Will the Affordable Care Act have an impact on hiring freelancers?

Freelancer management system provider Field Nation in a new survey asked 600 HR decision-makers in the US “how much of an impact will the Affordable Care Act have on hiring and maintaining more freelance workers over full-time employees with health benefits?” The response by 68% was that it would have a “very high impact” or “high impact.” In addition, 20% felt the impact would be neutral, and 12% felt it would have low or no impact.

Field Nation also asked “To what extent will the Affordable Care Act influence you to hire more freelance workers?” In response, 37% said they would contract with “a lot more” freelance workers, and another 37% said they would contract with “just a few more” freelance workers.

However, when asked “compared to 2015, do you intend to hire relatively more freelance workers or relatively more full-time employees in 2016?” Fifty-eight percent said they play to hire more full-time employees, 11% said they plan to hire more long-term contract workers and 17% plan to hire more freelance workers. Twelve percent said they planned to hire the same and 2% were not sure.

Field Nation polled 959 freelancers as well, and asked about the impact the ACA has on them. When asked, “What impact has the Obamacare/healthcare mandate had on your workload?," 58.4% said it did not have an impact. However, 20.6% said they had to work more hours, 17.4% said they had to cut personal- or professional-related expenses, 12.8% had to take on additional clients and 9.3% had to take on additional projects at current clients.