Author: Najia Maqsood

Are you reading this blog while working-from-home? As the world faces a global pandemic of coronavirus, remote work is suddenly an overnight requirement, not just an option. 

But in the face of this global emergency, there are some key questions all businesses small or big have to address.

1. Are organizations prepared for large-scale remote work?

2. What steps must be taken to make the experience productive for both employees and organizations? 

3. Is remote working and employing freelance workforce an available option in your HR workforce and contingency plans to ensure Continuity of Business? 

4. Do employers have well equipped technological infrastructure to support remote and freelance workers? 

If your organization is not ready, this is just the right time to seize the opportunity to review your policies, business continuity plans and future-proof your company for stability and growth — and also to prepare for future of workforce and workplace.

Ready or not, coronavirus contingency plans require remote working. Research published by GARTNER reports “We’re being forced into the world’s largest work-from-home experiment and, so far, it hasn’t been easy for a lot of organizations to implement”. “In a recent webinar snap poll, 91% of attending HR leaders (all in Asia/Pacific) indicated that they have implemented ‘work from home’ arrangements since the outbreak, but the biggest challenge stems from the lack of technology infrastructure and lack of comfort with new ways of working.”

And that is where a freelancer platform like mesh plays its role to help individuals and organizations by effectively connecting employers to vetted skilled independent professional and freelance talent.

Now you may have some key HR, finance and technology-related questions regarding what kind of roles could be moved to remote working scenarios…?

Our answer: If we look at the global market, remote working has typically been common in certain sectors, such as IT, Project Management, software & app development, digital marketing and retail in form of e-commerce. Depending upon the nature of work and organizational vision, mission & values and work philosophy, it is possible to transfer certain knowledge worker roles to remote working scenarios.

A possibility is one thing, suitability is another: we at mesh believe in providing expert advice and dedicated project coordination to our partners and user base when required.

Employing freelance and remote workforce has meant increased productivity, virtual collaboration, and for some companies, lower costs, including office rental, travel, and events. 

Below are some of the key benefits that mesh can bring about for businesses with a significant number of Knowledge Working roles:

1. Reduce time, cost and effort required to select, recruit and onboard talent– On average it takes anything from 3 to 6 months (a little more if the time required for visa processing is included as well) for a company to hire an employee in a fulltime role. Whereas, if we compare it with a freelancing platform like mesh, you can hire a freelancer in 3 days. Consequently, allowing the employer to save millions on budget & spends and precious time & energy. 
2. Access to Real Life Client feedback about freelancer’s work– at mesh we provide a transparent picture of freelance professional’s capabilities, work portfolio, related pricing, and timelines. Employers have access to view feedback provided on previous work done by a freelancer; feedback is either in the form of a star rating or testimonials. Employers can also ask role and skill-specific questions to the freelance candidate via the live chat and also ask for a work portfolio to help facilitate the decision making process. 
3. Human Centered User Experience– for a smooth User Experience, mesh provides 24×7 support via live chat, dedicated email help-line, regular expert blogs and also in the form of a up to date Knowledge Base as How to Guides about the platform. 
4. State-of-the-Art Technology-enabled Platform– mesh platform is like a plug and play that comes equipped with all the necessary technical features to facilitate the searching & hiring talent, collaborating & communicating at various stages of the project work and last but not the least also a fully integrated online payment gateway to facilitate international and local financial transactions via multiple channels including PayPal, card payments and bank transfers. This takes away the need of establishing a technology infrastructure from the scratch at the employer and freelancers end resulting in cost and spend saves in millions. To learn more about mesh paltform visit How it Works section on our skills marketplace site.

As more and more developments are taking place, requiring us to be more receptive, flexible and adaptable to the changing global and regional landscape in Middle East, we encourage you to stay connected and up to date with the latest expert content on mesh blog site.

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