Panel event summary - Networking the gig economy: options for the future of work

Pete Cohen, development partner at FORWARD — The RMIT Centre for Future Skills and Workforce Transformation — writing with director Peter Thomas and development partners Sally McNamara, Inder Singh, Kate Spencer, Courtney Guilliatt and Daniel Bluzer-Fry on the future of freelancers and freelance skills.

As we have written about previously, we think the rise of freelancing is a significant trend that, as a society, we need to prepare for.

RMIT FORWARD recently hosted a panel discussion, organised in collaboration with the proposed Co-operative Freelancers Society (CFS), to hear multiple perspectives around the needs and challenges facing freelancers, and to explore options for the future of work.

The panel was facilitated by Antony McMullen who is co-founder of both CFS and Co-operative Bonds — a co-operatively owned consultancy that specialise in offering expert advice and support for member organisations such as cooperatives, mutuals, associations and trade unions.

The panelists

• John Paller founder and steward of US-based Opolis — digital employment co-operative.
• Rebecca Stewart — Freelance Illustrator — creator of book illustrations, editorial, concept development and comics.
• Julian Waters-Lynch — RMIT Lecturer who has been exploring the potential for organising autonomous, authentic and creative labour amid a community of workers.
• Godfrey Moase — United Workers Union leader (and co-founder of CoPower).
• Maize Wallin — Melbourne based composer, sound designer, audio programmer and co-founder of Australia’s national trade union for games workers.

We encourage you to check out the full recording, however, below are some of the key points discussed by each of the speakers:

John Paller

• The current issues with HR tech stem from the fact they are geared for B2B, and not for self employed people.
• As trans-national work for freelancers becomes more commonplace, complex international tax responsibilities need to be upheld.
• Freelancing drives more efficiency, productivity and wellbeing as workers can align their time and attention more meaningfully.

Rebecca Stewart

• Most clients don’t know how conceptualise or engage a freelancer, and how they differ from a full time or part time staff member.
• The shortcomings of many of the available paid portfolio sites and agencies, that provide limited value.

Julian Waters-Lynch

• The balance between autonomy, sense of community etc on one hand, and security on the other.
• The human dimension of work that co-working provides, and the way that the relationships of trust reduce transactions costs.

Godfrey Moase

• Digital platforms don’t replace the need for unions to organise — human relationships remain central.
• The legal categories of employment emerged from the struggles of artisan labour.

Maize Wallin

• The Game Workers Union is advocating for the unique concerns of the workers they represent, including their particular types of risks (e.g. public liability while showcasing at convention centres) and the potentially sporadic nature of their income.
• Sham contracting is an issue in the industry that simultaneously denies a worker the benefits of employment and the autonomy of freelancing — the worst of both worlds .

It was clear from the discussion how multi-dimensional the concerns of freelancers are, ranging from very tangible administrative matters such as taxation and insurance, through to the human aspects of building trusted networks and the need to educate clients on what it means to engage a freelancer as opposed to a part time employee.

These themes continued after the panel in discussion with the audience members, many of whom are freelancers or portfolio careerists. All were pleased to see the human and relational dimensions being surfaced and explored, especially in the wake of the pandemic which has accelerated change and created more distance for some.

We look forward to continuing this exploration of the needs and concerns of freelancers, and to help co-design what mix of products and services the Co-operative Freelancers Society might offer to address them.

If you are a freelancer, please consider taking five minutes to fill out this short survey so we can hear your perspective.

FORWARD is the RMIT Centre for Future Skills and Workforce Transformation.

Our role is to build an innovative learning ecosystem at scale, create new collaborative applied research and invent next-generation skills solutions that will catalyse workforce development in the future-oriented industries crucial to Victoria’s economic renewal.

We lead collaborative applied research on future skills and workforce transformation from within RMIT’s College of Vocational Education, building and scaling the evidence and practice base to support Victorian workforce planning and delivery and acting as a test lab for future skills to develop and pilot new approaches to skills training and education through digital transformation and pedagogical innovation.

We leverage RMIT’s multi-sector advantage to translate research insights into identifying workforce requirements and the co-design of practice-based approaches with industry.

Contact us at forward@rmit.edu.au