Key Takeaways
- Offering benefits to freelancers can strengthen your DEI strategy by addressing gaps and appealing to underrepresented groups.
- Comprehensive benefits, like 401(k) matching, sick leave, and parental leave, can level the playing field between full-time and freelance workers.
- Partnering with a talent agency that prioritizes benefits can enhance your employer brand and attract diverse, top-tier talent.
Many companies have embraced diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives—and for good reason. Research shows that DEI efforts can help attract talent, reduce turnover, and improve motivation. In fact, one study found that DEI initiatives can lower attrition risk by as much as 50%.
But what about your freelancers? Are they experiencing the same positive effects from your DEI initiatives? If you're unsure, one area to examine is your staffing agency's benefits package.
Since contractors aren't on your payroll, offering them benefits may not be on your radar. But what about your staffing agency? If they do provide benefits (which we strongly believe they should), it's important that those benefits align with your DEI efforts. This can help expand your talent pool, attract top-tier professionals, and avoid creating a two-tiered workforce.
The benefits and diversity connection
When speaking with companies, we often explain that while you may be an employer of choice, the real question is, who are you an employer of choice to?
Start by evaluating your applicant flow, understanding it, and clarifying who you want to attract. From there, you can make the necessary pivots to support inclusion.
Benefits can be a lever to help fill any gaps, attracting a broader range of talent. For example, suppose your company struggles to attract female or LGBTQ in its UX Design Teams. In that case, your talent agency might revise the job description to highlight benefits that appeal to more female or LGBTQ applicants. This could include placing benefits like parental leave or gender-affirming care at the top, so applicants don't have to sift through the entire list to see that it's a place they'd want to apply.
It's about looking at talent attraction and benefits through a marketing lens. There's that old adage, “If you're marketing to everybody, you're marketing to nobody.” Your staffing agency should actively promote the benefits that will resonate most with candidates from underrepresented groups. Without this shift, entire groups of candidates may end up self-selecting out.
Benefits can bridge inclusion gaps, attracting diverse talent by addressing their unique needs.
Leveling the playing field between full-time and freelance
As a staffing agency, we've seen companies with up to 30% of their workforce in the freelance category. When a large portion of talent is outsourced, it can create a two-tiered workforce.
In terms of equity, you don't want two people sitting in the same place, doing the same work, yet having completely different experiences simply because of their payroll classification.
You also don't want freelancers questioning whether the role is right for them due to benefits that don't meet their needs. When this happens, they may focus more on finding their next gig than on being fully engaged in their work.
The solution is to ensure your talent agency treats freelancers the same way you treat full-time employees—offering high-quality benefits and aligning with your DEI initiatives.
Support freelancers by breaking down a two-tiered system of workers.
How benefits might change and further support inclusion
As the workforce evolves and people's needs change, so do the benefits packages staffing agencies offer their contractors. We can envision a future where today's benefits packages may seem like those old cable bundles—where you paid $50 a month for 200 channels, even if you only used five.
In the future, benefits packages might allow workers to choose where they want their dollars invested. For example, a freelancer might not need funds for financial programs but instead prefer to allocate them to family dental and vision care or increase their childcare-related benefits. This shift toward more customizable benefits, along with staffing agencies innovating in this area, will help support workforce inclusion for your company.
Customizable benefits and innovation in staffing will support future inclusion efforts.
Strategies to make sure your staffing agency supports DEI
The first step in leveling the playing field and aligning your freelance workforce with your DEI initiatives is to talk to your staffing agency. Ask about the benefits they offer. Do they actively work to appeal to underrepresented groups in alignment with your internal initiatives? If not, what are their strategies for improvement?
Aquent offers comprehensive freelance benefits, including pioneering 401(k) matching and sick leave specifically designed for freelancers. These perks help promote equitable treatment and break down the two-tiered system of contractors and full-time employees.
An organization's reputation is often shaped by how it treats its freelance workforce. Aligning your staffing agency's benefits with your internal DEI initiatives ensures you support your entire workforce, from those on payroll to your freelancers.
Are you curious about what questions to ask a staffing agency about the benefits they offer freelancers? We've put together a complete list to help you get started.
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