When Robin Ott walked away from a full-time job in 2009, she took a chance.

These days, she isn’t looking back. Ott, who lives near New Orleans, is a mom who was trained as a paralegal. She wanted to work full-time hours but needed flexibility.  Now, she’s a talented, qualified anti-money laundering investigator working with PwC in the firm’s new freelance program, called Talent Exchange.

Ott believes it’s the work she was meant to do. Doing the work she loves and being able to control her schedule are daily reminders of “one of the best career choice she’s ever made.”

Ott is hardly alone. America’s workforce is undergoing a seismic shift. According to Freelancers Union data, today 53 million people call themselves freelancers, contractors, independent or project-based workers. In short, they are self-employed.

While companies have long been using freelance talent, it’s been a challenge finding the best of that talent. In most cases, companies looking to use freelancers also have had to pay fees to middlemen to source people with specific skills, such as those Ott offers.

With the predicted independent contractor workforce expansion, some companies have decided to get ahead of the trend.

PwC creates a solution

PwC just launched Talent Exchange, a DIY-type platform that the company believes to be the first-of-a-kind, unique platform and app that connects top independent talent with important project opportunities within PwC's 83 U.S. offices. 

According to Brian Snarzyk, the PwC principal who is leading the Talent Exchange initiative, 2,500 candidates are already registered. To PwC, Talent Exchange represents a groundbreaking advance in today's hiring and workplace trends.

“It removes the middleman,” Snarzyk says bluntly. He adds that many online sites help facilitate the exchange between companies and freelancers, but strictly in a transactional way: a third party – with limited understanding of the type of work being done – is paid to make the connection. PwC’s Talent Exchange allows contractors to directly reach PwC for potential projects. It also helps develop a pool of talent with a relationship-based connection to PwC.

“It underscores the increasing role of the freelance economy in driving business growth,” Snarzky says. “Independent workers are increasingly strategic, experienced and bringing unique skill sets that companies are seeking.”

Snarzyk says one key driver behind the platform is that the complexity of the US workforce is changing as the freelance economy grows. In a 15-year span culminating in 2020, PwC expects to see the freelance segment reach 40% of the US workforce.

“Meanwhile, there is no established platform from a major demand provider like PwC to engage directly with this important emerging workforce,” he says. “The opportunity to solve this market inefficiency through a public exchange is significant.”

The need for innovation

There also is a need for a new, innovative way to engage with independent talent.  Many organizations are still trying to get there with a mindset and processes that were built for the “old world” – a world in which freelancers were temporary solutions to short-term needs, treated like transactions and delegated to outside staffing firms.

In today’s war for talent, Snarzyk says, companies must reevaluate how they treat, view and manage their workforce so that independent talent and full-time talent can co-exist strategically, not just in times of surge demand or in a temporary capacity. 

Then, there is the cost factor. While PwC certainly experiences the costs and challenges all businesses do when using third-party suppliers to source talent, Snarzyk says that while the Talent Exchange addresses these challenges, cost is not the reason the firm built the Talent Exchange.  More, it was created to address anticipated workforce shifts. 

Snarzyk stresses that this is not a replacement for PwC’s full-time workforce. On the contrary, the growing war for talent means full-time employees are more valuable than ever. Yet, he explains, great talent is getting scarce, and the freelance segment’s growth is a big reason why. 

“We needed an innovative way to more readily complement our traditional workforce with this emerging category of independent-by-choice professional,” he says.

For now, PwC is starting with the healthcare and fraud investigation areas for the Talent Exchange pilot. 

Snarzyk explains the company was very “thoughtful” about which areas could initially benefit most from this new approach to engaging independent talent – either because they are areas with the potential to expand quickly or because they are areas that require niche skills it may not have in house.

Snarzyk says the main idea is that when the folks in the PwC Talent Exchange wake up in the morning, they are excited about their next contract opportunity with the firm.

“We believe through these relationships – grounded in respect – we’ll cut through the clutter by building a community of top independent talent that we can continually tap into to make a difference for our clients,” he says.