Perspectives on the Future of Work: August 29

Upwork’s biweekly column brings you the latest news on the future of work, including trends, freelancing, and other shifts in the way we work.

This week’s roundup takes a broader look at how businesses get things done:

• A new study reveals that the most in-demand fields for freelancers aren’t what you might expect.
• Influenced in part by dynamic founders and mobile workers, the “collaboration economy” is changing the way businesses work together.
• Underlying all this is the digital transformation that impacts everything from our personal lives to enterprise-level strategy.

Here’s a look at some of the latest headlines.

Health, Education, and Finances: The New Growth Areas for Freelancers (The Globe and Mail)

Growth areas in the freelance economy cover a broad range of expertise, something highlighted in a recent report by FlexJobs. “The most in-demand career fields for freelancers were medical and health, education, project management, computer and IT, and accounting and finance,” Jared Lindzon reported in The Globe and Mail.

He explains that this reflects both economic conditions in different industries and a preference by many professionals to work independently. Demand for certain skill sets outstrips the supply of talent available.

A New Wave of Collaboration Is Changing How Businesses Interact (TechCrunch)

The “collaborative economy” typically refers to interactions between individuals, but in an article for TechCrunch, Xero’s CEO Rod Drury highlights how that spirit is permeating business culture on an increasingly large scale.

“There are a number of factors propelling this new wave of collaboration, many of which are derived from the increasingly transient workforce where founders and staff no longer stay at the same company for life, rather choosing to move between companies and build networks along the way,” he explained.

The aim of working together is to provide a seamless experience for the customer, he explains, putting them at the heart of every decision. However, benefits like better user experience, more specialized products, and lower acquisition costs have a broader positive impact for businesses willing to adopt this new approach.

Our Digital Transformation Is Still a Work in Progress (Forbes)

From remote work opportunities to this new emphasis on businesses working together, much of the way we work has been shaped by ongoing digital transformation that’s changing everything from our personal lives to the look of the C-suite.

But as TalentCulture’s CEO Meghan Biro points out in Forbes, that evolution still has a long way to go. Citing the three ages of digital, she says we’re very much “mid-digital,” where digital has gone mainstream but is still a disjointed experience that’s poised to “get smoother one of these hours.”

What shifts in the future of work have had an impact on you recently? Share your experience in the comments below.

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