[Updated] Shaping the future: The role of freelance platforms in the Middle East

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Significant transformations are happening in the Middle East. Gone are the days when the region played catch-up to the West’s business dominance. A marked shift towards digitalisation, massive investments and infrastructure development all point towards rapid growth in the region. Smart cities, telcos and IT infrastructure developments are reshaping the business landscape. Yet, the flip side of this rapid growth is immediate recruitment challenges.

We believe this can only be fixed by the potential of freelance platforms. Nonetheless, the Middle East’s evolving landscape presents both opportunities and obstacles for freelancers and recruiters alike. While the region offers exciting projects and a growing demand for talent, navigating the complexities of local regulations and cultural considerations can be challenging.

Freelance platforms can play a crucial role in bridging the gap between talent and opportunity, providing a flexible and efficient way to source and manage skilled professionals. Here, we’ll examine the complexities, potential solutions, and the role of freelance platforms in shaping the future of work in the region. Let’s take a closer look.

Understanding the Middle East landscape

The ambition behind the Middle East’s growth is unprecedented. Digital transformation and leadership projects such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 are driving the need for diverse skill sets. Despite these dynamic opportunities, the Middle East faces challenges in filling the skill-set and capability gap. Along with the rest of the world, the region has over 85 million tech-based positions that cannot be filled, which forces organisations to rethink ways of finding talent, nurturing it, and creating the spaces for it to exist.

However, the demand is real. Saudi Arabia currently sees a 1.9% inflation rate, a full percentage point lower than Europe and the USA. This increases investor confidence and propels further ambitions and strategies with moves towards AI and digital transformation. Digital transformation and the growth of smart cities have meant the need for massive investment in infrastructure. Infrastructure cannot be created without people, though, without experts driving these changes and utilising their talent to realise plans. Unfortunately, there is a gap in skill sets and capabilities that means governments and organisations need to think creatively about attracting new talent more quickly, cheaply, faster and better. 

One of the areas that governments are focusing on is telecoms. This is particularly the case as leaders are beginning to realise that oil’s reliability as a primary source of income is diminishing. Now, governments are concentrating their efforts on attracting the world’s biggest tech companies, creating opportunities in telecom and IT systems. 

Nowadays, every country has its own data centre. Microsoft, Google and AWS are fully set up in Dubai, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and more. This contrasts with Europe, where tech hubs focus more on key nations instead of enjoying an even spread across the region. Furthering this drive towards the telecoms industry is the increase of smart cities. Every major city in Saudi Arabia is now considered smart, with Riyadh being dubbed in a recent survey on smart cities as “a unique model in the world”. Smart cities require top-of-the-range communication technology to function.

Beyond the technical infrastructure and the expertise it requires, these initiatives require consultancy, business growth experts, digital transformation experts and more. While filling these positions will continue to be a challenge for the next few years, it presents an unparalleled opportunity to realise exciting and complex projects that will become the standard bearer for other cities and countries to follow. As Elena Barrio mentioned in our webinar on the Middle Eastern talent market, this level of complexity will be difficult to replicate, owing to the specific conditions surrounding the procurement of talent in the Middle East.

What initiatives and approaches are there to sourcing talent?

As many freelancing advocates maintain, the region needs to move beyond looking at sourcing talent through a 9-5 lens. The labour market currently demands more flexibility and choice, and with the talent gap being what it is, it can get it. The conception of a freelancer is changing; the freelancer can now be anyone across the labour market, encompassing highly skilled individuals and top talent in all industries from engineering to law, over to those just starting at the beginning of their careers. 

These individuals no longer want to sell themselves to a company that requires their talent from Monday to Friday but can offer the best of themselves on a project basis. These experts understand that there are ways to provide their talent more flexibly and with greater earning potential. Furthermore, they can build on their abilities with each coming project, learning and picking up new skills with each new company and team they work with. 

Companies need to start thinking differently about the value that a hire brings to their project. After leveraging the power of freelance platforms, employers no longer need to champion those who are just in the office for the sake of it, expending precious resources. Instead, embracing new ways of onboarding talent places the focus on what particular skills an individual can bring to a project, meeting its needs and timescales more efficiently. 

Facing the complex challenges of the Middle East

The skills gap is a worldwide issue, but it has become hyper-focused and exacerbated in the Middle East due to the massive investments being made. Indeed, there is a great willingness among governments and organisations to pay for top talent. Still, there are often “administrative” challenges that get in the way of making it happen as smoothly as it needs to. Each country in the region has its own set of complex labour laws and regulations. While there has been progressive thinking among government entities making positive steps in the right direction, policies have not been so forthcoming, and the transformation is not going as smoothly as expected. 

One of the biggest barriers is getting people past security clearances on government projects. It remains challenging to employ someone from abroad and give them the proper clearance to access sensitive data remotely. Therefore, the challenge becomes about drawing the candidate into the country to work on-site, a proposition that fewer are willing to accept. 

Furthermore,  cultural and language barriers prevent diverse talent from working on projects from abroad. Particularly in government projects, documentation and communication often remain in Arabic, reducing the number of people who can work on projects. Tax and residencies also become an issue, with the obtaining of visas on a short-term basis being difficult and expensive. Different response times can affect project deliverables.

However, by introducing freelance platforms to the recruitment workflow, organisations can mitigate some of these issues. Outvise has the expertise and dedication to deal with each country’s compliance needs, with significant success in the Middle East. Compliance can mean many things, including accommodation, insurance, payroll and tax. Freelance platforms like Outvise are becoming a one-stop shop where everything from recruitment to onboarding is handled. 

What role do freelance platforms play in the future of the Middle East?

There are future opportunity areas for freelance platforms to fulfil. Namely, greater support for onboarding that is fully integrated into the platform. The Middle East region could be the perfect sandbox for these kinds of features due to the particular issues around attracting talent that have become apparent over recent years. 

Another potential feature is further screening of the hires, offering ways to assess potential hires, and increasing the use of feedback and rating systems. This would increase confidence among organisations in the Middle East in their ability to hire talent from abroad via another layer of “pre-vetting” through the freelance platform.

The platforms themselves have everything to gain from being between the organisations and the freelancers, bridging that talent gap and acting as mediators for providing expertise on these hugely important and lucrative public infrastructure projects.

A new wave of optimism is spreading across the region, with young entrepreneurs keen to embrace new technologies and find the most efficient working methods.  People in the area are excited to have the best talent on board and to create new standards of technology and infrastructure that will serve its people well and grow businesses.

The UAE presents a strong case for the use-value of freelancing platforms. Any business asking itself, “Where is the best place to find independent contractors in the UAE?” now turns to freelancing platforms. Outvise, for example, has a long track record of serving the region well by equipping telecom organisations with top talent. We can handle recruitment, drawing up a freelance contract, compliance, legal, and onboarding, as well as monitoring the project’s progress and maintaining regular feedback sessions. 

Across the region, governments and businesses see the benefits and are taking measures to facilitate freelancers. For instance, the current protectionist “Saudization” initiative may leave some asking, “Is online freelancing legal in Saudi Arabia?” In spite of the drive to secure more roles for Saudi hires, there are no legal barriers to stopping anybody from online freelancing, either for a company based in Saudi Arabia or inside the country itself.

In line with its Vision 2030 initiative, the Saudi government recently launched a “freelancer document,” which enables freelancers to enter the country, open a bank account associated with their earnings, receive payment, and pay tax. If a freelancer finds a project through one of the many freelance platforms like Outvise, experts are available to help with these processes. 

Freelance platforms are perfectly suited to deal with the Middle East’s obstacles

The benefit of finding talent on freelance platforms is the ability to connect with anyone worldwide. Accessing a talent pool without borders allows organisations to hire experts based on their skills and the value they can offer a project rather than being limited to talent already based in the country. In light of the huge infrastructure investments in the region, the Middle East will need skilled workers to fulfil project aims.

The proliferation of the freelance platform means that organisations, whether private or public can access the world’s top talent at the click of a button. Meanwhile, freelance platforms provide freelance workers the flexibility to learn as much as possible on each project while making the best use of their time to work from wherever they are. If needed, however, the platform can help organise residencies, accommodation, and other compliance needs the organisation or freelancer might have.

Talent is out there, but leveraging technology has made it much easier to reach them in their own country. Sign up to Outvise today to find out how easily the world’s top experts on telecoms, infrastructure and more can work on your project.