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Freelancers – The path to Happiness?
In times of quarantine many of you might have had some time to think about values in life and of future opportunities or past decisions that have been made.
What is important to you in life? Happiness?
Then you should consider that it is official: “Freelancers are the happiest overall, mainly driven by a better balance of compensation and number of working hours per week.” (Movemeon, 2020)
As highlighted in the graphs above, not only the total compensation, but also the number of working hours that freelancers do, are leading to high ratings on the scale (1-10) of perceived happiness.
But let us dig a bit deeper: What is happiness? What makes freelancers happier than full timers?
According to a study of consultancy.uk there are 4 main reasons: Freedom, work-life-balance, professional development, and higher earnings.
The freedom to choose a client, an opportunity, or even a location is probably the most important factor. In addition to that, the work-life balance improved in 91% of the cases. One strong argument was the freedom to choose the work schedule, when to work, and how many hours. Especially women named the problem of not being able to continue their job with fixed hours with their former employer after giving birth, for instance. Beside the need for flexibility when establishing a family, also the desire to travel has been named as an important point.
Talking about another crucial argument, for some maybe even the most important one when talking about work, the monetary aspect. The majority of freelance consultants highlight that the wages are higher as when working for an employer. Clearly, that is due to the fact that the middleman is cut out and freelancers can select their clients and fees independently.
In addition to the external benefits that come along with being autonomous, the personal development factor is key. Freelancers stated that they could focus on their preferred or most valuable expertise and expand on it. Tools they named to do so are for instance, reading relevant publications and what was even more important to them was the exchange with like minded experts to always keep on track with their expertise. The key is networking, cross-sectional, no industry isolation.
At this stage it is worthwhile to mention our Outvise blog, where experts can get insights to hot topics within the TMD (Technology, Media, Digital) industry and boost their hard skill set.
Not only recent publications will keep you posted, also knowledge sharing in networking platforms is a way to stay updated. Here, at Outvise, we also provide you with the opportunity to implement that networking aspect in your routine through our Expert to Expert service (E2E). You can post questions, debate in open discussions and help out other experts with your insights.
After highlighting the aspect of happiness when being autonomous, in the second part of this series we will reveal the current evolution of the so-called “Gig Economy”, as well as given internal insights of which job opportunities were most wanted recently. In Part three we will then link all information to an interview with Nils Kramer, a German freelancer focused on Agile Change Management.
Eusebi is Co-Founder and CEO at Outvise, with a demonstrated history in the management consulting industry. He's a seasoned entrepreneur with a strong background in Business Planning, Entrepreneurship, Strategic Partnerships, Business Transformation, and Strategic Consulting.
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