The partnership empowers Johnston Press’ audience of 25 million people across the UK to work anywhere at any time, and will connect companies with a ‘hidden workforce’ of talented professionals, to which they previously didn’t have access. It will also bring these people into the rapidly growing online freelance market, which is predicted to grow from £2.07bn globally to £32.77bn by 2020.
The digital and technological shift taking place in the industry is altering the way people work, and enabling a cultural shift towards flexible project-based working. In fact, according to Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital Trends study, 51% of global executives say their organisation plans to increase the use of flexible and independent workers in the next three to five years, further highlighting the vital role the partnership plays in connecting companies with the UK’s hidden workforce.
This will see Johnston Press’ reach increase among the rapidly growing number of millennials choosing this new way of working, as well as widen its recruitment customer base to smaller companies looking to hire on an ‘as and when’ basis.
The news comes following Johnston Press’ recent launch of We are Digital, a new initiative involving editorial staff designed to accelerate the growth of its brands online, and forms part of Johnston Press’ wider digital strategy for all its brands.
Joe Slavin, Managing Director of Recruitment at Johnston Press said: “Partnering with a startup like weliketowork.com is a great way for us to combine our expanding audience and award-winning local brands with cutting edge software solutions and emerging models in areas like employment. This offering works really well in tandem with our core Jobstoday platform to benefit our readership, as it means we can offer companies and jobseekers alike the widest range of opportunities, to suit the way they wish to work or hire.”
Jonny Dunning, CEO of weliketowork.com, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Johnston Press and its network of trusted newspaper brands to bring our solution to a bigger audience with genuine local reach. This partnership also represents a great step in our mission to support small businesses in the UK, and give talented professionals like stay-at-home mums, dads and retirees the chance to re-join the workforce and earn money via flexible remote working. It’s great to see Johnston Press being so forward-thinking with this partnership, making new opportunities available to their growing audience.”