Lessons learned from COVID-19
5 To Do’s to succeed in the New Work Order
Now more than ever, companies need to respond quickly to changes in the market, the global environment, to the entry of new competitors, and to ongoing technological progress.
The agility of the workforce is one of the key components to survive in this new reality: the right people doing the right thing at the right time.
In this new work reality, we see freelancing as an established part of the agile workforce. Companies working in hybrid organizations will rely on freelancers as part of their HR strategy to access specific skills fast and enrich their internal teams with an external culture.
We call this the New Work Order.
In this year’s Freelancing in Europe 2021 study by Malt and the Boston Consulting Group we once again looked at the DNA of digital freelancers working in Europe’s Talent Economy. In 2020, the year of the Covid19 pandemic, one thing became more evident than ever: freelancers today already work like the companies of tomorrow.
So as taught by the spearheaders of the future of work, here are 5 lessons to succeed in the new work order we have learned from freelancers.
Lesson #1: Make it about Choice
As a smart leader of a tech-giant called Apple once said: “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
In the new work order we go a step further. We give people the power of choice about whether they want to be hired at all.
The majority of freelancers are happy with what they do. Their decision to freelance strongly relates to the power of choice and autonomy. And seeing how this newly gained autonomy leads to more productivity and satisfaction.
Freelancing does not mean “giving up” a permanent employment, it is a decision for a self determined way of working.
Whether tomorrow we work from home or in an office, in a team or alone, for one company or many clients, companies will need to follow in freelancer’s footsteps and give people the ability to choose.
Lesson #2: Embrace the Hybrid World
Hybrid formation is a natural evolutionary process within biological species that ensures the diversity necessary for a stable ecosystem. In plant breeding, this phenomenon is called the heterosis effect and leads to greater vitality and productivity. In grain types such as maize, for example, this can lead to a doubling of yields.
Not only in the world of plants, diversity is driving forward innovation and better results. The Post Covid19 world is a hybrid world. Whether it relates to culture, gender, age or specializations, personality traits, creativity levels, work environments, working methods, type of contracting,…the magic is in the differences.
The future task of companies will be to promote an environment in which the possibilities are endless. Because we need to be creative in order to react flexibly to the market.
Lesson #3 Never Stop Learning
Knowledge is power. But unawareness is strength. In order to leverage the power of collective intelligence, companies must be able to acknowledge the fact that they don’t know things.
Freelancers are a great opportunity to learn from highly qualified experts. They work 43 hours a week and dedicate 5+ hours to individual training to remain highly skilled and match market demand.
As they no longer have to dedicate time to dealing with the rules of an organization, this leaves them with more time for “productive” work.
Long-term permanent employees on the other hand, learn alongside an organization. By that they can access a unique set of knowledge, which can often only be build by growing historically with a company.
With this in mind, the mix of internal and external talent becomes an exciting offer for companies to build on their internal knowledge and take advantage of different work cultures at the same time.
Lesson #4: Invest in People
People are not a resource. They are the core of a company. Companies that will be successful in the future are those that understand their employees and create an environment where they can thrive to their full potential.
Beyond skills and factual knowledge, companies will have to invest in culture as well.
Lesson #5: Prepare for Flexibility
For companies, freelancers are an attractive way to access specific skills fast and flexibly.
But the flexibilization of the workforce is not a one-sided demand.
The trend is also driven by high-level industry professionals making a conscious choice to leave permanent employment and offer their experience and expertise in the talent economy instead.
Self-employment offers an attractive alternative for these highly qualified experts, allowing them to work in a self-determined, flexible way.
The freedom and self-fulfillment they gain leads most freelance talents to not wanting to return to permanent employment at all. They prefer to put their brainpower into projects instead of organizations.
We are excited for this new world of work ahead of us!
To learn more about the Talent Economy and how to leverage freelancers for your company’s objectives, download the full study here.
