Though freelancing is a way to do flexible, meaningful work, there are financial and mental barriers to overcome The Freelance Economy (popularly called the Gig Economy) often brings up associations of ridesharing, delivery, and click-work. The labour sharing platforms are portrayed in public debates as an expanding source of “real or potential exploitation, undermining the job and social security infrastructure.” Is this the new future of work? BCG in a study (Tapping Talent in the Gig Economy) released in January 2019 found that there is a thriving Freelance Economy that is far more nuanced. The freelancers find gig work as a path to greater autonomy, more flexibility in choosing when and where they work. A lot of gig workers describe freelancing as a way to do more meaningful work. For employers, gig platforms “increase access to new, high-tech skills and sorely needed workers of many types who are difficult to source through traditional labour markets.” The report goes on to say that corporate adoption of gig work is expected to rise in every industry, including B2B and retail sales and education — not just in mobility, delivery, IT, and data processing. All freelancers are not equal Already, freelancers with high-end skills like software design and management make up half of the marketplace. In the case where the platform (think Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon’s Mechanical Turk etc) negotiates the payment for the skill, the individual gets less. These workers are often the ones that are most visible in the media or around us. When individuals negotiate payments directly based on their expertise, they make more money. Platforms like UpWork and LinkedIn become merely meeting places. Digital Nomads and fly-in experts use the platforms to get discovered. By showcasing their expertise and their reputation across the network they get discovered by buyers with deep pockets. The more in-demand their expertise is, the higher the premium the buyer will pay. Even when freelancing is the primary source of income, the experts report higher happiness and satisfaction levels with their work than people in traditional full-time employment, despite the fact that they were more likely to work more than 45 or even 60 hours a week, and to earn slightly lower salaries. Ravi Venkatesan, the ex-Chairman of Microsoft India, uses the term hyper-development as a requirement for success.“The businesses often grow at a rate faster than the rate at which people build the leadership muscle. This leads to the risk that your job may outgrow you.” What holds back people The prime reason for wanting to be a freelancer is flexibility — choose when and where to work. Also, you can choose meaningful work. But what keeps someone from taking the plunge? I asked people on social media for top three reasons that stopped them from chasing their dreams. Here are two real stories: Case 1: Engineer-photographer A BTech in Chemical Engineering from IIT wrote about pursuing a side gig as a photographer. He spoke about enjoying his day job as an […]
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