How Employee Outsourcing Differs from Freelancing
Freelancing and outsourcing are not new ways of working with people, but with the increase in home and remote working, they are certainly becoming more commonplace. These terms are often used interchangeably, and although there are some similarities, they are different forms of working. Freelancers are independent workers who have the freedom to choose their pay rates and what work they accept. In contrast, outsourced workers are paid by a company to carry out a specific role or series of tasks and are often paid a salary. Throughout this blog post, we will look at the differences between employee outsourcing and freelancing.
What is Outsourcing?
Outsourcing is defined as hiring someone through a third party to fill a role and provide services for the company that a company employee could typically carry out. The third party should be an experienced outsourcing company that can source skilled, reliable workers with expertise in specific areas, such as bookkeeping, IT, and many other fields.
There are different ways to outsource, including outsourcing a single worker, a team, or even a system to conduct a role or task. The required tasks can be carried out on company premises, from home, or even in a different part of the world.
Benefits
The benefits of outsourcing are plentiful, especially as an outsourcing company will often manage most of the tasks relating to sourcing a worker, background checks, payroll, and performance reviews. This leaves the business manager to oversee the worker’s onboarding and day-to-day tasks and raise any issues to the outsourcing company for them to handle.
- Cost-effective
- Access to a large talent pool
- Increased scalability
- Improved efficiency
- More time for in-house employees to focus on their tasks
What is Freelancing?
Freelancing differs from employee outsourcing because it involves hiring an independent contractor or freelancer to conduct a specific task or project. Commonly, freelancers are self-employed and can decide what tasks they accept and set their salary expectations. In addition, freelancers are not employed by just one company and can therefore take on multiple projects for different employers.
One of the significant differences between freelancing and outsourcing is the type of work. Usually, freelancers take on one specific project, which could include writing a series of blog posts or designing a set of marketing materials for a company. In contrast, outsourcing involves a series of business tasks over a period of time, similar to a job role.
Benefits
There are many benefits of working with freelancers. These include working with people with highly specialized skills and expertise and providing high-quality work cost-effectively. Companies may choose to work with the same freelancers repeatedly but are not obliged to, which offers great flexibility in finding the right people to carry out specific tasks.
- Flexibility in hiring
- New ideas
- Quick access to skilled workers
Outsourcing vs. Freelancing
As you can see, there are benefits to both methods of working with external workers. Outsourcing workers is a more suitable option for managers who require stable workers for a specific period of time, whereas freelancing could be more beneficial for a single project. However, you will find a crossover between the two working styles as some freelancers are willing to accept long-term work, and outsourcing can be suitable for short-term projects. One of the challenges with using freelancers for long-term or ongoing work is that they may need help to prioritize their workload across multiple companies.
To understand more about the benefits of outsourcing and if it’s suitable for your company, look for an experienced outsourcing company to explain what they offer and the benefits their services provide.
Yempo Solutions
Yempo is an outsourcing company based in the Philippines specializing in outsourcing employees for small to medium businesses. We thoroughly understand the benefits of outsourcing tasks and support our clients in sourcing highly-skilled, dedicated workers.
To learn more, contact a member of Yempo today.