Member Article

Small businesses in London turn to freelancers for the festive season

The number of businesses in London hiring in freelancers over the last month has risen by 54% according to online freelancer marketplace PeoplePerHour.

A recent poll revealed that in a bid to cope with the extra work that the festive period brings businesses are turning to remote workers.

The figures show a marked increase in the number of internet companies outsourcing work to freelancers, with engineering, education and retail all showing increases of over 40%

Businesses in London are positive about performance for the coming December, with initiatives like Small Business Saturday all promoting spending. Nearly half (45%) of those surveyed expected to turn over more in the Christmas period of 2013 than in the same period in 2012.

Hiring freelancers in the run up to Christmas means businesses are able to make use of the wide range of skill sets available to them in the freelance marketplace. Businesses are using the ever growing number of the professional skills offered either part or full time by bookkeepers, designers and copywriters.

According to PeoplePerHour founder and CEO Xenios Thrasyvoulou these latest figures show that “businesses in London are boosting their margins this Christmas by using highly-skilled freelancers.

“Businesses in London are finding many positives working with freelance consultants. They cite that it is high levels of creativity, motivation and a diversity of skills that bring significant added benefits to their businesses.

The new businesses in London hiring freelancers are clearly enjoying a double whammy of reduced costs while employing a more creative and highly skilled workforce.

Although there was an increase in demand for freelancers during the recession for obvious cost saving purposes, we are pleased to note that as we slowly come out of that period the demand continues to grow. The internet has given everyone access to a global marketplace, the opportunities to purchase skills are limitless, we are now seeing a growing number of businesses tapping into this. We put this down to the excellent range of skills now being offered by a highly efficient, productive, freelance force.“ says Thrasyvoulou.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by VP .