Introduction

In this article we will analyze some key factors that make Hiring Freelancers a good investment for any business.

The growth in the number of freelancers around the world seems unstoppable.
Even with the Pandemic, according to all reports, the number of freelancers has grown.
According to MBO data, the number of Americans who earned freelancing in 2021 grew by 34% compared to 2020, rising from 38 million to 51 million.
The following infographic provides some key data about the freelancers workforce:

The most popular freelancers’ jobs, according to Pyoneer, are the following:
– Web and Graphic design
– Programming
– Content Writing
– Multimedia Production
– Translation
– IT
– Marketing
– Administrative
– Sales

The world of work is changing very fast and your Company cannot afford to stand by.

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”

W. Edwards Deming

Hiring Freelancers – The Economical Perspective

There are numerous advantages from the economical point of view when Hiring Freelancers.

With an in-house employee you have some cost components to consider in addition to Salary:
1. Payroll taxes
2. Bonuses
3. Holidays and paid leave
4. Cost of equipments
5. Cost of softwares accounts
6. Rental fees
7. Quotas relating to energy costs

All these cost components are not there when you hire a freelancer.

Some case studies, such as this one of the Upwork Team, reveal that hiring a freelancer translates into a cost reduction for your Company ranging between 15% and 20%. In other words, your Company would not pay one in five workers.

Hiring Freelancers – The Safety Perspective

Every company that has employees is faced with the thorny issue of Safety.
This means spending resources in terms of personnel and time, purchasing equipments and carrying out risk assessments with predefined deadlines.

In terms of equipments you don’t have to deal with when you hire a freelancer. Depending on the type of Company this can mean no safety shoes, no masks, no gloves, no ear plugs, etc.

Hiring a freelancer also means that no trainings on safety matters and no workstations audits are needed.

In general also the Risk Assessment get simplified.

Each Safety Manager will be able to easily evaluate how beneficial all this is.

Hiring Freelancers – A Lean Point Of View

Every good business executive is familiar with, or at least heard of Lean Manufacturing. It is a methodology that aims at the same time to reduce wastes and maximize production.

This methodological approach can be applied to all kind of processes within every Company. Its principles aim to focus on value adding activities and eliminating everything is not perceived as value by the customers.

The application of the Lean principles is a common practice that helps Companies to grow getting more agile, responsive and reliable.

What happens if we try to apply this methodology by introducing the freelancers variable?
Let’s take a look at the famous 7 Wastes (Muda): Overproduction, Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overprocessing and Defects.
Many of these wastes are automatically eliminated considering you’re shifting the entire production process to the freelancer side (outsourcing). In most cases you no longer have to worry about Overproduction, Inventory, Motion and Overprocessing. As for Transportations, internal ones would be completely absent.
Failure to meet delivery times, even if rare, can be a problem. So you may still have to face the waste of Waiting. However, the impact for you could be reduced by a partial or full refund.
The product or service you are purchasing may not meet your requirements and therefore you may still face the waste of Defects.
This could turn into Waiting if the freelancer makes the required changes beyond the expected delivery time. Otherwise, a refund would still limit the impact of the defect to your Company.

In conclusion it is easy to see that overall your processes would benefit of great advantages.

Another base principle of Lean is Pull, meaning doing things only after being asked to do them.
While this principle is completely accomplished with a freelancer, it is not always guaranteed with a regular supplier due to commercial agreements or mismatches of the closing periods.

There are some other substantial differences between common suppliers and freelancers.
First of all, flexibility, intended as the Company’s ability to change freelancer after each product or service purchase.
Changing freelancers, in general, is much easier than changing a common supplier with whom there are often commercial agreements that are difficult to terminate.
Another substantial difference is that, although a supplier is not part of your company, due to the unpredictability of the market, you often have to face problems related to its overproduction and therefore its stocks.
All of these problems don’t exist with a freelancer.

Where To Find Freelancers For Your Tasks

Since the demand and offer of freelance services is growing there are many marketplaces where you can hire the perfect freelancers for your tasks.
To help you in the process the following table shows the main marketplaces and their main services categories:

A special mention goes to Meshaffair which is a 3D Services Marketplace.
Here you will find professional Architectural Visualization Services, Product Design and Visualization Services, Character, Props or Environments Modeling Services for games, Modeling Services for 3D Printing and much more.

Conclusions

Any type of Company you have, hiring freelancers could give you great benefits in terms of costs, safety and agility.
Investing in this sense can help your Company increase production, expand the customer base, gain market share or simply save in times of crisis.

Thanks to the rising of freelancers compete with larger Companies has never been so easy.

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