The conservative job market
Working with freelancers is no exception. In 2018, together with SD Worx, we conducted research on the flexible use of talents. This showed that 95% of the surveyed organizations employ freelancers. For a majority of them, at least 10% of their workforce consists of freelancers. Remarkably, these freelancers work significantly more in core tasks than in peripheral tasks. This means that this "borrowing" of talent is seen as a viable option not only for tasks that are considered relatively unimportant but also for tasks at the heart of the organization.
![Visual_Blog_6](https://blog.antwerpmanagementschool.be/hs-fs/hubfs/Visual_Blog_6.jpg?width=2500&name=Visual_Blog_6.jpg)
Nevertheless, many companies are also still hesitant to work with freelancers. Belgian employers prefer to hire permanent staff for new positions. No less than one in two vacancies is filled by a permanent employee (52%), preferably one with experience. Three in ten positions are filled by retraining in-house employees. Only one in five are filled by flexible workers. This puts Belgium ahead of neighboring countries such as France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany.