For most companies, hiring and maintaining full-time employees are time-consuming and costly endeavors. Return on investment (ROI) can be measured by increased output, productivity, and bottom line. It’s a gamble associated with the recurring cost of running a business.
The needs of a company may vary based on its size and the skill level of its workforce. When operational needs arise with a small window to find talent to fill those slots, companies can tap into a virtual, on-demand workforce that’s referred to as the human cloud. When you consider the exorbitant amount of money required for traditional hiring, finding talent from the human cloud is a good, cost-effective alternative.
Let’s look at the human cloud and how it can enhance business operations and save money.
What is The Human Cloud?
The human cloud is an ecosystem where companies can virtually connect with workers to fill in the gaps in different areas in their business. Collaboration, file sharing, and discussions about projects can be executed in a flexible and productive manner. Many platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork, Amazon, and Mechanical Turk have created spaces where companies and remote workers/talent can unite.
The human cloud is a pre-pandemic term that maintains its relevance due to phenomena such as the Great Resignation, where employees are quitting jobs at an alarming rate due to a host of reasons, including vaccine mandates and job dissatisfaction. With experts saying this is a job-seeker market, companies are scrambling to retain existing employees and attract new talent. The human cloud offers a temporary solution that can lead to a long-term relationship between an employer and an independent contractor or freelancer. Companies of varying sizes, including startups, can outsource their needs on a global scale. Startups with limited capital can contract talent from the human cloud while focusing on growth that can someday lead to hiring full-time employees.
What Are Benefits of Hiring Talent on the Human Cloud?
The human cloud presents itself as a mutually beneficial relationship between companies and contractors. Contractors get to work from anywhere in the world, while employers get to choose from a global talent pool.
Let’s look at the quantified and qualitative benefits to employers:
1. Low Cost for Onboarding
As discussed before, the human cloud helps save time and money spent on traditional employment. Full-time employees are paid a salary, with benefits such as medical and dental coverage and paid sick time–all on the company’s dime. In most cases, besides an hourly rate for service, companies don’t have to pay a human cloud talent any sorts of benefits, making it a more cost-effective approach to finding talent.
2. No or Minimal Overhead Expenses
As hybrid and remote work models become a reality and not the exception for many companies adhering to workers’ demands for a balanced work-life ratio, the need for office space has been reduced. Instead of companies occupying multiple office spaces, they can maintain one central office. Human cloud talent can work from anywhere. Remote collaboration is a game-changer for startups that need to spend fewer resources to build their business.
3. Get Skills on Demand
Employers can contract for micro-tasks such as logo creation and language transcription to larger UX design and software engineering tasks.
4. Maintain a Global Talent Pool
Accessing worldwide talent in the human cloud places companies at an advantage. Sometimes wage requirements are lower, and skills are more advanced outside America. Talent who live outside of America doesn’t have to leave their country or obtain a work visa to work in America. It’s a win-win for both parties involved.
5. Seamless Collaboration Using Project Management Tools
Using an online platform gives small businesses and startups the ability to manage projects through project management software and messaging tools such as Asana and Slack. Collaboration software can be essential and even critical for remote teams to work efficiently.
Is The Human Cloud a Safe Job Resource Tool?
While the notion of saving money by securing independent contractors and freelancers seems like a viable option, companies must limit access to secure areas of their business. Cybersecurity breaches can happen in-house and remotely by employees and contractors. The onus is on companies to vet talent by obtaining background checks and references or only contracting talent for small projects that don’t require access to a company’s database or system.
Besides the potential cyber breaches by independent contractors, another drawback of the human cloud is a work environment where talent might not be as invested as full-time employees in your company. In a traditional work model, employees who feel recognized and appreciated for their hard work will likely outperform expectations and maintain job loyalty.
Businesses that rely heavily on modern technology must evaluate whether the pros of the human cloud outweigh the cons. One thing is for sure, having options for talent is paramount when you consider cases where full-time employees have the rights to strike and perform walkouts. (Human Cloud might temporarily fill in the gaps.) And for strapped-for-cash startups, the human cloud might be what they need to stay afloat during the beginning stages of operations.
For more information on the human cloud, protecting your data while leveraging cloud technologies or collaboration software, connect with us, an IT management solution in Los Angeles.