More and more companies are attempting to build their businesses using the types of talent found on Upwork, Freelancer or a bevy of other online contract worker emporiums. The latest estimates have 16 percent of the American workforce employed in an alternative work environment, with surprising industries like law and medicine incorporating aspects of “talent-for-hire” short-term arrangements.
Relying on freelance workers for certain quick gigs has its place. Uber and Lyft are the obvious pioneers in this space, but those businesses are just different (albeit revolutionary) takes on what were already short-term hire situations. When it comes to contract workers filling actual skill positions, the practice just isn’t scalable. Tech companies should only dip into the gig pool for very low-level, highly repeatable needs.
Source: Why Relying on Gig Workers to Fill Your Skills Gap is Lazy