Tech companies have always relied on freelancers to keep up with change, but in 2023, the pace accelerated thanks to generative AI—and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
LinkedIn’s latest “Future of Work” report, published in November 2023, suggests that 55 percent of LinkedIn members globally stand to have their work disrupted or augmented by generative AI. The skills required by the average LinkedIn member to do their job will change by 65 percent by 2030, the platform estimates. For those holding jobs in tech, the goalposts keep moving. Skills gaps are widening.
This is set against a backdrop of mass layoffs. Some 240,000 workers in the global tech sector have been made redundant since the start of 2023—a 50 percent increase on last year according to tracker Layoffs.fyi. Many laid-off workers have joined the freelance ranks, accelerating an existing shift toward self-employment driven by the Great Resignation and the reprioritization of work-life balance post-pandemic.
The net result is that tech firms of all sizes are adjusting to having a more blended workforce and are leaning on freelancers like never before. But they’re not just looking for contractors they can work with for one task or project. Instead, tech firms want highly skilled workers who can slot into teams and even lead them, and who might work with the company long term. Top-tier freelancers therefore now have the upper hand in a seller’s market. The growing availability of highly skilled and highly specialized independent workers marks a new chapter for the tech industry.
This shift in the market is being met by new freelancer-to-hire platforms that are serving as progressive intermediaries for the European workforce. With intense vetting processes and team-building tools, platforms such as A.Team, Malt, and Pangea.app are meeting the evolving needs of tech businesses while empowering top-tier freelancers. Provided that the prestige of freelancing continues to rise and company practices continue to reflect the importance of contractors, the current signs point toward a golden era for freelancing.
Mixing It Up
The tech sector’s reliance on self-employed workers isn’t new—startups especially have been reliant on contractual workers, using them to quickly assemble teams tailored to the specific needs of a project while reducing fixed labor costs. However, the contextual backdrop and sheer number of businesses currently embracing a mixed workforce marks an inflection point. The average UK company’s workforce is now made up of 58 percent full-time workers and 42 percent freelancers and part-time staff (21 percent each). Ninety-six percent of businesses say that they have engaged, or will engage, freelance support in 2023, according to workforce marketplace Fiverr.
Using freelance talent enables firms to bypass self-imposed hiring freezes or shortages of available full-time workers. Contractors can also be a way around claggy hiring processes—time-to-hire has increased year-on-year since before the pandemic, with tech role hiring times ranging on average from 29 to 66 days.
More importantly, though, freelancers can plug expertise gaps that are yawning open at breakneck speed. The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2025, 41 percent of employers plan to expand their use of contractors for task-specialized work. According to data from LinkedIn, job posts mentioning AI have doubled on the platform in the past two years, and Fiverr data shows that searches for AI consultants and AI video editors increased by more than 625 percent between January and July 2023. Digital and cybersecurity freelancers are also in high demand.
Build It and They Will Come
Trawling for these sorts of highly skilled workers and teams can be hard work—which is where third-party platforms come in. But unlike crowdwork platforms like PeoplePerHour and Upwork—home to a saturated market of freelancers offering low-fee services—the new breed of freelance-to-hire platforms are designed for business use, and proffer the crème de la crème of freelance talent. Pangea.app began by connecting student workers with businesses, but has since specialized to bridge gaps for highly skilled software developers, often for longer-term relationships. Fiverr, itself a crowdwork platform, launched Fiverr Pro in August, aiming to support tech businesses in particular following major rounds of layoffs.
“Once freelancers submit an application, we vet and curate them—everyone has to offer the right quality and reliability, because businesses don’t have time to search thousands of profiles,” says Shai-Lee Spigelman, general manager of Fiverr Pro. Since launch, Spigelman says tens of thousands of businesses have used Fiverr Pro, including PolyAI, Similarweb, Unilever, and the Rainforest Alliance. Next up, it’s looking to onboard top talent in growing areas like AI, business consultancy, and 3D rendering for architects.
