Category: Expertise strategy
We studied the global trends of a new workforce of independent specialists wanting more freedom and task-oriented projects. Employers are looking for ways to return the staff to the offices, while many IT experts prefer working remotely as the new norm.
What are the trends, facts and possibilities for businesses? Let’s dive into the movement.
The traditional employer-employee relationship is under pressure, and this major shift points to a transformed future of work.
Technology is the driving force, and remote working and new ways of online collaboration are paving the way for the masses. Increasingly, many professionals will seek independence, and projects and task-oriented freelance work can replace the framework of permanent employment.
Independent consultants have come to stay. The underlying transformation of attitudes and values among professionals calls for a more systematic and strategic approach to procuring these “external resources”. Let’s investigate these considerations.
“Gig Economy”, “Remote Workers”, “New Work Order”, “Freelancers”, and “Platform Workers” are just some of the terms used to describe the current developments and changes in the labour force. In short, the arrow points in one direction – freelancing and independence.
The growing number of IT-skilled talents constitutes a significant part of this trend.
Freelancers and independent consultants will constitute a more substantial proportion of the future workforce, and remote working will enhance this trend. Working distributed and remotely is a consequence of this shift.
Many highly qualified and specialised professionals – especially within IT – tend to opt for a more independent lifestyle.
According to a Remote Workforce Report, remote workers in June 2022 primarily value flexibility instead of working on-site. The main benefits of this flexible working model were the freedom to work from anywhere (49% of respondents) and a better environment for productivity (42% of respondents).
These results might not be surprising, coming from the remote working community. Still, it reinforces the trend of task-oriented assignments from a workforce looking for a more flexible work life.
In 2019, 1 in 7 workers was self-employed.OECD Employment Outlook: Future of Work
If we take an even longer view, there are plenty of signs that this trend will strengthen in the next generation. For example, studies from 2020 in the USA show that 80% of the younger generation expects to become independent.
Moreover, several organisations and new platforms report that younger generations are more likely to consider working for a foreign company with Head Quarters abroad. Trends from the States tend to shift toward European countries, meaning we can expect an even larger share of the workforce to choose a freelance and project-oriented career path.
Politico (December 2021) states that 28 million platform workers are active in Europe. Cross-border migration, lifestyle changes and millennials gen z looking for new opportunities contribute to the rise of these trends.
The website European Generation features a report by the McKinsey Global Institute that found that 20% to 30% of the working-age population engages in some form of independent work.
Interestingly, there are four types of individuals in this portion of the working-age population.
Freelancers and self-employed IT specialists work mainly as free agents, some taking assignments defined on platforms.
There are many types of platform work in which freelancers engage: on-location, online, client-determined, and platform-determined – it depends on the individual case. One of the main push factors to do platform work is the lack of alternative employment opportunities, which can be due to language barriers or a university degree. Platform work, therefore, appears to facilitate access to the labour market.
In addition to the changing workforce structure trends, companies are also changing – they are increasingly hiring external resources. In 2021, BBC reported that the UK was headed for a ‘digital skills shortage disaster’.
Similar reports in other European countries have emerged in recent years, implying there is a shortage of skilled IT staff, and the root cause might be in dated education systems.
In each country of the European Union, there is heterogeneity in terms of the debate perspective and the actors that get involved in it.European Generation
For years, several reports from OECD, EU, and international and national research have exposed the gap between the growing demand for digitisation and the shortage of skilled IT workforce needed.
In 2021, BBC reported that the UK was heading for a ‘digital skills shortage disaster’. Similar reports in other European countries have emerged in recent years, implying a shortage of skilled IT staff, and the root cause might be dated education systems.
We say this shortage must be met using the new skilled workforce across-border, tapping into the trend. The traditional employee-employer relationship will be replaced by a more dynamic workforce composition in companies, especially within IT.
As noted earlier, new generations and trends internationally introduce more independent freelancers and work types, and companies are also changing -increasingly hiring external resources for IT development.
Companies expect to use more independent contractors in the future.
In Denmark, for example, the IT industry reports that every fifth employee in the Danish IT sector is on a temporary contract. At the same time, more than one in three companies say that they employ more loosely affiliated employees than before. Everything indicates that this development will continue. And that it will make more considerable demands on companies moving forward.
In light of the changing composition of the workforce and the growing need for IT freelancers and IT consultants, companies should be devoting more resources to monitoring and adapting to the situation.
In business media and new job platforms, we can read about companies that have not fully developed processes capable of dealing with the influx of IT freelancers as part of this “alternative workforce”.
In addition, IT freelancers are often only brought in as a tactical measure to fill empty seats. While this may seem like a great idea – at least in the short term – today’s companies must take a more strategic approach to the changing workforce.
Companies must be proactive in acquiring the right external resources when needed. In the future, companies will consider the acquisition of external IT consultants and project workers as an integral aspect of their overall recruitment strategy.
Companies should form a strategic alliance with consulting partners with in-depth knowledge of their organisation.
Any company that relies on qualified and competent IT specialists must make strategic choices to keep up with the developments reshaping the current and future workforce.
For example, according to Gartner (Future of Work Reinvented), hybrid flexibility working will become one of the leading trends in 2023. With a competent IT partner, companies can navigate the various changes and trends steadily.
We believe that working more closely with partners specialising in connecting an independent workforce with the needs of companies and their projects should be a critical aspect of this strategic approach.
Companies should form a strategic alliance with consulting partners who have in-depth knowledge of their organisation. They are also at the forefront of the newest developments in the IT industry. A strategic partnership with the right consulting partner allows companies to leverage these partners’ networks and expertise for future projects, plans, and strategies. They also enable them to provide support as the organisation and its needs change.
This collaboration allows the consultancy partner to work proactively with the company’s changing needs. And as a result, the consultancy can always match the right consultant to the company’s specific situation.
Ready to find out more?Ask us how we can help you succeed.
Contact us
