This may be the case, but I'd guess the vast majority of software work is salary only. Having remote workers working as self-employed contractors should actually make the paperwork a lot easier for the company.
Unfortunately in some legal jurisdictions (e.g. the USA) this would not be allowed. You can't simply declare an employee to be self-employed and compensate them by means of invoices/1099 filings. This arrangement is only allowed if, among other things, the employee performs work for a number (greater than 1) of clients.
> This arrangement is only allowed if, among other things, the employee performs work for a number (greater than 1) of clients.
It's actually about capability, not actual number if clients; a contractor does not suddenly become an employee just because it doesn't have a second client at the moment. That said, you are right that legally hiring contractors is not nearly as easy as some people think it is.
You are correct, and I did not state that a contractor needs to perform work for several clients at the same time.
Conversely however, a contractor that has for some significant time, since leaving their previous employment only had one client (which is the parent scenario) is unlikely to be viewed by US labor law as not an employee.
There are other conditions besides this one: for example the contractor gets to set their own schedule and does not take detailed instructions on their tasks from the client. Again, hard to square this with the idea that you can just wave a wand and make what would have been an employee a contractor.
