As The Workplace Evolves, Independent IT Contractors Evolve With It

By Teri Calderon, Executive Vice President of People & Marketplace Operations at Field Nation

Over the last two-plus years, the workplace has undergone tremendous changes. We’ve all seen it first-hand. From remote work to hybrid schedules to Zoom calls, the IT work world has been turned upside down since the pandemic started in early 2020.

Much has been written and discussed when it comes to full-time workers and how these massive changes have impacted them. But not nearly as much has been written about independent IT contractors and how the pandemic has changed their world—and more importantly, how it has changed the way they’re thinking about work in the years ahead.

At Field Nation, we work with independent IT contractors every day. This gives us a unique vantage point on this topic. I thought I’d take a little time today to share some of those viewpoints and dig a little deeper into how these technicians are thinking about their work now, and what that means for the IT industry as a whole.

Even more focus on work-life balance

Work-life balance has always been a struggle in the IT world. But that struggle has always been a bit more manageable for independent IT contractors, and the pandemic has exacerbated that even more. Especially for technicians like Tamika Fields. She has been working exclusively as an independent contractor since 2016 and has always found this work to be helpful in managing a better balance: “The standard workday model doesn’t always accommodate work-life balance and balance is important to me,” she says.