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Companies across the country are contending with persistent labor shortages, and customers are feeling their pain. To combat this ongoing labor shortage there are potential solutions rooted in flexibility and a willingness to consider rethinking workplace norms.

Recent figures from Goldman Sachs indicate there is a shortage of 4.6 million workers in the current labor market. Reasons for the shortfall range from candidates and employees being sidelined by post-Covid health issues to a reticence to return to the office and leave a more flexible and family-friendly work-from-home environment. Some of these issues figure to affect labor numbers for years to come.

Many companies are adjusting to the new reality by branching out from a traditional permanent workforce model and embracing a contingent labor force made up of freelancers and contract employees – and with good reason. Organizations that hire only full-time employees can restrict themselves and create a situation where they may not have the resources they need. More and more, companies are turning to freelancers and contractors to solve staffing issues.

There are a few adjustments employers can make to fulfill their staffing needs, while retaining existing employees.

Redefine the concept of an employee. A growing number of workers are joining the gig economy, and to remain agile and well-staffed, companies are embracing this change. Additionally, companies are also leveraging part-time resources. That might mean allocating two part-time contractors to one FTE position, or outsourcing specific projects to contractors or freelancers.

Offer flexibility. The pandemic reshaped the way workers think of and approach their workdays. For example, a former 9-to-5, in-office employee may now have a healthier work-life balance after working from home much of the past two years. For some families, school and daycare situations have changed completely, and many are not willing to go back to the office full time. Employers can potentially engage this workforce by allowing employees to work remotely or work a designated number of days from home on a hybrid basis. Happy employees are productive employees, and rethinking workplace norms by accommodating the childcare flexibility needs of a working parent could be the difference between having a productive employee or an empty box on your org chart.

Make the process easy. There is a lot of competition for labor these days. At the same time, many independent contractors struggle with juggling clients, billing cycles and collections. Streamlining all of it through a talent cloud service such as PeopleCaddie can make an employer more attractive to highly sought after independent contractors. Enjoying the flexibility of being a freelancer, while being paid like an employee can be a potent recruitment tool for companies.

Create a community. It’s important that once a company begins to utilize contingent labor that contractors are held accountable for the quality of their work, while also affording them opportunities to learn and grow by collaborating with in-house employees.

In the coming years, flexibility will be key for companies seeking to remain fully staffed and minimize turnover. Changing the way we look at employees is the first step. Embracing a contract or freelance model of employment for some, or even all, of their workforce will put organizations at the top of the list when it comes to competing for talent.

Want to explore the benefits of a contract labor force? Contact PeopleCaddie here.

There was a time when you couldn’t hold a conversation about freelance work without a few key phrases popping up: “side hustle”, “supplementary income” and “temp work” come to mind. If you’re a full-time independent contractor, you’ve likely received your share of confused looks and worried glances from friends and family, along with some version of the usual question: “Wait, you want to do this?” Much the trepidation comes from the inconsistency of payment. Contractors are treated like vendors and have to wait on payment. But there’s an alternative wherein they enjoy the same, steady payment cycle as W-2 employees, and PeopleCaddie has developed a framework for how contractors can get paid every two weeks.

Our concept of contract work has changed dramatically in recent years. We’re now living in a freelance world, with an estimated 1.1 billion independent contractors making up more than a third of the global workforce – and it’s growing. As more workers in the U.S. and around the world embrace the gig economy, they aren’t blind to its pitfalls. Yet, even those are changing.

At PeopleCaddie, we aren’t just a staffing agency that sends our clients a bunch of resumes – we’re a conduit connecting independent contractors with the right companies and offering a no-hassle alternative to the traditional grind of gig work. The way we see it, it’s our business to provide contractors with all the benefits of freelancing while reducing or eliminating their most aching pain points.

Consider the typical freelancer-client transaction from the contractor’s perspective:

Create a vendor profile for every client, filling out and tracking paperwork each time a project begins with a new client
Submit an invoice for each project completed
Wait for confirmation from a client’s accounting department, sometimes trading emails or phone calls to ensure that an invoice is being processed
Often wait another 30-60 days for a check to be sent, as many companies follow a Net-60 policy for contractor payments
Gather documents from multiple clients for tax purposes at the end of every year

Paperwork will never not be a pain for freelancers, but PeopleCaddie significantly eases the usual frustrations by handling much of the heavy lifting for contractors. All transactions (and thus all paperwork) funneled through one central office, which is how contractors can get paid every two weeks. The advantage of receiving a steady, paycheck (direct deposit) – no matter when the client pays – is an enormous benefit.

And contractors aren’t the only beneficiaries. In addition to offering companies access to a wide network of skilled professionals, PeopleCaddie’s talent cloud helps them maintain their client-vendor relationships – often reconnecting the two parties – which helps businesses manage fluctuating labor needs, reduce training costs and time, and lighten the administrative burden by cutting down on the overall number of vendors used.

There are good reasons more workers are choosing to freelance: flexibility, variety, opportunity. Skip the commute. Work from home, in your space, at your own pace. See the world, working for nine months and traveling for three. Or cross borders through the work, signing on with bucket-list clients who would have been impossible to reach if not for the freelance economy. Even if your motivation for contract work is at a nuts-and-bolts level, a gig worker has inherent abilities that, collectively, feel like a superpower: find more opportunities while avoiding project burnout and diversifying an employment portfolio to optimize job security.

PeopleCaddie is glad to help contractors meet those goals. By teaming up with skilled vendors and working with good companies, we’re able to help freelancers take full advantage of an increasingly preferred freelance economy, achieve a healthy work-life balance and avoid many of the usual pitfalls and inconveniences of contract work.

Interested in a project on our jobs page? Contact us at [email protected].

paid

Rethinking Workplace Norms to Combat Labor Shortage

How Contractors Can Get Paid Every Two Weeks