The freelancing and remote working future of work has already arrived for a large number of the online white-collar workforce. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report, published in October 2020, shows 84% of employers are set to rapidly digitalize working processes. This includes a significant expansion of remote work—with the potential to move 44% of their workforce to operate remotely. Even pre-Covid, the UK saw a 31% surge in the number of new freelancers in the year to June 2019. What will this mean for remote working tools in an ecosystem supporting the growing needs of crowds of freelancers and remote workers?
Many employers and white collar employees had previously continued working in a more traditional way. Pandemic-led office closures meant it was time to get to grips with technology associated with online remote working on a massive scale. Both sides of the employment fence learned to use it, performed their job requirements and met their responsibilities. Employers (largely) stayed in business and now face return-to-work issues.
Vast numbers of employees worked successfully without direct supervision, saved themselves the time and cost of commuting to their office, and managed their workloads in a flexible manner to accommodate other demands on their schedule without eating in to vacation time. The pandemic accelerated adoption of video calling and collaboration platforms that was going to happen anyway, and research shows productivity was actually higher among remote workers. It’s hardly a surprise that many people want to retain at least some element of working remotely after what for many was an enforced experiment.
This article was first published by Crowdsourcing Week, please finish reading it at https://crowdsourcingweek.com/blog/the-crowdsourced-world-of-freelancing-and-remote-working-in-2025/
