Oyster, a global employment solution to employ, pay, and care for distributed teams, has released its 2025 Global Hiring and Impact Report, offering a detailed look at trends reshaping the world of work. Most notably, the findings reveal a 46% increase in contractor engagements and 10 times the growth in consulting hires year-over-year, signaling a shift toward flexible, expertise-on-demand arrangements in global workforce planning.
“What we’re witnessing is the emergence of an ‘expertise economy,’ and it’s a fundamental realignment of how companies and talent engage with each other,” says Marina Farthouat, vice president of people at Oyster. “Knowledge workers are increasingly defining their careers through expertise and meaningful projects rather than company loyalty, while organizations are building fluid, specialized teams that can adapt quickly to changing market demands.”
The report indicates a new symbiotic relationship forming between companies and global talent. As businesses face economic uncertainty and shifting priorities, they’re moving beyond simply changing where people work to reimagining how they engage talent together.
Key findings from the report include the following.
- The rise in contract and consulting work reflects a broader movement toward workforce agility, driven by tighter budgets, ambitious revenue goals, and the growing appeal of flexible careers.
- While RTO debates continue, hybrid work has cemented itself as the new standard when it comes to worker preference and productivity. Most respondents (84%) report that some or all of their employees work in a hybrid model.
“Companies are taking a deliberate approach to their global workforce composition, strategically designing teams that blend permanent roles in some regions with project-based contractor expertise in others,” says Erin Goodey, director of people services at Oyster.
