The COVID-19 pandemic has hit freelance and full-time workers hard. Concerns about financial stability, job security and when or if workers will receive their next paychecks remain high for all personnel, including those in nonessential or newer roles and gig workers with less-regular incomes. The gig economy is huge, encompassing rideshare drivers, freelance photographers, self-employed business owners and many other participants — and the virus’s short-term effects have proven equally diverse. Those who have found work have reported that clients are asking to slash rates, for example, and some contractors are chasing down late payments. COVID-19’s long-term freelancing impacts could be much different than those arising in the short-term, however. The outbreak is revealing how integral gig workers already are, Marlon Litz-Rosenzweig, co-founder and CEO of online freelance hiring platform WorkGenius , noted in a recent interview with PYMNTS. Essential workers in the U.S. include freelance delivery drivers, order fulfillment workers and grocery clerks, who are all helping get necessary items to consumers and ensuring families can weather stay-at-home directives and quarantines. More traditional companies that have had to switch to remote operations may also be turning to freelancers as they find themselves working with tighter budgets and potentially with fewer team members following bottom line-saving measures like layoffs. These factors could lead to a future in which the remote, freelance model is more attractive to firms, Litz-Rosenzweig explained. “With COVID-19, [our company has seen] more demand than ever,” he said. “Companies are shifting to remote workforce models, and they are realizing that, ‘Oh, for a lot of the work we thought we needed people on premises. We don’t really need people on premises.’” He believes that shift will last well past the stay-at-home period that COVID-19 has brought about, and that freelancers could find more opportunities as companies search for talent without taking location into account. Regularly hiring freelancers will require shifts in how these entities find, work with and pay contractors, however, and may lead to a rise in online freelance platforms. Debating Freelancing’s Future The COVID-19 pandemic’s influence will likely not result in companies replacing full-time workers with gig economy participants, but it may create an atmosphere in which firms’ freelancer awareness increases and gig opportunities rise. Figuring out how that would look means examining the virus’s short-term impacts, as not all workers are seeing professional disruptions. One effect has been the same for both freelancers and full-time employees, however: Social distancing and stay-at-home protocols have decreased the number of workers on-site. “When people are saying, ‘Oh, the freelance world is getting harmed [by COVID-19],’ they are probably referring to on-premises gig work, which is like Uber and Lyft … or maybe hospitality gig work,” Litz-Rosenzweig said. “On-premises work is currently on hold, where everything needs to shift remotely, [but] you still need to get the work done.” The virus’s outbreak has not changed companies’ necessary tasks, but it may have reduced the time frames and resources firms have to complete them. Some companies may be […]
