Almost all Britain’s small-to-medium sized businesses intend to pursue expansion plans in the coming year - but freelancers rather than permanent staff will fuel the growth, according to a new survey.
Ninety five percent of respondents to the survey, commissioned by officecavalry.com, said they intend to pursue aggressive expansion plans this year.
Although recent reports have raised the alarming possibility of job cuts across the small-to-medium sector, around 25% of the survey’s respondents said they expected their workforce to expand this year.
However, many firms seem intent on hiring freelancers to boost their staff roster.
Ninety three percent of respondents said they regarded freelance workers as a genuine alternative to the recruitment of full-time employees, while 52% said they believe freelancers would contribute significantly to their workforce between now and 2015.
Just under two-fifths of respondents claimed they intend to use freelance staff this year.
Andy Turner, founder of officecavalry.com, said that freelancers offer a “cost-effective, scalable and flexible” option for small firms.
Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) spokesman Chris Gorman expressed concern about the expected increase in freelance employment, saying:
"While the use of freelancers by SMEs is by no means an inherently bad thing, [the officecavalry] figures appear to show that the relentless march of employment law is indeed acting as a deterrent to small business owners who would previously have employed people on full, permanent contracts.
"We've been warning of this for some time - it's inevitable that the more risky, confusing and costly you make it to employ someone directly, the more businesses will look towards outside contractors. This is particularly the case with SMEs, which usually lack the HR resources and expertise to deal with employment laws confidently and efficiently."