E-lancing, also known as e-labour,
is the practice of taking
freelancing
''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 ...
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
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
wrote in 2012 that online marketplaces were unlikely to produce a significant decrease in skilled unemployment.
[Trenner, Sebastian ] Conversely, Karsten Geis of
Empirica Capital 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,
Freelancer.com,
Guru.com, and
Upwork
Upwork Global Inc., formerly Elance-oDesk, is an American freelancing platform headquartered in Santa Clara and San Francisco, California. The company was formed in 2013 as Elance-oDesk, after the merger of Elance Inc. and oDesk Corp. The merg ...
.
See also
*
Freelancer
*
Gig worker
Gig workers are independent contractors, online platform workers, contract firm workers, on-call workers, and temporary workers. Gig workers enter into formal agreements with on-demand companies to provide services to the company's clients.
In ...
*
Online marketplace
*
Online outsourcing
References
*
Outsourcing
Web 2.0 neologisms