“Today’s winning business could be tomorrow’s court case.”
-PwC Workforce of the Future Report, 2020
Employee as a service (EaaS) is a type of remote work model which benefits businesses by helping them cater to periods of high and low demands. By having consistent access to an on-demand workforce, businesses can scale resources with skills that cannot be readily replicated by advancing technology like generative artificial intelligence (AI) and its likes easily.
Concepts like this have been made possible because of cloud computing technology where employers can directly access a global pool of talent. They can employ the services of such a ‘remote employee’ in exchange for wages, without having to deal with liabilities like medical, HR, payroll, insurance, benefits, etc.
Mapping the Rise of Employee as a service (EaaS) Model
The easiest way to demonstrate its evolution is by drawing similarities to that of software as a service (SaaS), a term we are more familiar with. A rudimentary Google search pulls up a Wikipedia definition of it to be a “delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted.”
It has been made possible by cloud computing. Wikipedia describes it as “the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user… typically uses a pay-as-you-go model, which can help in reducing capital expenses.”
Its origin can be traced back to the 1960’s when computers were too expensive to be accessible by small or medium-sized enterprises. An early form of connecting computers through a network in the absence of the internet, it was then simply referred to as a “time sharing system”.
Anything as a service (XaaS)
Over time, pioneering companies like IBM (IaaS) and Salesforce (SaaS) became major players in the cloud service delivery industry paving the path for the rise of the aaS model. It is an online method for anything (business product or service delivery) as a service (XaaS), financed using a pay-as-you-go pricing model, offering flexibility to scale up or down as per market demands, by a managed service provider.
As an umbrella term, it accommodates the inclusion of newer varieties of innovative service delivery models for convenient work methods, like IaaS, IoTaaS, DaaS, MSaaS, MBaaS, PaaS, EaaS, RaaS, and so on. It is based on reaping the fruits of the dot com boom and built on the framework of using the internet as a platform to store data off-site, and then access it, and connect far and wide service providers to end users and stakeholders.
No, this model does not only benefit employers or businesses. In fact, there is a lot in it for the employees, too. Come, let us find out!
What is in it (EaaS) for the Employees?
The idea of employee as a service (EaaS) is to ‘productize’ the concept of offering one’s services in exchange for wages through a network that’s based on the tenets of cloud delivery or service technology.
Therefore, employees get to benefit from the biggest perk of work in today’s day and age- flexibility. Because of a cloud staffing model, that EaaS is based on, employees get to work from the comfort of their homes or home cities and countries, as part of a core, in-house team directly for the client.
This comes especially handy for employees residing in nations that have lower currency values than their employers, which aids them achieve a higher purchasing power parity from their salaries, thereby enhancing their standards of living. Additionally, by pitching themselves as service providers, they remove the need for middle-management, helping employers make more savings. These savings are often redistributed in resource reallocation for revenue generating duties within various business processes.
Discussing Literature on Redefining Work Dynamics
EaaS symbolizes a shift in perspective which furthers the future of work that is a win-win for both employees and employers, in the context of an evolving gig economy post the ‘Great Resignation’. How, you ask? Simply by employees galvanizing technological breakthroughs in the recent past like AI advancements to work more flexibly and efficiently.
The natural question to arise in such a scenario would be “Will technology kill jobs and exacerbate inequality, or usher in a utopia of more meaningful work and healthier societies?”
Do not worry, these questions do not just haunt you. It was posted by the World Economic Forum, too, in one of its articles. Published as early as right in the middle of an ongoing pandemic, which plagued our globe 3 years ago and permanently changed the way we work, it discussed a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited.
It illustrated a broader hypothesis of 4 types of futures with varying influences of the roles of technology, finance, corporations, regulatory bodies, government, and employees, with the last being its focal point. It passionately debated the relevance of full-time in-house employment as we know it now in all 4 of those instances. The outcome?
Resonating with another study by KPMG International Limited for investigating similar purposes, the outcome agrees to a revolutionizing force behind emergent work structures, at the heart of which lies modernizing talent management strategies. EaaS is an extension of that.
“New workforce dynamics such as skills on demand, alternative employment models, multigenerational collaboration, and integrating human and intelligent automation are reinventing the workplace. The ability to be agile is key to future performance and competitiveness.”
Benefits of Managed Employee as a Service (MEaaS) Providers like Remote Resource™
We do not want to overwhelm you by introducing new concepts at every level. An MEaaS, as the section title reads, is simply an EaaS whose work is managed by a service provider or, in other words, a company or agency. This is what we do for you.
An EaaS would be directly selling their services to you, with one catch- no further commitment to a long-term relationship, and therefore accountability, to you. MEaaS providers like us, on the other hand, empower your business to outsource not just your business processes but total recruitment and employee management which ensures transparency.
We at Remote Resource™ believe in the power of strong long-term relationships to foster sustainable business. So, we do not offer ludicrous discounts on our services, but instead keep our prices low by implementing a fair compensation and operations policy, therefore not charging a premium on our services either.
Hope this helps. If you would like to speak directly to our experts to hire an MEaaS, book a free consultation with Remote Resource™.
