Shropshire, UK
Shropshire, UK
Hiring a freelancer. It is seriously underrated.
Organisations are increasingly hiring freelance professionals to help bridge skill gaps, streamline recruitment processes, and reduce hiring expenses.
But what are the key benefits companies can expect when hiring a freelancer over a permanent member of staff?
Rapid access to expert professionals
In 2022, there were 1.9 million active freelancers working in the UK. This made up 46% of the overall solo self-employed population. 5% of these freelancers were working as self-employed sales or marketing professionals.
With such a large talent pool to choose from, companies have easy access to the people they need to drive change within their organisation. Plus, with their additional employment flexibility, freelancers can be much quicker to hire than full-time employees, providing immediate support for various projects.
The average time it takes to hire someone in the UK is 4.9 weeks. But this can be even longer depending on the sector and seniority of the hire. For example, in the public sector the average hiring duration is over 6 weeks. For more senior talent, it can take even longer — and that’s before you start factoring in lengthy notice periods!
Meanwhile, a freelancer can be hired a lot faster. They can also be on-boarded quickly to start delivering successful outcomes for businesses.
And hiring risk with freelancers is greatly reduced, as they are normally employed on a short-term basis. So, if companies have a change of priorities, or direction, they can agilely conclude their freelance arrangements. This is much more difficult to do with permanent members of staff.
Cost-effective
Working with freelancers can be much more cost-effective than hiring somebody on a full-time basis or employing the services of a specialist agency.
Recruiting new hires and finding the right talent can be extremely expensive for companies. Especially for those working with recruitment agencies who operate on a commission structure.
Recruitment agencies in the UK charge on average between 15-20% of a candidate’s first year salary. But this can be as much as 30% for more senior positions and even more for people with unique, in-demand, or niche skills.
So, for a role with an annual salary of £40,000, businesses could be looking at additional agency fees ranging from £6,000 to £12,000. And that’s before you start factoring in other hiring costs. For example; equipment, software subscriptions, pensions, national insurance contributions, sickness and holiday pay, bonuses, private health insurance, and much more.
While a freelancer will command a much higher hourly or daily rate than a full-time employee, to cover the additional risk of them being self-employed, companies have much more control over how much they choose to spend on a freelancer and over the duration of their contract. For example, a freelancer could be brought in on a short-term basis to work on a particular project before the relationship is concluded.
And this is one of the major benefits of hiring a freelancer. Companies only need to pay for the work that has been agreed upon.
Scale your business more quickly by hiring a freelancer
Freelancers are highly skilled workers and can hit the ground running. This allows companies to find, hire, and deploy them, so they can quickly start adding value.
For start-ups, or small businesses, looking to fill temporary skill gaps, or bringing in expertise on a short-term basis, freelancers can be the perfect solution.
Freelancers work with a variety of clients and so they often bring a wealth of different experiences and best practices to the table. Freelancers can also be quickly integrated into existing teams or departments, providing much needed skills, training to staff, and diversity of thought, to help foster a culture of innovation within an organisation.
So, those are just a few of the many key benefits of hiring a freelancer.
If your organisation is looking for marketing support on a freelance basis, then I would love to hear from you. Don’t forget to check out my services.
Sources (with thanks):
Written by Joel Reed. Read more of my blogs.
