Our very own President & CEO, Kelly R. Lee is this month's guest columnist for Philly Creative Guide:
The New Power of the Creative Worker
by Kelly R. Lee
Innovation Philadelphia is a non-profit economic development organization that is working to establish the Greater Philadelphia Region as a national leader and world-class destination for Creative Economy industries, businesses and talent.
Innovation Philadelphia leads regional efforts to attract and retain young professionals, ages 25-34, who are vital to fueling our workforce and economic growth.
Learn more about their efforts, here: www.innovationphiladelphia.com
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The current economy is forcing even Fortune 500 companies to look beyond long standing best practices in search of creative and innovative ideas to keep the doors open. We've seen this in the headlines from car empires to fashion icons. Employees of all levels are being asked to think outside the box, be innovative, and practice ideation for old products, not just new. The power and influence of the "idea" is becoming the new measure for employee value and success. How will this change the workplace as we know it today?
Creative professionals will have more power. With over 306,200 creative employees in the Philadelphia area, the local workforce will find themselves with a louder voice. Creative professionals have always been society's idea generators by their very nature and hunger to innovate, to change a product or service for the better. It seems now as the power is shifting to the idea generators those in the creative industries have the opportunity to truly unleash creativity and change business, products and services as we know them today.
The demand for freelancers and independent contractors is going to increase. As budgets tighten and employee seniority matters less and less, contractors are looked to for a fresh perspective on projects without adding much to the bottom line. By 2019, 40% of the American workforce is predicted to be independent contractors. That would be up 26% from today's number. Local companies in the Philadelphia region are responding to this change by creating new programs like PhillyCreativeJobs.com to publicize freelance projects to local talent and keeping these increasing consulting dollars in the Philadelphia region.
The new economy will favor small businesses as they are the risk-takers which require much less debt to run than their huge counterparts. This news is good news for all in the creative industry because many regional creative companies are the small-risk takers mentioned above. The 36,500 (and counting) self-employed creative professionals in the Philadelphia region will be busy filling the design, IT, marketing needs of these small companies.
With ideas comes power, especially in this economy. Both Philadelphia's creative workers and freelancers have already found opportunity in this transitioning workforce as companies seek their innovation to change failing processes. This is a time of opportunity for everyone, especial the creative worker. They are tasked with retaining what is working in business and revitalizing what is new. The creative worker is now the voice of innovation and change and business leaders are listening.