I know you’ve been waiting for this: the Association of Professional Staffing Companies says you’re all no longer abnormal freaks of nature!
Well, you may still be a bit off, but APSCo says that your employment proclivities – working as a freelancer or an umbrella company contractor – is just the opposite. In fact, the industry body even went so far to say that the modern labour market has adopted interim work as the ‘new normal,’ according to a recently published client guide.
The guide has top tips for clients looking to hire contractors instead of permanent employees, including how freelancers and contract workers differ from operational and legal standpoints. There’s shedloads of information in the new guide for anyone who was ever curious about what it means to use contractors to complete projects but were afraid to ask – and how using a contract worker can improve the bottom line for many a firm looking to control costs and yet still expand and grow their business, even in a rather shabby economy like the one we’re in at the current moment.
APSCo’s chief executive, Ann Swain, spoke out on the new publication, pointing out that the days of looking at contractors as a temporary stopgap measure are thankfully past. Ms Swain was quick to point out how many firms have come to see how advantageous it can be to capitalise on the flexible nature of interim workers, using them much more than they might have in the past.
It’s a serious victory for freelancers as far as I’m concerned, as we’ve been labouring under a serious stigma of being ‘just temporary’ for much too long. Yes, the typical contractor will go from client to client like a merchant vessel looking for safe harbour, but this ‘any port in a storm’ mentality has slowly given way to freelancers instead being seen as highly skilled and qualified specialists in their respective fields to be called in when straits are dire or when a very particular set of skills is needed that the permanent workforce simply can’t satisfy in terms of a company’s demand.
Indeed, contractors and freelance workers have grown to become the saviours of the modern UK economy, traveling from one beleaguered firm to another and putting aright things that have gone terribly wrong. We’re like modern Jedi Knights, using our powers for the good of all – it’s nice to know that we’re finally getting the recognition we so rightly deserve!
