{"id":67282,"date":"2018-12-06T19:53:02","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T19:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/?p=428814"},"modified":"2018-12-06T19:53:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T19:53:02","slug":"introducing-microsoft-365-freelance-toolkit-a-solution-to-launch-and-scale-your-freelance-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/12\/06\/introducing-microsoft-365-freelance-toolkit-a-solution-to-launch-and-scale-your-freelance-workforce\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Microsoft 365 freelance toolkit \u2014 a solution to launch and scale your freelance workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With increasing participation in the gig economy\u2014the contingent labor market made up of independent workers who contract for short-term engagements\u2014enterprises are beginning to test and include freelance talent to support projects. According to the Future Workforce Report<\/a>, 47 percent of hiring managers at enterprise organizations utilized freelancers (up from 44 percent the prior year), while roughly 9 in 10 hiring managers say they are open to engaging freelancers rather than temporary workers through a staffing firm. To help enterprises digitally transform or complement their conventional contingent staff solutions, we\u2019re launching Microsoft 365 freelance toolkit<\/a>, a curated set of tools, templates, and best practices to help our customers launch, execute, and manage freelance programs at scale.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The gig economy, which includes freelancers, consultants, contractors, and solopreneurs, is on the rise. According to Staffing Industry Analysts<\/a>, the total spent on gig work in 2015 was $792 billion. Experts believe that within 10 years a larger proportion of the U.S. workforce will participate in the gig economy<\/a>. In addition, according to Field Nation<\/a>, 86 percent of independent workers intentionally choose freelancing.<\/p>\n

The implications for enterprise companies are profound.\u00a0To thrive in a highly competitive environment with rapidly changing technology and customer needs, enterprises must be agile and adapt to new business models to get work done with external talent. While adding on-demand freelance talent to the mix offers measurable results in speed and efficiency, the path to transforming existing policies and processes is largely undefined.<\/p>\n

Our launch partner for this toolkit is Upwork,\u202fone of\u202fthe largest online global\u202fmarketplaces with over 375,000 freelancers in over 180 countries. We specifically are partnering with Upwork Enterprise, their end-to-end compliance and freelance talent sourcing solution.<\/p>\n

The Microsoft 365 freelance toolkit offers solutions for the main friction points enterprises encounter when deploying a freelance program, including: internal communications and awareness, team-wide collaboration, data analytics, and workflow automation.<\/p>\n

Internal communications and awareness<\/h3>\n

One of the major challenges of launching an enterprise freelance program is driving awareness and education among internal stakeholders and adopters. Employees need a place where they can get started to learn how the program works, access required training, and review best practices for engaging with freelancers.<\/p>\n

Microsoft 365 freelance toolkit solves for this with the SharePoint communication site template\u2014a \u201cone-stop shop\u201d for program details to help accelerate freelance adoption and onboarding, including:<\/p>\n