By Abigail Slater, SVP at Thunes
The future of work is rapidly evolving – and payment systems can’t afford to lag behind. Contractors, freelancers, and gig workers are no longer just a tactical supplement to regular employees, but a core part of how businesses access skills, scale quickly, and compete globally. The World Bank estimates that 48% of the global workforce are now self-employed, a figure that has grown steadily over the past decade. But this shift has exposed a major problem: the world of work has changed, yet contractor payments remain outdated, creating damaging bottlenecks for firms and workers.
Contractors manage their own tax obligations, work across borders, and expect both speed and choice in how they are paid. Payroll systems that were designed for domestic, salaried employees with fixed monthly cycles and local bank accounts are simply not suited to this new reality. What could be a simple transaction quickly becomes a complex cross-border flow, involving multiple currencies, systems and regulations.
For businesses, the objective is clear: deliver global contractor payments that are fast, reliable, and seamless, built for the demands of today’s flexible, digital economy.
Payroll was built for borders. Work now transcends them.
Payroll has traditionally operated within the boundaries of a single-country jurisdiction, relying on one banking system, one set of tax rules, and one pay cycle. The moment that work crosses borders, those assumptions break down, failing to meet the needs of today’s contractors, who are working across very different financial realities.
In volatile economies contractors understandably often ask to be paid in US dollars or stablecoins to protect their earnings. With inflation yet to come down to pre-pandemic levels in many markets, local currencies can be seen as risky stores of value.
At the same time, the World Bank reports that 1.4 billion adults worldwide remain unbanked, the majority across Africa and South Asia. For workers in regions without access to traditional bank accounts, mobile wallets have become the primary gateway to financial services – and often the only way to reliably receive and spend money.
Meanwhile in developed economies, the spread of real-time payment systems has shifted expectations. In the UK, the Faster Payments Service processes billions of instant transactions each year, while Singapore’s FAST network operates around the clock. For contractors accustomed to this speed in their personal life, waiting weeks for a payroll cycle at work feels increasingly outdated.
Different contexts bring contrasting pressures, but the outcome is the same. Contractors expect flexibility in how they are paid, and payroll’s traditional one-size-fits-all approach simply isn’t built to deliver it.
The growing pressure to get payments right
The combination of all these factors means the need to reboot contractor payments has never been greater: businesses are now facing the challenge on a scale that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. In 2025, 52% of Gen Z workers and 44% of millennials were registered as freelancers. Millennials already account for 45% of the global freelance population, while Gen Z’s share is rising quickly as they enter the workforce. Combined with forecasts that the freelance market will almost double in size to $17 billion by 2029, it’s clear that independent work is not a marginal trend but fast becoming a defining feature of the future workforce.
This pressure cuts across all types of organisations. Large companies now routinely outsource functions such as software development, design, or marketing to international contractors, where smooth payments are vital for project delivery. Employer-of-Record providers are under strain too, expected to keep payments compliant while serving corporate clients in dozens of jurisdictions. And for SMEs expanding into new markets, even a single delayed or failed payment can erode trust and stall growth. From multinationals to startups, the ability to pay contractors easily and on time is becoming a prerequisite for competing in the global economy.
Building the infrastructure for a digital workforce
Meeting this challenge requires more than tweaking old payroll processes. Businesses need payment systems that are designed for the realities of today’s global workforce: distributed, digital, and international. That means consolidating fragmented arrangements into platforms that can operate seamlessly across borders, while still adapting to local rules and preferences.
Flexibility should be standard, not an exception. Contractors must be able to choose whether they are paid into a bank account, a mobile wallet, or in digital currencies, and businesses must be able to deliver that choice without friction. At the same time, compliance and transparency have to be built in at every stage, so companies can scale confidently without increasing risk.
The payoff is clear. Businesses that modernise their contractor payment methods will unlock wider access to global talent, expand into new markets with fewer barriers, and strengthen trust with the people delivering critical work. Those that fail to act will remain tied to infrastructure built for another era, losing ground to competitors who can operate with greater agility.
The workforce of the future will be powered by payouts: faster, more reliable, and more inclusive. The question is not whether businesses need to adapt, but how quickly they are prepared to make the shift.
