For many large organizations, freelancers are already part of everyday operations, just not always by design.
External experts are brought in to solve urgent problems, accelerate innovation, or fill critical skill gaps. Yet behind the scenes, billions are often spent each year on external workforce solutions without a clear strategy, ownership, or visibility across departments.
In this episode of The Independent Workforce, Danny Gal, co-founder of Proteams Europe, challenges some of the biggest assumptions enterprises still hold about freelancers, from compliance fears to internal power struggles between HR, Procurement, and Finance.
The conversation reveals a simple but powerful truth: competitive advantage today isn’t about owning more talent, but about accessing the right skills at the right moment.
Key takeaways:
- Large enterprises spend €1.5–2.5 billion annually on external workforce, often without a clear strategy.
- Companies using structured freelance programs report 30–50% cost savings (sometimes more).
- The biggest blocker isn’t compliance. It’s internal politics and change management.
- Procurement, not HR, is best positioned to own external workforce strategy.
- The winning formula: start small, prove value, scale internally through success stories.
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Deep Dive
The Billion-Euro Blind Spot in Enterprise Hiring
Danny said something that stops most leaders mid-sentence:
“The companies we work with spend between 1.5 and 2.5 billion a year on external workforce.”
Not million. Billion. And yet many of those same organizations have no structured strategy behind it.
Freelancers are already inside the building. Consultancies use them. Agencies subcontract them. Teams hire them quietly to solve urgent problems.
The issue isn’t whether companies use freelancers.
The issue is whether they do it intentionally, or accidentally.
The Core Idea: Right Supplier, Right Job
Danny’s philosophy is disarmingly simple:
“Use the right supplier for the right work.”
Not everything should be done by freelancers.
Not everything should be done by full-time employees.
The problem arises when companies default to the same supplier model for everything, often out of habit, not logic.
A 15-year transformation project? Likely FTE.
A six-month product experiment? Probably external talent.
A niche technical migration? Highly specialized independent expert.
The strategic advantage comes not from replacing employees, but from designing intelligently.
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Why Procurement Holds the Key
Many assume HR should own freelance strategy.
Danny disagrees.
Procurement already manages suppliers, understands cost efficiency, sees total spend, and, importantly, procurement is evolving.
Like compliance before it, procurement is shifting from a back-office negotiator to a strategic value driver.
But here’s the catch. The biggest barrier isn’t process. It’s courage.
“Some people are willing to put their neck on the line. Others aren’t.”
Internal champions – often newer hires or recently promoted leaders – drive change. And when they succeed, many of them get promoted within 12 months.
Start Small or Fail Big
One of the strongest insights from the conversation: Massive transformation programs usually stall.
Instead:
- Find one pain point.
- Solve it using external talent.
- Share the success internally.
That’s it. No five-year business case. No “we’re transforming the whole workforce” announcement. Just visible wins.
Danny emphasized something subtle but powerful:
“Make the business look good. Not yourself.”
When internal stakeholders share success stories, adoption spreads organically.
The Compliance Myth
Many enterprises hesitate because of regulation. But the real risk isn’t using freelancers.
The real risk is using them without structure.
Misclassification happens when companies disguise employment, not when they deploy experts for defined projects.
Clarity, compliance checks, onboarding processes—these reduce risk.
Avoiding freelancers entirely does not.
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The Competitive Edge
This isn’t about survival panic. Large corporations will continue to exist with or without structured freelance strategies.
But agility?
That’s where the gap grows.
When competitors can deploy niche expertise in weeks instead of months, when they can scale up or down without permanent headcount increases, when they can reduce costs by 30–50% on certain initiatives, speed compounds. And it becomes advantage.
Tips for Success
- Identify one upcoming project with unclear or temporary scope.
- Pilot external talent alongside your traditional supplier model.
- Document and circulate measurable results internally.
