KellyOCG joins forces with Upwork to tap into gig economy
MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES — KellyOCG, the outsourcing and consulting arm of human resources firm Kelly, has forged a strategic partnership with work marketplace Upwork.
Harnessing The Kelly Human Cloud
This alliance empowers KellyOCG clients to engage, manage, and collaborate with an array of skilled independent professionals across over 10,000 skills and 125 categories on Upwork through Kelly’s Human Cloud solution.
The Kelly Human Cloud solution streamlines engaging and collaborating with expert talent by consolidating the best online talent platforms into one interface.
It utilizes a company’s existing Managed Service Provider (MSP) to integrate freelance work platforms and identify talent matching client requirements across areas like marketing, IT, business consulting, and more.
It specifically examines the candidate’s skills in areas such as strategy and analytics, operations and organizational effectiveness, corporate finance, project management, marketing, and web development.
“Together, KellyOCG and Upwork enable clients to quickly scale and align their workforces and drive stronger business performances without the stress and hassle that often come with engaging freelance talent across multiple different systems,” said Tammy Browning, president of KellyOCG.
Capitalizing on freelancer workforce surge
According to Zoë Diamadi, general manager of enterprise at Upwork, companies are looking to tap into the freelance talent pool through a simplified process. Upwork’s partnership with Kelly aims to connect gig workers with these firms.
Data shows that over one-third of the U.S. workforce now identifies as freelance workers—an all-time high of 64 million Americans in 2023—signaling a major shift in how businesses operate.
According to talent platform Wripple, 92% of companies expect to increase freelancer engagements in the next two years.
“Companies today, from a cost perspective, want to pay for only the work when they need it. Maybe they just need a certain thing done. You don’t have to pay salary costs and employee benefits,” explained Shannon Denton, co-founder of Wripple.
