Freelancing used to be for the bold – people who weren’t afraid of non-steady income. Today,
it’s quite commonplace for young people to be freelancers and the nature of work has made
freelancing more viable than ever before.

Of course, for those who are naturally more risk averse, being a freelancer might be a daunting thought but the harsh reality is that in an ever competitive marketplace, companies are starting to go light on overheads and prefer to hire freelancers when they can.

According to 2018 APAC Workforce Insights conducted by Persol Kelly, Hong Kong is leading
the way in the free agent trend with 55% of respondents agreed that there is a shift in the
workforce. People today are more likely to be seeking flexible contract based-roles than
traditional permanent full-time roles. Flexibility is the key driver across each country with
countries like Singapore and Australia paying more attention on this as compared to Malaysia
and Indonesia.

The statistics continues to share the key drivers behind the trends with Malaysians looking for more roles that are suited to their specific skills set followed by India, New Zealand and Australia where as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia are more interested in the opportunity to earn more money.

In Malaysia, it was reported that market has grown by 31% and is the third largest freelancing
market in the region with most of the jobs being involved in coding work such as PHO, MySQL
and software architecture based on a survey conducted by freelancer.com.
Workana is confident that the freelancing market with continue to grow locally and globally. With that being said, here are the four (4) main trends that contributed to such growth.

Trends on Hiring Freelancers in Malaysia and on a Global Scale

1. Saving hiring costs and time
57% of companies hiring freelancers mention labor cost reduction as one of the key reasons.

An average 43% of companies working with free agents save min 20% in labor costs and those
most strongly committed to GIG talents have three times more chances to save up to 30%.
Plus, they have eleven times more chances to get significant competitive advantages.

2. More independent workers

49% of companies hiring freelancers mention among their primary reasons the possibility of
making the most of their know-how and experience, and 72% think freelancers are really
committed to the quality of their work.
The profile of freelancers hired by large companies is marked by a high academic level and
critical skills. They value professional development and constant growth, and they usually keep doing refresher training courses to increase their profits.
It is estimated that 75% of the free agents have chosen this working style for positive reasons,
including personal empowerment and more professional opportunities.

3. More versatile work teams

60% of companies hiring freelancers are basically trying to compensate for the shortage of
qualified talent for specialized projects. Companies today are searching for ways to attract
external talent in areas such as digital marketing and technology, among many others, with
literacy of emerging trends.

4. Constant innovation

Only 17% of large companies hiring freelancers focus mainly on becoming more innovative and competitive in the market. However, free agents take up constant updating, which allows them to contribute ideas and fresh projects, positively melting off the status quo. It’s been proven that the more strategic the motivations of a company to hire GIG economy workers, the bigger their positive impact. According to Kelly Services, the fact that there are such few companies able to “see beyond” the traditional advantages of hiring freelancers opens up huge opportunities.

At Workana you can find all sorts of independent professionals with reviews and comments from other users about their performance. Besides, you can rest assured for our system grants you’ll be delivered the work in good time and manner before the payment is released to the freelancer.

In addition, we have a staggered-commission system that promotes long-term relationships between companies and freelancers –the more projects you complete with the same ally, the smaller the commission rate will be.

There are lots of opportunities of growth and innovation you may open up for your company
through independent talent. Start now!