# Why Have Employees? By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-02-25 I have written a lot about needing new organizations and ideas of management, troubles with identities, and the need for progress. Recently I was contemplating why any organization needs to hire employees at all. What if everyone was a contractor or freelancer that the organization just paid well to do a good job? Does this not allow each person to work, take as many vacations, plan for retirement, and buy whatever healthcare coverage they like? Why do we consider these things benefits of working for an employer? You don't have a choice once you start working there other than trying to explain to your next employer why you left. If an organization pays fairly for the work to account for these things, is this not a better situation with more freedom and opportunity to realize your own identity and progress? Maybe it creates more solidarity than ever before. In many ways, the organization can say we need this to be achieved and then let the contractor or freelancer do whatever they need to do to achieve it. If the organization didn't like it or the contractor didn't like the organization, the relationship can quickly be ended without any fuss, firing, or political management games. This does not eliminate all of the management problems as the organization will likely need to hire contractors who are managers. However, at least there is freedom in being a freelance manager and finding a place that thinks as you think. One could argue this is how big bureaucracies work today and there are certainly many problems here. However, I suspect it's because some people are employees and others are contractors. What I'm advocating here is that maybe everyone should be a contractor. It's an interesting world to explore when you break free from age-old paradigms. #### Related Items [[Organization]] [[Work]] [[Contractors]] [[Freelancers]] [[Pragmatic]] [[Progress]]