The freelance economy has been steadily growing over the past several years with an increasing number of market segments opting for this method of working. The trend is gaining popularity even in the most traditional work areas such as engineering. In fact, a large number of organizations are becoming comfortable with the concept of hiring freelance field engineers rather than recruiting full-time in-house professionals. The fact that even the best engineering colleges are preparing their students to work as freelance service providers proves the fact that this trend is here to stay.
Discussed below are some of the most common reasons that have led to the growth in the demand of freelance field engineers:
1. Natural Mobility
In most cases, the field engineers are required to visit a client site for performing different tasks and addressing client grievances. Since these sites are located in several places, the field engineers need to travel a lot. As such, hiring professionals (who offer freelancing services) naturally proves to be a better option for the recruiting organizations. Such professionals not only get the required tasks done but, also save the costs of a permanent hire for the company.
2. Highly Cost Effective
Recruiting full-time field engineers on a permanent basis can prove quite expensive for the hiring organizations. This is because, in addition to the salary and other benefits being provided to other engineers, the company also has to bear the additional burden of the travel expenses. However, hiring freelancers brings down this cost by a considerable margin as the companies are required to pay only for the specific task performed by these professionals. Moreover, they do not need to spend money in the form of additional benefits and travel allowances which form an integral part of the compensation package of a permanent field engineer.
3. Access – Wider & Skilled Talent Pool
Opting to hire freelance field engineers ensures that the hiring companies gain easy access to a far wider and highly skilled talent pool. Even though this might require the hiring companies to link up with a reliable platform or service, the benefits to be gained from this are truly great. With a large number of field engineers choosing the route of self-employment, there is no dearth of professionals capable of performing even the most complex onsite tasks in a completely efficient and satisfying manner. Furthermore, the hiring companies can even look for field engineers based on a variety of factors including their location and qualification.
4. Quality – No Compromise!
One of the biggest apprehensions that companies tend to have while hiring freelance field engineers is that they might not complete the assigned tasks with the expected quality parameters. However, this is generally a non-issue as most professionals offering such services tend to be more focused on the quality of services that the company employing them. Not adhering to the set quality standards, naturally affects their ability to land new jobs and this can have disastrous consequences for their career. Hence, hiring freelancers is one of the best ways to ensure that the tasks get done in accordance with the highest quality parameters.
5. Reduce Unnecessary Delays
It is not uncommon for the permanent field engineers employed by an organization to be overloaded with work at times. This naturally leads to some tasks getting delayed, which can affect the reliability and goodwill of the company amongst its clients. However, this problem can be easily overcome by hiring multiple freelance professionals, who can ensure the completion of different tasks well in time. Moreover, the organization does not have to worry about keeping these professionals busy when there is a shortage of tasks. Since these professionals are hired on a contractual basis for each task, they do not become an unnecessary burden on the hiring organizations when the business is down.
6. No On Boarding& Training Required
It is a fact that the permanent field engineers working for any organizations do not spend much time within the office premises. However, this does not eliminate the need for the organizations to provide them with basic training about the company culture and help them with the on-boarding process. One of the benefits of hiring freelancers is that no such training is required for them. This is because these professionals are least likely to interact with the other employees of the organization and even on such rare occasions they are treated as another professional visitor rather than an employee.
7. Less Stress & More Productivity
One of the biggest reasons that have led to the rise in the demand for freelance field engineers is that it has less stressful situations and more productive for the hiring organizations. Companies do not have to worry about upgrading the skills of their engineers or providing them with the latest tools and equipment to get the assigned tasks done. Moreover, they can fulfil the needs of a greater number of clients simultaneously.
