The Future of the Us Workforce, Hire Top Tier Freelance Writers, How To Decline Zoom Meetings, and More...

There are approximately 60 million Independent workers in the United States, representing $1.5 trillion in U.S. GDP and growing. Projections estimate that 50% of our U.S. workforce will be independent workers by 2025- 2030. The Gig Economy represents a trend that will digitally transform how organizations engage with talent.

I continue to believe that not having a Gig Economy Strategy in 2020 is like not embracing the internet in 1990 or the mobile revolution mobile in 2010.

The Freelance Revolution

The rise of independent contractors and globalization of knowledge work is the Industrial Revolution of our time. Everywhere we look, we can see the U.S. workforce undergoing a massive and structural change.

How to Hire Top-Tier Freelance Writers for your Content Business - Creating compelling content is the driving charge behind every content business, but sourcing the right people to create said content can be challenging. We've rounded up a few well-known (and lesser-known) resources for you to find top-tier freelance writers to help you build your brand.

A Window Into The Future Of Work - Upwork, the globe's largest remote talent platform, posts three million jobs and transacts $1 billion of work each year. It recently released Freelance Forward 2020: The U.S. Independent Workforce Report, based on insights from 6,000 U.S. workers about the impact of COVID-19. It shows that 12% of the workforce started freelancing during the pandemic for the first time.

The current U.S. workforce vs. what it could look like in the future - From gender to the gig economy and location, the American labor force is changing. Here's how you compare to the average American worker.

Why Gig and Tech Workers Are Striking - While the gig economy helps people stay employed during trying times, the companies that employ those workers are fighting to keep them out of unions.

Suddenly Distributed

We see unprecedented numbers of companies implement emergency remote work programs. I will be dedicating this section of the newsletter to Tips and tricks from the home front as many knowledge workers go remote during the pandemic.

 9 Virtual Work Holiday Party Ideas That Will Have All Your Coworkers Talking - It's that time of year where you and your coworkers get to kick back and celebrate your hard work with a holiday party. The only problem is, this year, you've likely been working from home for most or all of it due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. If your office is having a party, it's most likely virtual, which means you might need to come up with some virtual work holiday party ideas. Just because the festivities are taking place over Zoom, that doesn't mean they can't be super fun.

 How to professionally decline an unnecessary Zoom meeting - December means many things—the holidays, end-of-year wrap-ups, and, this year: intense Zoom fatigue. After almost nine months of meetings, happy hours, and even conferences, you're not alone if you're dreading another packed day of back-to-back video calls.

 To Increase Diversity, U.S. Tech Companies Need to Follow the Talent - If the tech industry wants to address its longstanding issues with diversity in its ranks, tech companies may need to go to where diverse talent lives, not the other way around. So, where should these companies look?

 Why "flexibility" may be the least helpful thing companies can offer working parents right now - Over Labor Day weekend, real estate mogul Rob Speyer got a call from an old friend: Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, the union that represents New York City's 75,000-plus educators. Mulgrew had a favor to ask. Could Speyer, through his role as president and CEO of Tishman Speyer, help monitor and improve ventilation in some of the city's public schools, as he had done across his own commercial real estate portfolio?

 Workplace Wellness 

We will spend one-third of our lives working, and the disruption to the way we work has never moved faster. This all can impact our overall wellness as we navigate the changing landscape and fight for balance.

How to do workplace wellness in a better way - Businesses have long known that a healthy worker is a happy worker. Since World War II, employers have been giving their staff the means to keep their bodies in shape, starting with an emphasis on avoiding workplace injuries and growing to provide gym facilities and healthy food. In the 21st century, a need to look after both body and mind has emerged – mental health is at the top of everyone's priorities. But it isn't a quick fix. Businesses must take a holistic approach as they work to meet the changing needs of their teams.

PAUL ESTES, the best selling author of the newly released book Gig Mindset and is an unstoppable advocate for the simple idea of ensuring that all voices are heard and that all people have access to opportunity. This passion is inspired by the quote from the late Leila Janah "Talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not." Now is the time to address systemic location bias and encourage companies to reach beyond their organizational boundaries to engage the world's best minds.  For 20 years, He struggled to balance his life with fast-moving leadership roles at Dell, Amazon, and Microsoft. He led a team of progressive H.R., procurement, and legal trailblazers to launch Microsoft's Gig Economy freelance program. Hiring his first virtual assistant transformed the way he lived and worked.

Paul is the former host of the Gig Mindset and The Talent Economy podcast. Each week, Paul provides insights and perspective to over 96,000 readers of his weekly LinkedIn newsletter, and he frequently shares his insights as a keynote speaker and panelist. He has nine pending patents in content and collaboration related to the on-demand economy.