During the coronavirus pandemic, companies around the world witnessed a massive labour drain. Many employees were more interested in the work-from-home jobs because of how contagious the virus was. Due to this fact employers themselves needed to face the reality of appointing freelancers instead. In 2021, about 50% of freelancers saw an increase in demand for their expertise which begs the question, “Why didn’t those employers allow their employees to take to remote or hybrid working? Most of the employees that resigned and got into freelancing are now happier than when they were in full-time employment.
Anthony Klotz’s assertion
Anthony Klotz stated that a record-breaking number of people were going to quit their jobs once the pandemic came to an end and we have already seen this come to pass in the last year. Taking the U.S. for example, there was a massive resignation across all industries in April 2021 and one that had never been experienced. As if that wasn’t bad enough for the industries, the record got broken in July and also in August of the same year. These employees quitting their jobs were not doing so to go sit at home else, the U.S. economy wouldn’t have continued seeing growth. It was very evident that most of these employees if not all of them had gotten more flexible employment which allowed them to work from anywhere.
Employees not appreciated more
It is no longer news that employees want more flexibility and control over their working environment. They also want to be able to avoid the long commute in and out of the office several times a week. If we go back some years ago, the unemployment rate was at a high, especially during the COVID 19 period when many companies laid off many of their employees or handed them pay cuts. These companies in a bid to still function went for freelancers instead and this reality has dawned on many employees across the globe causing the great resignation. They saw the importance of freelancers to companies no matter the situation.
How freelancing is causing more resignation
The reason for the massive resignation is that most employees have known about freelancing. Freelancing means you are practically your own boss. Yes, you can do jobs for people but you get to charge your fees which you have the final say over. As a freelancer, you also get to choose whether you want to take a particular job or not. It could be due to different reasons. This kind of power is what most employees nowadays are looking for. So, the freelancing industry has been booming because of the massive resignation. Companies have now started hiring freelancers through international PEOs because they stand a better chance of hiring professionals. Most English teachers have become freelance writers in recent years and have seen that it pays better.
New measures by big corporations to reduce great resignation
The big firms are aware of the great resignation and are already putting measures in place to retain their top talents and prevent them from resigning for comfort elsewhere. There are new working cultures like remote working, hybrid working, and working from coworking spaces. Even with these in place, employees are still reluctant to keep their current jobs. So companies are having more difficulty hiring people these days. It is so bad that companies now include some multi-thousand Dollar signing bonuses and increase their minimum wage to encourage searching employees to apply or take their offers.
Final word
Freelancing is slowly taking over the regular employment market. There are so many benefits from freelancing that beat working for a corporation. You can decide to be off duty for some days and not be bound by any rules. You can decide when you get paid and you can run another business while freelancing. Companies are also encouraging the growth of freelancing because of its advantage in it for them. Most professionals are freelancers because they do not believe in being tied down by one company. So, when companies are looking for professionals, they go to the relevant freelancing site to make their choices. Sometimes, a freelancer could be doing more than a job at the same time. They can even hire other people to help with their jobs.
