers to do certain projects for them. Creative, technical and IT work are the most popular freelancing requirements in the job market today. But why are companies now employing more and more freelancers? Here are five reasons why:
Cost
The primary reason why companies are now hiring freelancers is the cost factor. Hiring freelancers is more cost effective because they don’t usually get health care and other company benefits. Company owners also don’t need to think about paid leaves or having to spend extra resources like electricity, additional office space and other utilities, which increases with the number of employees that are working in an office.
Speed
Based on Elance.com’s study, 83 percent of employer clients said that hiring freelancers has sped up turnaround around times for their projects. The reason is that freelancers bring their own set of specialized skills to the table and they use these skills to tackle the specific requirements of the job. Freelancers are also often retained by companies so that when similar projects come up, they just hire these same freelancers who are already immersed in the company’s processes and know what the company wants – which also contributes to speed.
Flexibility
You can consider freelancers as modular experts for hire. You don’t need to keep an employee that only has a limited number of skills on the company payroll and enjoying benefits. Instead, you can hire freelancers that possess the needed skills or experience that you need for a particular project. What you get is a group of highly specialized contractors that you can interchange depending on the specific demands of the project.
About The Author
Sean Stone is the Director of LikeJobs.com, a site where freelancers can find various job opportunities.
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