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Freelancers and the Vacation Dilemma

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HoneyBook, an online business and financial management platform that serves entrepreneurs and Freelancers, conducted a survey of self-employed Americans and the results were depressing, yet not entirely surprising. The survey polled 800 + independent U.S. workers in May and June 2019 and found that while the Freelance economy provides flexibility, a factor routinely prized by the self-employed, 92% of Freelancers work on vacation and 60% of that cohort do so because they feel they must.

According to Freelance Forward 2023, an annual survey of Freelancers and other independent workers conducted since 2013 by Upwork, the online talent marketplace that connects Freelance talent with companies in need of their expertise, there are now approximately 64 million U.S. workers participating in the Freelance economy and they’re well aware that taking time off results in lost income, as reported in the five-year-old Honeybook survey. 1099NEC workers do not qualify for paid time off, whether for illness, holidays, inclement weather, or vacations. The 92% who feel compelled to work while officially off- line stand as irrefutable evidence that either fear of disappointing clients or fear of economic difficulty caused by lost revenue drives the practice of working during vacation. While 85% of Freelance Forward 2023 participants reported that the future of Freelancing is bright, caution reigns.

Furthermore, the Honeybook survey also found that 43% of Freelancers who vacation do not divulge their plans with clients; moreover, 41% of Freelancers hide from their intimate partner or vacation companions the client work they feel obligated to do while vacationing. Also, the data revealed a gender gap: 65% of female Freelance consultants reported they have felt the need to hide work they do while vacationing from their significant other and/or family, compared to only 41% of men — highlighting the fact that women feel more pressure than men to deprioritize their careers so that they can be fully available for their families.

Former Upwork CEO Stephane Kasriel, who is now head of Commerce and Financial Technologies at Meta, recognized that hesitancy to take time off for vacations is widespread and not limited to Freelance consultants and other independent workers. He pointed out that many American workers, whether full-time W2 employees or full-time or part-time Freelancers, often do not take the vacation time that they deserve (and W2 employees will be paid to take). Mental health professionals and leadership development coaches have long publicized the need for workers to physically and psychologically refresh themselves by stepping away from work to relax and/or take part in enjoyable activities with family or friends.

“Truly logging off is a common challenge for most professionals today, ” Kasriel said. “The Honeybook study surveyed self-employed respondents; other research, including data produced by Glassdoor, shows that the average employee who receives paid time off will have only used about 54% of available PTO in the past 12 months and of those who do take PTO, the majority don’t log off completely,” he went on to say. To remedy the dilemma, Kasriel suggested a few easy to implement vacation planning strategies that Freelance professionals can adopt to help themselves occasionally step away from work to relax and enjoy themselves for a few days.

7 steps to enjoying a relaxing and stress-free vacation

1. Know that it’s good to take vacations. Time off provides many health and productivity benefits, including improved energy, creativity, focus and decision-making ability, along with limiting the possibility of burnout. Putting aside work responsibilities every so often helps you become a more effective worker.

2. Create a vacation fund. Treat vacation time as an investment in you and plan for it in your business budget by earmarking what you consider a manageable amount to set aside each month to fund your annual vacation. Consider saving $100 a month for 12 months to finance a modest one week vacation. Do that and when the time comes to put down client work for a week, you’ll enjoy your vacation without worrying about taking on debt to pay for it.

3. Schedule vacations strategically. If there is a seasonal rhythm that influences your business cycle, or if you know of an important project that’s on the horizon, schedule your vacation in a way that enhances your ability to meet all milestones and the target completion date and enable yourself to completely avoid work responsibilities while you are officially out-of-office. Remember also that your vacation does not have to happen in July or August—every season has a unique appeal!

4. Roll in anticipated time off when calculating your project rate. Since Freelancers have no paid time off, consider this strategy—throughout the year, discreetly insert into project proposals additional hours that gradually allow you to accrue paid time off, via your project fees. An annual total of two to three weeks (10 – 15 business days per year) can function as your paid time off, buried in billable hours.

5. Give clients an early heads-up and firmly set expectations and boundaries. If it makes sense to let clients know that you’ll be off-line for a week or two, communicate that info immediately after confirming your vacation dates. In all communications — phone, email, text, in-person or video meetings — share upfront that you won’t be available or checking email while vacationing and remind clients again one week before your departure. Schedule meeting time to discuss the status of your projects so that everyone is on the same page and you won’t need to discuss work while vacationing.

6. Create an out-of-office auto-reply and turn off alerts. While you’re away, use technology to confirm that you are unavailable during specified dates. Remember also to turn off message notifications so that you can enjoy your vacation without constant interruptions.

7. Hire a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants aren’t as costly as you think. The going rate is about $8 an hour and many services do not entail lengthy contracts, hourly minimum amounts, or set-up fees. Delegating administrative tasks to someone else will allow you to focus instead on having a good time with your friends or family.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Dreamstime

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Survey: Freelancing in America 2020-2021

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Upwork, the largest online marketplace for connecting Freelance workers with those who might hire us, continues to examine the state of Freelancing in America, a project the company began in 2014. I last reported on the survey in 2017.

As you probably guessed, the number of Freelancers, and clients willing to hire independent workers, continues to grow. To study the current state of Freelancing, Upwork’s 7th annual report, researchers surveyed 6,000 Freelance workers in the U.S. Survey respondents covered the spectrum—full-time, part-time, the side hustle (formerly known as moonlighting) and occasional workers. The data revealed that 59 million Americans performed Freelance work of some sort during the previous 12 months, an increase of 2 million Freelancers since 2019 and representing 36% of the U.S. workforce.

The response of businesses to the coronavirus shutdown that began in March 2020 caused seismic changes in the workplace. Impacting mostly white collar office workers, the Work From Home revolution would become a turning point for employees and their employers. By spring – summer 2021, COVID-19 vaccinations were well underway and many employers began to ask their employees to return to the office, but there was sometimes pushback. As children returned to school, working parents found it easier to WFH when the burden of toggling between paid work and supervising classroom lessons had ended. According to researchers at Upwork, it is anticipated that 40 million or more employees will work from home at least one day/ week by 2026.

WFH had more reach than could have been imagined, giving rise to the unprecedented Great Resignation. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that from April – June 2021, 11.5 million workers quit their jobs; in September, another 4.4 million left their places of employment. It appears that employees are done with office politics, done with endless meetings that have no purpose and done with bosses who withhold pay raises and promotions because they enjoy controlling people’s lives.

As you might expect, the Great Resignation impacts Freelancers because they have to make a living somehow. Furthermore, the WFH phenomenon has speeded up a growing acceptance among managers of hiring Freelance workers. Upwork in August 2021 reported that 53% of managers are now more willing than pre-pandemic to hire Freelancers for selected projects and tasks, as a result of their experience with remote workers in their own organizations.

See the full Upwork report for more details. https://www.upwork.com/i/freelance-forward

  • As of July 1, 2021, 59 million workers in the U.S. performed Freelance labor over the past 12 months, an increase of 2 million workers since 2019 and representing 36% of the workforce
  • Freelancers annual earnings in aggregate were $1.2 Trillion, an increase of 22% since 2019 and representing 5% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product
  • 36% of Freelancers now consider themselves full-time, an 8% increase since 2019
  • The number of Freelancers in the United States has increased by almost 12% between 2014 and 2021
  • 75% of workers who quit their jobs to become Freelancers report that they earn the same income, or greater
  • Freelancers earn, on average, $28 an hour for performing skilled services
  • Young professionals have embraced Freelancing and half of the Generation Z workforce has done Freelance work
  • Freelancers age 55 + comprise 26% of the Freelance workforce and they primarily do skilled and project-based work
  • 50% of Freelancers provide professional level services such as computer programming, software development, marketing, social media, translation and business consulting, an increase of 45% since 2019
  • 51% of Freelancers have participated in skills development training in the past 6 months, as compared to 36% of traditional employees
  • 19% of Freelancers earn $75,000 to $99,999 per year, 12% earn $100,000 to $149,000 per year and 5% earn $150,000 or more per year
  • 58% of freelance workers in the United States have worked with more than 5 clients in the past 6 months
  • 58% of traditional employees who are WFH due to the pandemic are now considering Freelancing in the future

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: A Freelancer in America at work

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Will the “Great Resignation” be Great for Freelancers?

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Americans are quitting their jobs. In behavior apparently ignited during the significant chunk of time spent away from offices as a result of the coronavirus shutdown, a surprising number of American workers have decided that they’re not going back to business as usual.

A LinkedIn survey revealed that 46 % of respondents felt that the time spent at home — either on lay-off or working remotely — during the pandemic shutdown led them to rethink their current work situation. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that during April, May and June 2021, 11.5 million workers gave notice. The February 2021 Microsoft Workplace Confidence Index survey of more than 30,000 workers showed that 41 % of American workers are considering quitting; that number increases to 54 % when looking solely at Gen-Z employees. If that’s not enough, a new Gallup survey found that 48 % of workers are actively job-hunting.

Upwork, the online marketplace for Freelance assignments, released a report in August 2021, “The Great Resignation: From Full-time to Freelance,” yet another examination of why American professionals are leaving, or seriously thinking of leaving, their current full-time employment. As many businesses anticipate a return of their employees to the office, sometimes on a limited basis, the survey of 4,000 workers showed that some professional-level employees are not willing to surrender their WFH work-life balance. Approximately 9 million pandemic WFH employees, 17% of professionals, apparently would consider looking for another job if forced to return to the office on a full-time, or even part-time, basis.

Needless to say the “Great Resignation,” as the phenomenon was named by Anthony Klotz, Associate Professor of Management at Texas A & M University, has the potential to create significant disruption for many organizations if it should come to pass in the way that several studies indicate. Already, workforce development experts are advising in particular mid-size organizations, who cannot compete for talent in the way that big businesses are able to do, to find an opportunity in the instability and tap the power of the growing on-demand workforce—Freelance consultants, that is.

Rather than scrambling to hire employees on short notice, company leaders would be better served by supplementing their teams with talented Freelancers—you and me, my friend—who own the skills needed to successfully tackle any project, from designing eye-catching websites, to managing a multi-platform social media campaign, to conducting comprehensive research projects. Instead of paying both high salaries and benefits for full-time employees, mid-size organizations can access top-drawer Freelance talent on a per project basis and keep overhead down as they achieve objectives.

No doubt many company leaders will first attempt to squeeze more work out of current employees, but that all-too-common default behavior probably won’t fly anymore. In fact, that habit could partly explain why valuable team members quit. The bosses will be nervous and may not know where to turn. Still, deciding to outsource and bring in Freelance talent may quickly be seen as inevitable.

So how might Freelancers cash in on the “Great Resignation?” Carpe diem—-you know how to do that! Start by putting yourself in the shoes of an employer who has a mission-critical project, a deadline and a team that’s down two key players. Below are sources that would be familiar to employers looking for Freelance talent so that an important job will get done. You’ll also find a credibility building resource that when you commit to using it will showcase you as a very attractive candidate to hire.

  • LinkedIn Populate as many categories of your profile as possible and be certain to include examples of your best work. If you haven’t participated in ProFinder, the service where employers solicit Freelancers for projects, create a profile and be prepared to quickly respond to employer requests. Only five Freelancers may bid on a project.
  • Upwork and Fiverr These gig worker marketplaces seem to be more welcoming to web designers and IT programmers, but I was hired for a writing project on Upwork three years ago. To get hired, you must search for and pursue assignments and at Upwork, you’ll wind up paying a small fee to bid on a job.
  • Help a Reporter Out. Prospective employers will surely type your company name into a search engine to see what comes up. In addition to great content that you’ve written and your social media sites, include as well your insightful quotes that have appeared in relevant publications. Quotes are an excellent way to demonstrate your know-how and convince prospects that you’re a good hire. https://www.helpareporter.com/sources/

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: An office in Palo Alto, CA circa 2000

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Ready To Fly Freelance!

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According to the Freelancers Union, 53 million Americans, 34% of the workforce, engaged in some level of Freelance work in 2014 (that includes workers like Uber drivers, who are classified as private contractors). Of that number, 45% were Freelancers who consider themselves self-employed professionals; 27% were moonlighters, doing Freelance projects in addition to their primary employment; and 18% were considered “diversified” workers, who cobbled together three or more revenue raising activities to support themselves.

Businesses large and small continue to eliminate traditional full-time employment and push American workers into figuring out how to support themselves independently. Some workers have an entrepreneurial mindset and an independent spirit and would strike out on their own regardless. Maybe that is you? Whatever the circumstances, the time may be right for you to plan to work for yourself. Here are some signifiers:

You are confident You’ve honed a set of skills over the years that you are certain others will pay you to provide to them. You have access to potential clients who are familiar with you and your work and you are fairly certain that you can build a successful organization that will yield an income that will allow you to pay your bills and maybe even exceed your current salary.

You have a very good professional network and colleagues who will make referrals for you (and you will be able to return the favors and make referrals as well). You believe in yourself and your abilities and you are not afraid to step out and go it alone.

You are self-motivated You want to be independently employed, the captain of your own ship. You are a self-disciplined leader who is comfortable working alone or in a team. You are able to meet deadlines and enjoy meeting and especially exceeding expectations.

You cannot get a better job The new economy is unkind to so many. Middle-class jobs have been disappearing since the late 1980s as a result of computer technology, globalization, the off-shoring of labor and most of all, unprecedented corporate greed that has driven down wages, restricted merit raises for the vast majority and made billionaires of the 1%.

Age, race and gender discrimination are real and well-documented. The pervasive use of “search committees” that control the hire of even administrative assistants, whose members apparently aim to hire minimally competent functionaries who are incapable of out-shining the committee members, effectively block the employment of many talented workers.

Regardless of your skill set and experience, work ethic and track record of working collaboratively, you may not be able to get either a promotion or a new job anywhere. Breaking into a new field with “transferable” skills is usually limited to either the enormously well-connected or the very fortunate.

You’re a good salesperson  Freelancers and business owners are salespeople, first and foremost. Devising and implementing a marketing plan (and financial and operations plans as well) requires that you promote your venture in ways that will put you on the radar screens of potential clients and referral sources. Whether you are an introvert or extrovert, you must effectively talk up your business, in particular to those with money and motive to do business with you.

You have money saved You’ve been able to save 6 months + wages that will float you as you bring in projects and rack up billable hours. To further cushion your Freelance experience, you would be wise to identify and pursue other revenue streams, better known as flexible part-time employment. Teaching is a popular sideline for consultants, but do not be embarrassed to consider taking a low-level job that will not bring you into contact with potential clients. You just want to discreetly make money and also have time to pursue your real work.

Flexibility matters You may have aging parents who need your help; you are the parent of school-age children; or you prefer to work intermittently (or all three). Being saddled with the ongoing requirements of a 40 hour + job may not blend well with your personal obligations.

If you think that you have a marketable skill, arrange to let potential customers know and try to get hired for a few projects while you still have traditional employment. The strategy also applies to those who are retired or about to retire. Join the 27% of Freelancers who moonlight and beta test your business concept. You could be pleasantly surprised by how much you enjoy running your own empire!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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The Freelancers Union

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Front page top half of the Sunday March 24 New York Times business section features a lengthy article on the Freelancers Union,  a Brooklyn,  New York based 501 (c) (3) organization that benefits Freelancers.  The organization was founded in 2001 by Sara Horowitz,  a New York City labor law attorney who 20 years ago was hired into a Manhattan law firm as a contract worker and found aspects of the experience unsettling.  There was a precursor group Horowitz founded in 1995,  Working Today.

The Freelancers Union is not a certified union,  but an association of independent workers,  from screenwriters to management consultants to nannies,  that promotes the interests of Freelancers.  It has no collective bargaining power,  does not negotiate contracts and does not represent members in grievances.  If a client stiffs you on an invoice,  the Freelancers Union will not go to bat and help you collect.  Members pay no dues or membership fee.

Freelancers Union keeps issues of concern to Freelancers alive in the media,  as a strategy to impact government policies that benefit us.  The group advocates for legal reform on worker’s compensation,  unemployment benefits and tax relief  (our taxes are higher, as you know),  areas in which we are vulnerable.   In 2009,  the group successfully persuaded New York City to eliminate the unincorporated business tax levied on Freelancers who earn less than $100,000,  a saving of up to $3,400/year.

An internal Freelancers Union survey found that 58%  of its members earn less than $50, 000/year and 29%  earn less than $25,000/ year.  Bear in mind that most members reside in Metro New York City and pay rates are usually higher there than in other areas of the country.  Also,  some prefer to work part-time and that limits earning potential.

In the March 24 article,  there were questions about the practical value of Freelancers Union beyond the delivery of health insurance.  Gordon Lafer,  professor of labor relations at University of Oregon said,  “The question is,  can they get any leverage to get a fair shake from employers,  to get companies to give a fair share of their profits to Freelancers? They may need to be more creative to do that.”

Still,  Freelancers Union is a fast-growing group that has 207,000+ members and more than 50%  live and work in New York state.  The website states that there are 42 million independent and part-time workers in this country,  workers who are not eligible for benefits of any kind.  In response,  the Freelancers Union’s primary deliverable is providing affordable insurance through its for-profit insurance company: medical,  dental,  disability,  retirement and life insurance policies.  Unfortunately,  not every form of insurance is available in every state.  I cannot at this time obtain medical insurance in my state,  but all other forms offered are available.

Its health insurance company has enrolled 23,000 Freelancers in New York state.  Premiums are $225.00 – $600.00/month.  The Obama administration recently awarded Freelancers Union $340 million in low-interest loans to help the organization establish in New York,  New Jersey and Oregon cooperatives that will provide health insurance to Freelancers and others who need coverage.

For Sara Horowitz,  the goal is to persuade Freelancers to band together and set up social purpose institutions that serve our mutual needs.  “The social unionism of the 1920’s had it right”,  she stated in the March 24 New York Times article.  “They said: we serve workers 360 degrees.  It’s not just about their work.  It’s about their whole life.  We  (Freelancers Union)  view things the same way.”   See  http://freelancersunion.org for more info.

Thanks for reading,

Kim