Global working hours fell by 14% in the second quarter of 2020 alone – equivalent to the loss of 400 million full-time jobs, the International Labor Organization has calculated. The pandemic of the new coronavirus COVID-2019 has exposed an acute vulnerability of businesses, including online casinos and their employees around the world. Companies stopped hiring, millions of employees were transferred to remote work, some of them lost it altogether.
Some employees who lose their jobs or are forced to take unpaid leave become self-employed – according to the British technology platform for freelancers PeoplePerHour (it is one of the largest in the world), since the beginning of 2020, the number of service subscribers has grown by 513% in Japan, by 329% in Spain and 300% in the non gamstop casinos.
Freelancers in business
The very trend of transition to free swimming is not new: back in 2016, McKinsey experts calculated that up to 162 million people in Europe and the United States – or 20-30% of the working-age population – are engaged in some form of independent work. These are those who work part-time on freelance in addition to their main job (the majority turned out to be 40%) and those for whom self-employment is the main source of income (30%).
The huge percentage of self-employed in the global economy is also confirmed by more recent OECD data: in 2019, one in seven (i.e., 15% of all employed) in developed countries was self-employed. In Greece, their share is 34% of the labor force, in Italy – 23%, in Spain – 16%, in Great Britain – 15%, in the USA – 6%.
“If you ever want to be your boss, you should consider working in real estate or skilled occupations: these are 8 of the top 12 self-employed occupations, ” begins an article in Business News Daily. published March 2020. This story is based on a ranking by SmartAsset, which researched data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The ranking includes those positions where at least 15% of employees are self-employed; the average income, predicted employment opportunities, and growth in the number of personnel, and the level of education were also taken into account.
More people are now looking for flexible work opportunities than ever before as they embrace the digital nomad lifestyle, according to Strategic Capital’s 12 Best Self-Employed Careers in 2020. Today, there are many opportunities for flexible work, and this is largely due to the rapid development of technology: some jobs require only a laptop and the Internet. This ranking includes writers, web designers, social media consultants, personal trainers, and others.
White collars at a distance
Support the trend and the company – in 2019 distance work (and traditional, and freelance ) has become so popular that the experts of the largest, on its data, an international freelance -platform Upwork predicted: in 2020 56% of the teams in the world will come remote workers (this forecast is given in 2019). Among white-collar workers and creatives, the pandemic is likely to be more than expected, according to the platform’s spring 2020 overview. to the corporate network, the inability to work because of young children, etc.), both parties could see the benefits of remote work and self-employment, experts at Upwork say.
According to McKinsey’s report, “Independent Workers: Choice, Necessity, and the Giant Economy, ” self-employed people are more satisfied with their jobs than traditional workers. They are more passionate about their tasks and at the same time enjoy the opportunity to work without a leader and control how much time they spend on work and rest. At the same time, some of the self-employed worry that they are more vulnerable economically and socially than their office colleagues.
Freelancers are likely to be more in demand in the future than traditional workers, Upwork concludes in its Spring 2020 Survey.52 % of HR managers say remote work performance during the pandemic has exceeded their expectations and 62% that they will hire more remote employees than before book of dead.
In the conditions of universal remoteness, those employees who have already worked from home find themselves in a more advantageous position compared to office workers. McKinsey experts in the article “Pandemic Proves – Talent Is Critical to Productivity” note that they recover faster during a crisis, as at this time employers value flexibility and the possibility of temporary contracts more.
With layoffs in mind and no new vacancies
Specialized analytical studies have shown that with the introduction of quarantine, about 80% of the surveyed company owners transferred their employees to a completely remote work format. Only 3% did not attach importance to this issue and did not close their offices.
What anti-crisis measures were introduced by the management of IT companies
not to open new vacancies – almost 52% of the respondents.
reduction of expenses for office maintenance and rent – over 45%.
reducing the cost of team development (conducting teambuilding, paying for courses) – almost 38%.
a possible reduction in wages – 35.5%.
reduction of investments in marketing and promotion – over 22%.
have not yet developed a plan – just over 9%.
Reduction of wages and layoffs. Why you shouldn’t do it
Only 15% of those surveyed said they were cutting their staff, and 12% were sending their employees on free vacations. On the other hand, over 70% said they did not consider the likelihood of unpaid vacations for their team.
Analysts in the event of churn, loss of existing customers, and anticipated loss of income, recommend a simple way out of the situation – to revise the terms of cooperation. By the way, the results of the profile survey show the following:
almost 47% of companies are planning or have already negotiated new prices with contractors;
over 31% have not yet conducted such negotiations, but are still following the development of the situation;
and only 21.9% are not going to raise the issue of revising the terms of cooperation.
Outcomes
All of the above numbers tell us that business is changing. Taking into account the autumn outbreak of COVID-19 predicted by the World Health Organization, which can lead to tougher quarantine measures and an aggravation of the situation in the economies of different countries, it is necessary to plan possible changes and change approaches to activities today.
