Free agent (business)

Fast Company titled “Free Agent Nation.”^[2] In 2001 Pink published a book with the same name. The combination of several workplace trends – including shortened job cycles, the increase of project work, the acceptance of a new lifestyle and the emergence of the Internet and other technology – points to free agent workers becoming more of an employment norm in the coming years. In a 2011 survey sponsored by Kelly Services, free agency is on the rise across all generations, with mature workers making up two-thirds of the free agent population. The survey also revealed that 73% of free agents voluntarily choose this workstyle because they seek the freedom, flexibility and entrepreneurial benefits associated with an independent workstyle.^[3]

FedEx Kinko's, restructured itself in 1992 in response to the free agent trend, resulting in a $214 million investment less than four years later by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.^[4]