Free agent (business)

In business, a free agent refers to someone who works independently for oneself, rather than for a single employer. [ [http://hr.blr.com/display.cfm/id/8153 Business & Legal Reports: Study: Free-Agent Workforce Grows] ] These include self-employed workers, independent contractors and temporary workers, who altogether represent about 22 percent of the U.S. labor force. The term free agent is believed to have been coined by Daniel Pink, author of a 1997 cover story in Fast Company titled “Free Agent Nation.” [ [http://www.fastcompany.com/online/12/freeagent.html Fast Company: Free Agent Nation] ] In 2001 Pink published a book with the same name. The combination of several workplace trends – including shortened job cycles, the increase of project work, the acceptance of a new lifestyle and the emergence of the Internet and other technology – points to free agent workers becoming more of an employment norm in the coming years. In a 2002 survey sponsored by Kelly Services, a global staffing company, 93 percent of free agents believe demand for their skills is moderate or high. [ [http://hr.blr.com/display.cfm/id/8153 Ibid.] ]

Effects on Employers

According to Pink and his peers, the free agent trend has measurably benefited numerous U.S. companies. Kinko’s, now FedEx Kinko's, restructured itself in 1992 in response to the free agent trend, resulting in a $214 million investment less than four years later by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. [ [http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/12/freespirit.html Fast Company: Free Agent, Free Spirit] ] Kelly Services devotes a section of its U.S. web site to free agents and in 2006 hired actor Efren Ramirez to star in a series of podcasts describing free agency.

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