National Freelancer Day
Dear Freelancers,
“ I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.” — Robert Frost
Today is National Freelancer Day and this day celebrates the rising number of freelancers across the globe. It serves as a reminder that you walked on a road not taken. From being able to decide your own work timings, to working in your pajamas, freelancers have changed the idea of a workforce. India has the second-largest freelance workforce and the demand is rising by the hour. As Flexing It CEO Chandrika Pasricha states, “With the world becoming networked, organizations of any size and scale can attract the best talent from across the globe. Startups can put a cap on crucial overheads with the help of independent specialists, while there is a growing need for large companies to adopt flexibility/flexible engagement models as a core strategy to retain high-performing talent,” A survey depicted that 20% of freelance talent is driven by corporate sectors.
There is a strong need for companies to break down their traditional boundaries. In a gig economy, hiring independent contractors or freelancers instead of an employee is becoming the new trend. The gig economy is bringing in new talent, it is beneficial to workers, businesses, and consumers. By making the workspaces more flexible and adaptable, freelancers are leading the way out of restrictive traditional work culture.
A traditional work culture that was often exclusionary, now freelancers that often work from home are single parents, people with disabilities, and college students. So, today we also take the opportunity to celebrate our Indian Freelancers. In India, there is still a stigma against freelancers that hinders their growth. This day is a yearly reminder not just in the UK but also globally that we can make our freelancer’s lives easier.
Freelancers are often underpaid for the work they do. It is already a huge risk that they are being stripped away from all company benefits but they are still paid peanuts for the huge task they take up. Considering a large part of our working population is freelancers, this needs to change.
The tasks they take up are often meant for an entire team. Freelancers are often given strenuous deadlines with a heavy workload. The constant stigma does not help. Working from home is often equated with no work or laziness, but that is completely untrue to the statistics out there that show higher productivity.
On this day, here are few reminders for the working sector, that can help make a freelancer’s life easier:
- Freelancers are not unemployed. They are self- employed and enjoy the liberty of working outside the corporate vicinity.
- They need to be paid equal to the amount for the efforts they put up. Being underpaid for the quality and quantity of work is a disgrace and purely unethical.
- While some work requires physical presence, with today’s technology it is possible to work away from home and hence should not stop global freelance hiring.
Being a freelancer is a brave step. Being stripped away from the company benefits and health care and most importantly the security is scary. There will be problems and barriers but as Toni Morrison said, “You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
With the quick changes in the economy, there will be a better understanding of freelancing culture. Happy National Freelancer Day!
Written by Asmita Seth for The Growup Group
