In 2020, the future of work suddenly arrived as most businesses transitioned to remote work within days. Some companies were better prepared and managed the shift more effectively than others. This change, along with the debates over returning to physical offices, sped up discussions about flexible workforce arrangements. Driven by economic fluctuations, companies rapidly scaled operations up or down in response.
As the push-pull of in-office, remote, and outsourcing continues, we continue to see shifts in flexible workforce trends as teams build a future-ready team.
What is a Flexible Workforce
A flexible workforce can expand or contract depending on the demand for products and services. An effective analogy is cloud computing. In the past, businesses had to purchase, house, and maintain large data centers, and they needed to build them to handle peak expected demand because installing new servers during a traffic spike would take too long.
For instance, an e-commerce website needs a data center large enough to manage Black Friday traffic, but this capacity remains unused the rest of the year. Cloud computing allows businesses to easily increase their computing resources with a few clicks and reduce them just as swiftly when necessary.
The flexible workforce does the same with labor.
The concept of a flexible workforce is not entirely new.
- Brick-and-mortar retailers have hired extra staff for the holiday season for decades.
- Agriculture businesses hire workers for the harvest.
- Vacation destinations employ seasonal workers.
These are in-person roles. Like computing capacity, it doesn't make sense to sustain your maximum labor level year-round when you only need that many workers for a few weeks or a few months.
Other models of on-demand staffing have also been around for decades:
- Temporary agencies
- Contract worker agencies
- Independent freelancers
- Part-time workers
What’s new is that, thanks to the internet, cloud software, and online staffing businesses, this type of model now applies to many more roles and companies. You can give anyone access to your tools and network, and they can do the work from anywhere. Typical services and skills for flexible work include:
- Website development
- Software coding
- Graphic design
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Executive and personal assistance
There are several types of businesses that enable these services to be done remotely:
- Gig marketplaces—you know the drill. Upwork and Fiverr offer all kinds of freelancers through their websites. Businesses turn to these resources for one-off or occasional projects like web development and graphic design. Tasks that are not ongoing.
- Temporary agencies for off-site contractors—these have been around for a long time. They have adapted to offer remote and onsite independent contractors. Agencies can be great for longer-term projects that still have a defined finish line, like technical documentation or a large web build.
- Remote freelancers—you can also find independent freelancers on job boards like Craigslist or Indeed. Freelancers offer a hybrid between a marketplace and a contractor. Most freelancers will take on short-term and long-term projects.
- Remotely managed service providers—these providers hire, train, supervise employees, and place them with businesses. The idea is that you gain skills when needed without adding any management or HR overhead. Some call this model remote staff augmentation, as you're adding remote workers to your team. It’s usually a long-term solution for bringing in talent that’s unavailable locally or that a business needs but lacks the experience or resources to qualify, hire, and manage. Software companies often use this model because developers are hard to find in many markets. Companies also use it for virtual assistants, since many businesses do not have an executive assistant manager.
What are the Benefits of a Flexible Workforce
There are two sides in the flexible workforce—the employer and the employee. Many of the advantages of these staffing models benefit both.
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Companies have access to more talent
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Workers have access to more opportunities
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Companies get access to new skills
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Workers learn new skills by working with different firms
Other benefits for companies are:
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Cost savings by paying for skills and services only when you need them.
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Cost savings through reduced office space.
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A more diverse workforce, especially if the workers are offshore.
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In the managed service model, companies add no payroll or HR overhead.
Additional benefits for workers include:
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They can work from anywhere—at home or on the road.
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They can work when they want to.
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For offshore workers, access to better pay than is available locally.
What are the Risks of a Flexible Workforce
There are also risks associated with a scalable workforce—on both sides of the relationship.
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Employers might not find the right skills available when they need them.
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Workers may find that there is no work available when they need it.
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IT security risks associated with giving remote workers access to networks and workers using personal networks and computers.
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Not getting paid—a threat that independent freelancers often experience.
The Future of the Flexible Workforce
Most argue that, after the pandemic, the flexible workforce is here to stay. Even permanent employees want the freedom to work where they choose. A fully flexible workforce is entirely distributed, and some businesses have adopted this model.
The pandemic also revealed some risks, particularly for workers. Remote and contract workers are often the first to be laid off during a financial crisis. A 2021 study by McKinsey found that "contract, freelance, and temporary workers would overwhelmingly prefer permanent employment." No surprise, since these workers endured the worst financial impact of the pandemic and, for example, "were nearly twice as likely as others to say that they could not afford health insurance."
Is a flexible workforce suitable for you? The answer depends on many factors—the business you are in and the skills that you need.
Prialto provides a managed virtual assistant service by hiring, training, and managing offshore virtual assistants and assigning them to U.S. businesses that are unable to find or prefer not to manage executive admins.