This year on International Women’s day, a few Indian companies came up with special employee policies for women. For e.g. PayPal introduced a policy called “Recharge” wherein they invited their women employees to come back to work after they had gone on a personal leave. This program is aimed to help women technologists to equip themselves with the right skills to continue their careers.
This signifies that the companies today are open to new trends in the workplace and they like to offer more employee driven initiatives to retain current employees and attract new ones.
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However, due to advances in technology, required skills and qualities for a job have also evolved over time.
Therefore, besides having the right technical knowledge, the employees are expected to also be creative, a good team player, have the right communication & soft skills, and be flexible to change. Also, the employees will then be expected to be able to work remotely, be good at data analysis and media, and possess a forward thinking pattern along with social intelligence.
Similar to a 9 to 5 job routine, there has also been an evolution in the freelancing work trends. Some of the top trends are:
“Just in Time”workers: This system works best for both employers as well as employees as both want flexibility. This is a situation where the employer can hire an employee for the period when they need him/her e.g. for a month to fill in a temporary need.
Independent Contractors: This kind of a requirement arises in a company when they need a specialized service from an individual which none of their employees possess at that point in time. These contracts can range from a few months to a year. This position can either be full time or part time. They can be expected to work either from office or home.
Part time workers: Such requirements can be a need of a company when they need the worker to work only for a specific time period.Again, this kind of work can be based in office or from home.
Full time Home Based Jobs: There are sometimes requirements wherein the employer requires someone with specialized skill sets and such work can be performed remotely. In such cases, they may offer a full time home based jobs.
Some of the reasons for the employers to make this shift in work patterns are:
Change in Thinking Pattern
In the earlier times, a freelancer was perceived as lazy; who didn’t want to go for a regular full time job. Now, however, this pattern has changed considerably as the employers are willing to offer specialized jobs to freelancers who have skill sets that are not available in their current system. They hire them for short time periods to fulfill key requirements on a flexible basis.
Nowadays, professionals trained in a specific skill work in their own terms to gain work satisfaction. They are quitting their regular jobs to work from home and charge higher than the regular office employee. But in the long run they turn out to be less expensive as they are hired for a short time. This becomes a win-win situation for both the employers and employees.
Globalization
The world is coming closer with the advent of the internet, technological advancements and video conferencing facilities. Teams can be working from anywhere across the globe on various projects.
The focus for such projects is on the deliverables requiring specialized interventions from experts. Many such short term projects can be executed remotely and hence it is more viable to offer home based jobs. It will be interesting to note that already some such freelance jobs online were offered in India from cities like Mumbai, Delhi/NCR and Bangalore.
Openness to Different Industries
The trend for hiring employees for home based jobs has changed across industries wherein the companies are constantly looking for interesting ways to engage work from home staff. The statistics show that requirement for professional services for freelance jobs online have gone up to 21%, whereas for IT services it is roughly around 13%. Even banks and financial sectors are beginning to focus on part time jobs online, which accounts for approximately 10% of the industry. E-commerce sector, FMCGas well as retailsectors are also closely following the suit.
With these figures, it is obvious that all industries are opening up to this new trend of remote working. The numbers are indicative of the fact that the future is bright for freelance talent having the right skills. On the other hand, it is also important that the organizations gear up to manage this talent with the right HR strategies, which are:
Flat Structure
The concept of flat structure has gained momentum amongst businesses, leading to lesser hierarchy &bureaucracy where there is almost or no barrier between the senior management and employees. Hence, work stations and office spaces become quite redundant, as most of the communication in home based jobs is done through automated systems and the internet.
Social Awareness
The 21st Century generation is well known for its social consciousness and awareness. They like to work with organizations that are focused towards corporate social responsibilities. With the trends moving towards freelance jobs online, it enhances the reduction of carbon footprint due to less commute to work. The employers are also keen on such outcomes to prove their Corporate Social Responsibilities.