E-lancing, also known as e-labour,
is the practice of taking
freelancing work through online job-offers. E-lancing websites operate as hubs where employers place tasks, which freelancers from around the world bid for. Some e-lancing websites act as
intermediaries for payment, paying the freelancer directly after work is completed, to mitigate the risk of non-payment.
[
The Economist Newspaper Ltd, 2010. "Work in the digital age: a clouded future". ''The Economist'', Volume 395, Number 8682, May 15th-21st 2010. Roto Smeets, Weert (Netherlands).
]
Employers posting work on these websites set the price they are willing to pay for the task proposed.
History
In 2012, 1.56 million people were freelancers in the United Kingdom, a rise of 11.9% since 2008. Sebastian Trenner of the
World Bank wrote in 2012 that online marketplaces were unlikely to produce a significant decrease in skilled unemployment.
[Trenner, Sebastian ] Conversely, Karsten Geis of
Empirica Capital
Empirica Capital LLC was a hedge fund founded in 1999 by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in partnership with Mark Spitznagel, that used Taleb's black swan strategy. The firm closed in 2005 as Taleb took time off for health reasons.
The investment strategy ...
wrote in 2014 that e-lancing would be a primary employer of the future, and that normal jobs will tend to disappear.
[Gareis, Karsten {{cite web, title=eLancing–The Future of Work?, url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228608164_eLancingThe_Future_of_Work, accessdate=23 October 2014, website=ResearchGate, date=24 September 2014]
Notable e-lancing websites include
Fiverr
Fiverr is a global online marketplace for freelance services. Fiverr’s platform connects freelancers (sellers) to people or businesses looking to hire (buyers). Listings on Fiverr are diverse and range from "get a well-designed business card" ...
,
Freelancer.com
Freelancer is an Australian freelance marketplace website, which allows potential employers to post jobs that freelancers can then bid to complete. Founded in 2009, its headquarters is located in Sydney, Australia, though it also has offices in V ...
,
Guru.com, and
Upwork.
See also
*
Freelancer
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
*
Gig worker
*
Online marketplace
An online marketplace (or online e-commerce marketplace) is a type of e-commerce website where product or service information is provided by multiple third parties. Online marketplaces are the primary type of multichannel ecommerce and can be a way ...
*
Online outsourcing
Online outsourcing is the business process of contracting third-party providers (often overseas) to supply products or services which are delivered and paid for via the internet. Background
Online outsourcing is the internet-based version of o ...
References
*
Outsourcing
Web 2.0 neologisms