This report, conducted by an independent research firm and commissioned by Upwork, uses data from two surveys of U.S. hiring managers: one fielded in November 2019 prior to the COVID-19 crisis, and the other fielded during the crisis in April 2020. The surveys polled a combined 1,500 U.S. hiring managers to provide a holistic picture of workforce trends impacting business organizations. Find out how companies are building for the future.

1. © 2020 ClearlyRated® All Rights Reserved.
2020 Future
Workforce Report

2. Table of contents
Topic Page
Study Objectives 3
Research Methodology 4
Key Findings 5
COVID-19 is disrupting the workforce 10
Companies are adapting to a new remote reality 14
Companies are dissatisfied with staffing firms 19
Independent talent adoption is accelerating 24
Companies are struggling to reskill 30
Profile of respondents 35
2

3. Study objectives
Upwork has commissioned ClearlyRated, an independent research firm, to conduct a
study on hiring managers in the U.S. workforce with the following objectives:
● Understand the impacts of COVID-19 on the workforce landscape
● Examine how companies view traditional staffing solutions
● Explore how companies are leveraging a flexible workforce / independent talent
● Discover how organizations are thinking about reskilling their workforce
This deck is organized in sections to detail results on each objective.
3

4. Research methodology
4
● The report uses data from two surveys conducted by independent research firm
ClearlyRated.
● The first surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. workforce hiring decision makers
through a third-party, independent online sample between October 31, 2019 -
November 13, 2019.
● The second surveyed more than 500 U.S. workforce hiring decision makers
through a third-party, independent online sample between April 22, 2020 - April
28, 2020.
● Overall margin of error of ±4.1% at 95% confidence level.

5. Key findings
5
COVID-19 is disrupting the workforce
• Almost half (45 percent) of organizations have frozen hiring, and 39 percent have
seen or expect layoffs due to COVID-19.
• Only 10 percent of organizations increased hiring in response to the crisis.
• On average, organizations expect only 53 percent of laid off employees to be
hired back.

6. Key findings
6
Companies are adapting to a new remote reality
• More than half of the U.S. workforce is currently working from home.
• 56 percent of hiring managers feel the shift to remote work has gone better than
expected, while one-in-ten feel it’s gone worse than expected.
• No commute, reduction of non-essential meetings, and less distractions in the
office were cited as the greatest perceived benefits of working remotely.
• As a result of their experiences during COVID-19, 62 percent of hiring managers
say their workforce will be more remote going forward.

7. Key findings
Companies are dissatisfied with staffing firms
• Staffing firms account for just over half (53 percent) of a hiring manager’s external
talent budget.
• Yet, the majority (61 percent) of hiring managers aren’t fully satisfied with their
staffing firms.
• Cost, quality and time-to-fill were ranked as the biggest pain points of working
with staffing firms.
7

8. Key findings
Independent talent adoption is accelerating
• Despite the impact of COVID-19, 72 percent of hiring managers are continuing or
increasing their usage of independent professionals and nearly half (47 percent)
are more likely to engage independent talent in the future due to the crisis.
• Companies are increasingly using independent professionals for more strategic
work. Over half (57 percent) of hiring managers engage independent
professionals for ongoing strategic work across multiple projects.
• A majority (59 percent) of hiring managers agree that organizations not currently
adopting a flexible workforce as part of their hiring strategy risk falling behind.
8

9. Key findings
Companies are struggling to reskill
• The vast majority (81 percent) of hiring managers agree that it’s important for an
organization to reskill/train its workforce, yet only 1 in 4 fully believes their
company invests enough in reskilling.
• Only a third (29 percent) of hiring managers fully feel their teams have the skills
needed to support business needs in the next 3-5 years.
• 3 in 4 are not fully convinced that retraining current employees is more efficient
than engaging independent professionals to gain business-critical skills.
• Over half (61 percent) of hiring managers agree bringing in outside skills from
independent professionals helps keep current full-time employees up to date with
their skills.
9

10. COVID-19 is disrupting the workforce
2020 Future Workforce Report

11. COVID-19 has a significant impact on the labor market
11
45% 39%
Almost half of organizations have
frozen hiring in response to the
COVID-19 crisis
Many hiring managers have seen,
or expect layoffs at their
organizations.
Q2.1. What changes in hiring has your organization already seen in response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
Q2.3. Has your organization laid off or furloughed any employees in response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
Q2.4. Do you expect any employees at your organization to be laid off or furloughed in the next 3 months?

12. Hiring is at a standstill, yet companies are continuing to
engage independent talent
12
Only
10%
of organizations
increased hiring in
response to the COVID-19
crisis.
While only
2%
of hiring managers said
their organizations plan
to cut all independent
talent in the next 3
months.
Q2.1. What changes in hiring has your organization already seen in response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
Q2.7. How do you anticipate the use of independent talent (ie. freelancers, ICs, contractors, consultants) at your organization will
be impacted in the next 3 months?

13. Teams anticipate running at half capacity
13
On average, hiring managers
expect only half of laid off
employees to be hired back.
53%
Q2.6. What percentage of laid off employees do you expect will be hired back when business returns to normalcy?

14. Companies are adapting to a new remote reality
2020 Future Workforce Report

15. More than half of the U.S. workforce is remote
15Q2.10. As a result of COVID-19, what percentage of your workforce is currently working remotely?

16. Working remotely has exceeded a majority of hiring
managers expectations
16Q2.11. How has having remote workers within your organization functioned during the crisis, compared to your expectations?

17. The benefits of remote work include no commute, fewer
meetings, and less office distractions
17
32%
of hiring managers have
found that productivity
has increased.
Q2.12. What, if anything, about remote work at your organization has worked well?

18. Hiring managers anticipate teams will be more remote in
the future
18
The expected growth rate of
full-time remote work over the next
five years has doubled, from
30%to 65%
Q2.14. As a result of COVID-19, my organization's workforce will be _________.

19. Companies are dissatisfied with staffing firms
2020 Future Workforce Report

20. Most hiring managers aren’t fully satisfied with staffing
firms, yet they account for over half of the external budget
20
Q4.6. How much would you estimate your team spends annually on all of your outside talent providers?
Q4.7. How much would you estimate your team spends annually with staffing firms?
Q4.3. How satisfied are you with your current staffing firm(s)?
53%
Staffing firm users spend over half
of their overall talent provider
budget on staffing firms.
61%
Of hiring managers are not fully
satisfied with their staffing firms

21. Hiring managers cite cost, quality, and speed as top pain
points with staffing firms
21
Q4.4. In your opinion, what are the biggest pain points when engaging with staffing firms? (Please rank your top 3 by selecting "1"
for the top pain point, "2" for the second, and "3" for the third.)

22. Hiring managers are turning to independent talent to get
projects done faster
22Q4.5. For which of the below reasons would you consider engaging a freelancer/independent worker vs. a staffing firm?
Prefer to engage independent talentPrefer to engage a staffing firm
Companies are
63%
more likely to
engage an
independent
professional vs.
a temporary
employee to get
projects done
faster

23. 23
Q4.11. Does your team currently utilize an online talent solution to engage independent professionals?
Q4.13. Would you consider utilizing an online talent solution to engage independent talent?
Hiring managers are exploring online talent solutions
45%
of hiring managers are
currently using online
talent solutions such as
Upwork
and...
51%
of hiring managers not
using online talent
solutions would consider
them

24. Independent talent adoption is accelerating
2020 Future Workforce Report

25. COVID-19 is accelerating the use of independent talent
25
73%
Nearly three quarters of hiring
managers are continuing or
increasing their usage of
independent professionals.
47%
Nearly half of hiring managers are
more likely to engage independent
talent in the future due to the
COVID-19 crisis.
Q2.7. How do you anticipate the use of independent talent (ie. freelancers, ICs, contractors, consultants) at your organization will
be impacted in the next 3 months?
Q2.9. As a result of COVID-19, I am ________ to engage independent talent in the future.

26. Independent professionals are most commonly being hired
for writing, creative, web and software development roles
26Q3.4. For the roles you plan on filling in 2020, what types of workers will you be looking for?
Skill % Hiring Independent Talent % Hiring Full-Time Employees
Writing
Creative/design
Web, mobile, software dev
Marketing
IT, networking, database admin
Engineering
Legal
Data entry/admin support
Sales
Accounting/finance
Product management
Operations/customer support
HR

27. Majority of hiring managers don’t have concerns engaging
independent talent
27Q3.9. Do you have any concerns engaging freelancers/independent talent?
61%
of teams that don’t have plans to
hire independent talent have no
concerns with engaging them

28. Most managers are engaging independent professionals
for larger, more strategic projects
28
Q3.12. How would you describe how your department typically engages freelancers?
Q3.13. For how long, on average, would you estimate your department engages with a typical freelancer?
Independent talent
engagement
Overall Enterprise
Non-
enterprise
Prefer to engage independent
talent in a one-time gig, single
project
43% 40% 47%
Prefer ongoing independent
talent engagements for large,
strategic projects
57% 60% 53%
Average length of independent
talent engagement
4.1
months
4.7
months
3.3
months
57%
of hiring managers
engage independent
professionals for
ongoing strategic
partnerships across
multiple projects

29. Majority agree those who don’t adopt a flexible workforce
risk falling behind
29Q3.19. Please rate your agreement with the following statements.
59%
of hiring managers agree that
organizations not currently
adopting a flexible workforce
risk falling behind
47%
of hiring managers think that
independent professionals
are generally at the top of
their field

30. Companies are struggling to reskill
2020 Future Workforce Report

31. Hiring managers see skill set as most vital to success, yet
many struggle to re-skill their own employees
31Q3.20. Which of the following do you think are most predictive of candidate success in a role?
73%
of hiring managers do not
fully agree employees
have the training and
skills needed to support
business initiatives

32. Hiring managers agree re-skilling is important; only 1 in 4
fully believes their company invests enough in re-skilling
32Q5.3. Please rate your agreement with the following statements.
Agreement with the following statements regarding re-skilling:
“It is important for an organization to reskill/train its employees.”
“Current employees at my organization have the training and skills needed to
support business initiatives.”
“Re-training current employees to gain the skills the business needs is more
efficient than hiring independent professionals with the needed skills.”
“My team has the skills to support business needs in 3-5 years”
“My organization invests enough in reskilling and training programs for its
employees.”
“Bringing in outside skills from independent professionals helps keep current
full-time employees up-to-date with their own skills.”

33. Managers are worried about their teams’ skills in the
future; believe independent professionals can help
33Q5.3. Please rate your agreement with the following statements.
71%
of hiring managers do not
fully believe their teams
have the skills needed to
support business needs
in the next 3-5 years
and...
74%
are not fully convinced
that retraining employees
is more efficient than
engaging independent
professionals
61%
agree bringing in outside
skills from independent
professionals keeps
current employees
up-to-date with skills
so...

34. Independent professionals are increasingly being used to
address skills gaps
34Q5.2. How are you currently filling skills gaps within your organization?
Nearly a third
28%
of hiring managers leverage
independent professionals
to fill skills gaps within their
organizations
49%
of hiring managers cite
access to skilled talent as a
top reason for engaging
independent professionals

35. Profile of respondents
2020 Future Workforce

36. 36
Q1.1. Which of the following best represents your company’s total revenue for calendar year 2019?
Q1.2. Which of the following best represents your company’s size?
Profile of respondents
First and second round demographics combined
Note: This information was not gathered on the second survey. Only first round data is shown.

37. 37
Q1.3. What best describes your role in the company?
Q1.4. Which of the following best describes your organization’s primary industry?
Q1.5. Which of the following functional areas do you currently work in?
Profile of respondents
First and second round demographics combined
Note: only top industries shown

38. 38
Q2.1. What is your current age?
Q2.3. Which of the following best describes your gender?
Q2.4. Which of the following best describes the highest level of education you’ve had the opportunity to complete?
Profile of respondents
First and second round demographics combined
Male
48% Female
52%
Gen Z
6%
Millennial
39%
Gen X
35%
Baby
Boomer
19%
Master’s
Degree or
Higher
34%
High
School
8% 2 Year
Degree
13%
Bachelor’s
Degree
45%

39. © 2019 ClearlyRated® All Rights Reserved.