Building the On-Demand Workforce
What is it measuring?
Researchers survey business leaders to understand how they were using digital talent platforms (e.g., Freelancer, Upwork, Toptal, Innocentive) to access "highly-skilled" freelance workers (those holding four-year degrees or higher).
What does it tell us?
Over the past decade, both the number of digital talent platforms available and the number of businesses who use them have increased. Nearly half of surveyed business leaders responded that they expected their use of such platforms to increase in the future, suggesting additional future growth. However, few business leaders reported having already incorporated platform-based freelancers into their business strategies.
How is it collected?
673 business leaders familiar with at least one form of digital talent-sourcing platform (crowdsourcing, freelance marketplaces, and on-demand premium talent) were surveyed using an online panel methodology between November 2019 and January 2020. These leaders were senior decision makers at firms with revenues greater than $100 million. In addition, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with businesses and representatives from the digital platforms themselves.
Who collects it?
Harvard Business School's Project on Managing the Future of Work and BCG Henderson Group worked with the third-party research firm Dynata.
Considerations
The sampling method and relatively small number of respondents mean this survey cannot directly measure or estimate the extent of platform work, but it can speak to overall trends and shed light on the ways in which business decision-makers approach platforms. This survey focuses specifically on business leaders' reliance on freelancer workers for discrete tasks. It excludes platforms (such as Uber, TaskRabbit, or Amazon Mechanical Turk) that directly connect consumers to service providers.
How to access this data?
Privately held by HBS and BCG.