In 2020, business-as-usual took a sudden detour due to Covid-19. A combination of travel restrictions, supply chain disruption, and business slow-downs and shut-downs led to employee furloughs and layoffs. Many companies had to quickly shift to fully virtual offices to accommodate social distancing mandates and ensure the health and safety of their employees and clients. According to a CNBC report, the number of remote workers in the US will increase by 87% compared with pre-pandemic situations. The large firms have decided to have a hybrid workforce model and it is evident that the work from home model is here to stay.
Now, in 2021, companies are recovering and hiring for newly open or expanding roles. Due to multiple factors including a growing but cautious economy and and uncertainty about the pandemic, contingent workers are being hired at a greater rate than pre-pandemic. Further, as companies have already invested in many online collaboration tools that enable them to interact and make the work process smoother, they don’t see a difference in working with a fulltime employee (who is Working From Home), freelancers or a contract based workers. As contract employees work on project basis and fixed timeframe, it helps the company to have the right talent for the right time to fulfill the temporary needs, and is a cost effective solution. As they work virtually, the companies have the flexibility to hire them from anywhere around the world. Simultaneously, there is a high demand for contingent workforce in 2021.
