Due to the accelerated digitization brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, IT services are becoming increasingly important for companies. A shortage of skilled workers is no longer a foreign concept for any company, especially in IT.
Reasons for the skills shortage
Home office, virtual teams, remote leadership: these collective challenges show more than ever how important IT and digitization are. The current coronavirus crisis has intensified that importance once again. At the same time, the shortage of skilled workers in the IT sector continues to worsen.
This shortage has existed for years. But because the effects of accelerated digitization have intensified these problems, companies of all sizes, especially small and medium-sized businesses, are struggling to find suitable talent and are therefore losing revenue and competitiveness. According to EY, this leads to total annual revenue losses of 36.5 billion euros because orders cannot be completed on time or cannot be accepted at all. Demographic change, insufficient education in computer science, and several other factors have caused the shortage of available skilled workers, which is expected to increase in the coming years, especially in the DACH region.
Although companies often focus on their permanent workforce, current alternatives must be used, too. One growing model is the hybrid setup of freelancers and permanent employees. Even in 2018, Google employed more freelancers than permanent staff, because large companies are increasingly intensifying their work with freelancers. This makes the shift especially relevant for mid-sized companies, which can and must close their talent gaps quickly and with quality.
For companies, hiring freelancers can be extremely lucrative: on average, they are more productive, create lower overhead, and significantly reduce time-to-hire. A 2019 study by Germany’s Federal Employment Agency showed that companies needed 132 days on average to fill IT positions, far above the average. By the end of 2019, according to the digital association Bitkom, there were 82,000 unfilled IT positions across Germany. Both time-to-hire and the number of vacancies continue to rise, especially as digitization progresses.
Innovative technologies that are constantly changing and repeatedly require new knowledge, job profiles, and qualifications can increasingly no longer be addressed with permanent employment and training alone. Companies have the luxury of looking for freelancers with specific qualifications for specific projects. They need to use that luxury, especially now, because digitization is the growth engine in many industries and an essential part of maintaining competitiveness.
Good solution approaches
Freelancers alone cannot solve the problem. Instead, several parties need to work together to develop the best possible solutions. Companies, freelancers, and partners form a team and work together toward the same goals. For companies, terms such as “New Work” or remote leadership are relevant because they shape how we will work in the future and are already being lived today. The important part is awareness of factors such as culture, atmosphere, and how people treat one another.
Specialists in demand, who can choose where they work, value not only room to breathe, fair compensation, and exciting projects, but also a positive and appreciative environment. This is created through more than the now-common table football table in the office. For IT freelancers, benefits such as mobile work are especially attractive. We at ElevateX also work according to this approach. Our credo: “When, how, and where someone works does not matter, as long as focus, motivation, and ultimately results are right.” You can also find more information about working optimally with freelancers in our article On- and Offboarding: Pillar for Successful Collaboration.
Looking ahead
Crises are always opportunities for companies. Especially in uncertain times, like those Germany and the world are currently experiencing with the coronavirus pandemic, it is worth looking ahead. Companies that now have the courage to invest in specialists can emerge stronger from the crisis. After all, it is IT experts who are working under the greatest pressure right now to keep businesses running and prepare them for the future.
If you would like to learn more about the many possible uses of freelancers or entire teams of experts, we are always available for a free consultation.
