跑腿工作外包網站TaskRabbit的崛起、Lyft司機以及Postmates快遞員已經為大家所熟悉，對此也出現了許多針對性探討，但大家能想到嗎？世界上一些最大的公司里也開始出現打零工的人。越來越多的《財富》500強企業以及三星這樣的跨國公司開始在Upwork和PeoplePerHour等在線自由職業市場招募設計師、營銷人員、IT專才以及其他專業人員。

牛津大學經濟社會學家、副教授威利·萊頓維塔說：“這些大公司對自由職業平臺的使用程度之深令人驚訝。”萊頓維塔正在研究網絡自由職業平臺及其對勞動力組織方式的影響。一年來，這些平臺上的外包項目總數增加了26%。萊頓維塔指出，雖然我們通常認為使用這些平臺的是初創公司和小企業，但越來越多的大公司也開始轉向這些平臺。他說：“這種情況有可能產生實質性影響。”本周二，萊頓維塔及其同事格莉塔·科波拉爾在牛津大學互聯網研究所的報告中發表了他們的研究結果。該報告題為《外包平臺：《財富》500強公司怎樣使用在線自由職業平臺，萊頓維塔和科波拉爾在其中詳細探討了九家大公司的情況。

十多年以前上線的自由職業平臺Upwork（當時用的是另一個名字）也注意到了這種趨勢。該公司CEO斯特芳·卡斯雷爾說：“直到幾年前，我們看到的大多數公司還都非常小，員工數量也許只有100人。”現在，這個平臺上的大公司對自由職業者的需求是如此之大，以至于Upwork計劃將“企業團隊”的規模擴大一倍，以滿足大公司的需要（Upwork目前和20%的《財富》500強公司建立了合作關系）。

依靠一批外部自由職業者看似和現代企業的需求以及價值相悖，因為人們常說人才和留住人才是現代企業的根本。同時，它們還得保護知識產權并保持自己的文化（文化本該吃定公司策略才對）。

萊頓維塔認為這些價值觀正在發生改變。大公司已經開始青睞更“開放的邊界”，并把自由職業者視為新想法的源泉和更廣闊世界（更確切地說，它們所在的整個行業）的“知識傳遞者”。萊頓維塔說：“企業變得更加開放，目的是推動知識的創造。”他還指出，在使用這些平臺方面最有心得的公司已經為自己匯聚了一批很有價值的專家，在需要時就可以去找他們。

企業還希望找到更靈活的低成本招聘途徑，自由職業平臺則讓它們如愿以償。這正是三星臨時人才部門負責人凱思琳·尼爾森去年初找上Upwork的原因。尼爾森說，當時三星的主服務提供商出現了產能缺口，安排人員的過程往往又很耗費時間，特別是在三星需要找人來完成緊急項目的時候。雖然在Upwork上進行的嘗試最初受到了內部質疑，但參與本次“試點”的三星業務團隊對結果感到滿意。這家電子巨擘還省了一筆錢——尼爾森說，Upwork為三星節省了60%的成本，并將走行政程序的時間縮短了64%。另外，人員入職速度是傳統方法的七倍（Upwork為企業客戶承擔了很大一部分管理工作，包括發工資和簽署保密協議）。目前三星正在讓自由職業平臺發揮更多作用。尼爾森說：“我確實相信這就是未來。”她認為在線人才模式適合年輕工作者的品味和預期。像三星這樣公開表示接納在線人才的公司寥寥無幾——在牛津大學的這次研究中，三星是唯一披露自己身份的大公司。

自由職業崗位通常不享受正式員工的福利，也不像后者那樣得到其他保護，這種崗位不斷增多一直是近年來許多論述的主題。CEO卡斯雷爾說，Upwork等平臺對自由職業者和企業招聘團隊應該都有幫助。

萊頓維塔指出，雖然使用自由職業平臺可能顛覆組織勞動者的方式，但這種情況尚未出現。而且即使出現這種局面，也需要建立一個全新的生態系統來支持這些獨立就業者。對公司來說，這里存在協調成本，也就是管理內部員工以及和外部勞動者互動帶來的雙重挑戰。對個人來說，這里存在風險，而且沒有多少支持，這樣的機制會產生贏家和輸家。萊頓維塔說：“如果你是專業自由職業者，你就可以在世界上的任何地方工作，而且有靈活性，收入也很好。但如果沒有任何拿得出手的技能，而是因為別無他法才到這些平臺上來……那你就得接受培訓。”

他指出，這樣一個系統或許可以消除勞動力市場中的一些不公平現象，比如給某些精英學校的學位賦予的溢價，但也會帶來其他不公平問題，比如在某些平臺上完成項目較多的人得到的溢價。但大家還不用立即為此感到擔心。萊頓維塔認為，目前大公司使用在線自由職業者并不是為了取代自己的核心員工，而是作為核心員工的補充，并且通常是為了特殊項目。他說：“你需要內部員工來承載公司文化。”也就是說，朝九晚五還不會馬上過時。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

The rise of the TaskRabbit, the Lyft driver, the Postmates delivery man are well-known and much discussed, but guess what? Gig workers are coming to some of the world’s largest corporations too. Increasingly Fortune 500 companies and global giants like Samsung are turning to online freelancing platforms like Upwork and PeoplePerHour to find designers, marketing staff, IT specialists and other knowledge workers.

“It’s surprising how far some of these very large enterprises are in adopting these platforms,” says Vili Lehdonvirta, an economic sociologist and associate professor at the University of Oxford, who is studying online freelancing platforms and their effects on the way workforces are organized. In the past 12 months, the total number of projects sourced using such platforms increased 26%. He says that while we typically think of start-ups and small businesses using such platforms, increasingly large firms are turning to them too. “That is something that could have real impact,” he says. Lehdonvirta and his colleague Gretta Corporaal on Tuesday published research on the subject—they looked closely at 9 large companies—in a report by the Oxford Internet Institute, “Platform Sourcing: How Fortune 500 Firms Are Adopting Online Freelancing Platforms.”

Upwork, the online freelancing platform that launched (under a different name) more than a decade ago, has noticed this trend as well. “Until a couple years ago, we mostly saw very small companies, with maybe as few as 100 employees ” says CEO Stephane Kasriel. Now, there’s so much demand from large firms for freelancers on its platform that Upwork is planning to double the size of the “enterprise team” that caters to them. (Upwork currently works with 20% of Fortune 500 companies.)

Leaning on a crew of outside freelancers may seem antithetical to the needs and values of the modern corporation, for which talent—and retaining it—is often said to be everything. There’s also intellectual property to protect and culture (which is supposed to be eating strategy for breakfast) to maintain.

Lehdonvirta says these values are shifting; large firms have begun to appreciate more “permeable borders” and to see freelance workers as a source of fresh ideas and “knowledge transfer” from the wider world (better yet, their broader industry). “Enterprises have become more open to facilitate knowledge creation,” he says, adding that the savviest of platform-using firms build a bench of these highly valued experts that they can call upon as needed.

Corporations are also looking for more flexible and low-cost ways to hire, which freelancing platforms make possible. This is what led Cathleen Nilson, head of On Demand Talent at Samsung to turn to Upwork early last year. The company’s master service provider had capability gaps—particularly when it came to staffing quick-turnaround projects—and a lengthy engagement process in general, says Nilson. Though the Upwork experiment was initially met with internal skepticism, the business teams involved in the piloting of the platform at Samsung were pleased with the results. The electronics giant also saved money—using the platform achieved 60% cost savings and reduced administrative time by 64%, says Nilson. The onboarding process was also seven times faster than with traditional models, she adds. (Upwork handles much of the administrative burden for its enterprise customers, from payrolling to handling non-disclosure agreements.) Samsung is now expanding its use of freelancing platforms. “I really believe this is the future,” says Nilson, who notes the online talent model fits the tastes and expectations of younger workers. Few companies are as open about embracing online talent as Samsung; it was the only large corporation involved in the Oxford study to reveal itself.

The rising number of freelance positions, which typically lack benefits and other protections that come with being a full-time employee, has been the subject of much handwringing in recent years. Kasriel says platforms like Upwork should benefit both the freelancers and the corporations hiring them.

Lehdonvirta says that while the use of freelancing platforms could disrupt the way workforces are organized, that hasn’t happened yet—and a whole new ecosystem will have to develop to support an independent workforce if it does. For corporations, there are coordination costs—the challenges that come with managing both an internal workforce and interfacing with an external one. And for workers, there is risk and not a lot of support—a system that produces winners and losers. “If you’re a skilled freelancer, you can work anywhere in the world with flexibility and good earnings, but if you don’t possess any marketable skills and you’re driven to platforms out of desperation...you'll have to upskill” says Lehdonvirta.

He notes that such a system may mitigate some inequalities in the labor market—the premium placed on degrees from certain elite institutions, for example—while creating others, like the premium placed on those who have performed more tasks on certain platform. But you don’t need to fret about that just yet. Lehdonvirta says large enterprises are at this point using online freelancers not to replace their core workforces, but to complement them, usually for special project work, he says. “You need the in-house employees to carry the culture,” Lehdonvirta says. That means the 9-5 isn’t obsolete just yet.