Great Resignation
Insights North America Paytech

Freelancers Might Be the Key to the Great Resignation; Onbe Survey Finds

Forty-four per cent of US workers believe that the hiring of freelancers is essential to productivity and preventing burnout among remaining staff; according to the recent findings of Onbe’s ‘Great Resignation’ survey.

The corporate disbursements platform quizzed more than 650 US workers on the so-called ‘Great Resignation‘ and how organisations should respond to protect their remaining workforce and attract new talent.

The results of the survey provide a comprehensive insight into what, as Americans see, the solutions to stalling the Great Resignation are.

Nearly half (44 per cent) of respondents stated that they believe hiring freelancers will bolster productivity and take the excess load off of remaining staff.

Forty-two per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds and a similar 43 per cent of over 65s see a wider choice of payment methods as a way to benefit employee retention.

With a similar view, 57 per cent stated how they were paid bi-weekly and prefer to keep that frequency or change to weekly pay; as opposed to being paid once a month.

Equally, 41 per cent of freelancing respondents prefer to be paid weekly or bi-weekly, instead of when a job is completed.

Bala Janakiraman, CEO of Onbe.
Bala Janakiraman

“The Great Resignation has changed the way Gen Y and Gen Z look at work. They prefer flexible arrangements including freelancing and contracting that enable them to live their full lives,” says Bala Janakiraman, CEO of Onbe.

“This is an opportunity for employers to re-arrange how they look at the company-employee relationship by embracing freelancers/contractors in functions where it makes business sense. Our newest survey shows that there’s a real opportunity for companies in hiring freelancers.

“Traditionally, hiring freelancers or contractors meant adding a whole new layer of complexity to the way payments were disbursed. But what was surprising to us was the fact that they still aren’t being paid the way they prefer – 41 per cent are paid monthly or by-the-job and most of those respondents would rather be paid weekly or bi-weekly.

“There are payments solutions today that can meet the needs and preferences of both freelancers and businesses.”

The acceleration towards a gig workforce is forcing companies to quickly rethink their approach to compensation.

Freelancers aren’t typically paid in the same manner or frequency as employees, which means businesses need to process payments outside of their normal workflow – and the larger the freelancer pool, the more one-off payments to be issued.

It’s a costly and inefficient model that is wrought with error and places an additional burden on human resources and finance teams without the right disbursements program in place.

Onbe’s Great Resignation survey shows that freelancers prefer to be paid more frequently and organisations that offer greater payment flexibility will have a significant advantage in today’s world.

The publication of this Great Resignation‘ survey follows Onbe’s previously released ‘2022 Future of Payments‘ survey, which surveyed more than 1,000 US consumers on their payment preferences and the likelihood of adopting new payment technologies.

Author

  • Tyler is a fintech journalist with specific interests in online banking and emerging AI technologies. He began his career writing with a plethora of national and international publications.

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