As the ‘hidden workforce’ of contractors and freelancers grows, so does the risk for the businesses that rely on them. Paid through a patchwork of fragmented and informal channels, this segment of the workforce often exists in a financial blind spot, eroding oversight and control.
Here, Adam Craighill, Global SVP of Revenue at Papaya Global, explains why managing this contingent spend has become a critical new mandate for finance leaders.
Today, many global enterprises are running two workforces. The first is visible and predictable: permanent employees on payroll, supported by well-established compliance, governance, and financial controls. The second is much harder to track: contingent workers. Contractors, freelancers, gig workers, and third-party talent engaged through a patchwork of vendors, platforms, and informal networks. This “hidden workforce” isn’t marginal. It already makes up around 40% of the global workforce — a figure projected to reach 50% by 2035. With that scale comes risk, and increasingly, it’s landing on the CFO’s desk.
How hidden spend erodes oversight
On the surface, engaging contingent workers through flexible, informal channels may feel like agility. But in reality, it introduces a dangerous blind spot in financial reporting and compliance. Payments are increasingly flowing through unvetted vendors and subcontractors, opaque contracts with limited accountability, and personal networks that bypass procurement entirely.
This spend often sits outside HR, outside payroll, and ultimately outside finance. The result: a material portion of workforce costs distorts financial statements, masks true labor spend, and creates misclassification risks that remain invisible, until they surface in an audit, a board review, or a regulatory inquiry.
CFOs need to act now
Workforce payments have long been the CFO’s anchor, the system of record for workforce costs. But when a growing share of payments bypass payroll, that anchor no longer holds. For CFOs, this means workforce spend gets fragmented across categories, hiding the true cost of labor, compliance and misclassification risks build quietly until they become crises, and financial results are harder to stand behind with full confidence. This is not theoretical. For many multinationals, the hidden workforce is already material to the business. That makes it a financial control issue… and therefore a CFO issue.
The new mandate for CFOs
Let’s be clear: CFOs can no longer delegate responsibility for workforce payments. Whether permanent, contingent, or cross-border, all workforce spend ultimately falls under financial accountability. Forward-thinking CFOs are already closing this gap by bringing contingent workforce payments into full financial oversight, establishing visibility across every channel, market, and model, and aligning workforce strategy with compliance and financial governance. This isn’t just about managing risk. With better visibility into the true economics of their workforce, CFOs gain insights that can fuel smarter talent strategy and create competitive advantage.
The Shift Finance Leaders Must Lead
The hidden workforce is a permanent feature of the modern enterprise. Talent models have evolved, but financial governance has not kept pace — and that gap is widening every quarter. Waiting is a real and urgent risk. CFOs who delay action may be standing before their boards, auditors, or investors with financial controls that no longer reflect operational reality.
At Papaya Global, we’re helping enterprises confront this challenge head-on with Contingent OS — a platform designed to bring contingent workforce payments out of the shadows and under the kind of financial governance today’s business demands. The time to act is now. CFOs who take the lead in making their hidden workforce visible will not only protect their organizations but also unlock the clarity needed to compete in a rapidly evolving global talent market.
About Papaya Global
Papaya Global is the platform for global workforce, helping leading enterprises to pay workers compliantly in the local currency of 160+ countries. After having revolutionized payroll by automating manual processes, Papaya is the first SaaS company to offer its own licensed payments platform, in partnership with J.P. Morgan. With same-day delivery and low, transparent fees, Papaya makes global payments faster, safer, and more efficient*. Backed by world-leading investors, Papaya Global has raised more than $450M (most recently at a $3.7B valuation).
*Papaya Global’s payment services are offered through Azimo, Papaya’s licensed payments arm. Azimo is a payment services provider regulated in five Tier-1 jurisdictions. These licenses allow Papaya, together with its partners, to provide workforce payments worldwide.
About the Author
Adam Craighill is an accomplished business leader with a strong track record in building and scaling global sales organizations. With extensive experience driving revenue growth across high-growth companies, he brings a results-driven approach to leadership. As Global SVP of Revenue at Papaya Global, Adam plays a pivotal role in expanding the company’s market presence and accelerating adoption of its workforce payments platform worldwide.
The post The Hidden Workforce: A Financial Risk CFOs Can No Longer Ignore appeared first on The Fintech Times.
