The Impacts of COVID-19 on Freelance Project Management

As we usher in a new year, you may be dusting off your resolutions from 2020 and reimagining your goals for 2021.  For project and program managers, this often includes a close examination of our current job, company growth potential and overall workplace satisfaction. 

With the acceleration of digital transformation and remote work triggered by the pandemic, many project management practitioners find themselves in vital positions as they partner with organizations to lead mission- critical initiatives.  Specifically, the need for freelance project managers, also known as independent contractors, 1099 knowledge workers and project consultants, continues to soar.

In the Project Management Institute's Pulse of the Profession 2018 survey, more than 2/3 of organizations (68%) reported using outsourced or contract project managers.¹  Important to note is that this data was collected well before COVID-19 and does not reflect the massive global shift to remote work that we’ve experienced over the last 10 months. 

A recent study conducted by Upwork, a large freelancer marketplace, found that, “In the wake of a pandemic, global economic upheaval, and the dawn of mass remote work, the freelance workforce remains an essential pillar of the U.S. economy.  Freelancers contributed $1.2 trillion dollars to the U.S. economy in annual earnings – a 22% increase since 2019.” ² 

On a quarterly earnings call hosted early on in the pandemic, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft remarked, “We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months. From remote teamwork and learning, to sales and customer service, to critical cloud infrastructure and security—we are working alongside customers every day to help them adapt and stay open for business in a world of remote everything.” ³

In short, we have all been part of an historic paradigm shift in the way we collaborate and work together, both in our professional and personal lives.  From video conferencing with a client to review a Statement of Work to hopping on a video call to celebrate a family member’s birthday, collaboration tools have quickly adapted to support our ever-changing remote communication needs (think custom Zoom backgrounds!). 

Even as shuttered companies welcome back onsite employees over the next year, we will be forever affected by what is easily one of the most impactful global events in this decade.  Perhaps even this century.

How does the massive shift to remote work due to COVID-19 impact freelance project management? 

1.  Blurs lines between full-time employee and contract/freelance worker.  First, the differences between a full-time employee project manager and a contract project manager become less discernable.

Working 100% remote levels the playing field for freelancers and blurs the lines between full-time worker and contract worker.  Executive leaders once weary of remote work and reluctant of work-from-home arrangements have now experienced first-hand the benefits to team productivity and worker satisfaction.  As project managers, we are at the forefront of this transformation, utilizing best-in-class productivity tools and resources to support remote team collaboration.       

2.  Creates more project-based work opportunities.   As businesses of all sizes struggle to survive in the age of COVID, the need for expert project management becomes even more critical to sustaining the U.S. economy and GDP.

A Yelp study released in September 2020 found that a staggering average of 800 small businesses per day closed across the U.S. from April through August.⁴   With 1 in 5 small businesses closed permanently, and many more in danger of following suit, project managers can provide much-needed leadership and support to the small business sector. 

We can leverage our project management and technical acumen to assist with short-term projects such as implementing productivity and collaboration tools like Monday.com, Slack or Microsoft teams.  We can also support the development of new or optimized business processes and assist with customer retention and engagement efforts, to name just a few.

3.  Eliminates geographical constraints for new work. The transition to remote work has created what Stanford Professor and Economist Nicholas Bloom describes as a “working-from-home economy.”  Bloom’s recent research uncovered that “we see an incredible 42 percent of the U.S. labor force now working from home full-time. By sheer numbers, the U.S. is currently a working-from-home economy. Almost twice as many employees are working from home as at work.” ⁵

The pre-COVID requirement of being physically collocated with your team has all but vanished, enabling freelance project managers, many of whom historically focused on work opportunities close to home, to cast a much wider net in their search.   An expert project manager in Los Angeles can seamlessly and quite successfully support a growing marketing business in New York City.  

Likewise, the removal of geographic constraints increases talent options for organizations seeking project managers, enabling them to hire experts they likely would not have considered in the past. 

As project professionals, we are natural change agents and highly adaptable to any work environment.  These skills will prove invaluable as we turn the corner in 2021 and partner with companies, both big and small, on the fast path toward economic recovery.

Our seed stage start-up, TalentCheetah, is poised to serve as a virtual “meeting place” for freelance project managers and the clients interested in hiring them.  We are the first talent marketplace in the U.S. dedicated exclusively  to freelance project management talent acquisition. 

TalentCheetah's mission is to build a safe community that accelerates time-to-hire for organizations seeking premier project management experts.  LEARN MORE  

For more information on project management and the freelance revolution, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter!

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