The Future of Work: How Freelancing is Changing the Way Work is Done

According to the second annual Freelancing in America study (an online survey of over 7,000 U.S adults who have held paid jobs [both freelance and non-freelance] for the past 12 months) by Freelancer Union and Upwork, 700,000 more people have joined the freelance work force in the space of one year.

60% of the people said they started freelancing more by choice than by necessity; 78% of the people who left traditional work to start freelancing confirmed they earned more through freelancing within a year or less; 73% of freelancers agree technology is making it easier to find freelance work these days and 50% of freelancers said they would not quit freelancing to take up a traditional job with any employer irrespective of how much the job promises.

The way work is done is absolutely changing. There have been very many years of struggle between traditional employers and traditional employees. The struggle is still on. This struggle makes a lot of employees resume every morning at a work they do not enjoy one bit and run home at night as fast as they can. All that is changing now; a lot of people are finding freedom with freelancing and the number is swelling by the day.

According to the same survey, 84% of freelancers who are millennials say they would freely recommend freelancing to their friends.

34% (54 million) of the U.S workforce is engaged in freelancing and experts already predict this will rise to 50% by 2020.

Even though freelancing does not promise some of the benefits that come with traditional jobs like health care, etc. freelancers have a lot of reasons for choosing to play by different rules.

A freelancer has freedom; he picks his projects and decides his terms with his clients; he works when he wants and where he wants. There’s no boss looking over his shoulders; he just ensures he delivers superb work at the end of the day. Freelancing allows him build skills and pursue his passion.

Now, there’s already a short supply of developers and designers for full time traditional work. This group is creative and love to remain that way. Traditional work cannot provide them the kind of flexibility they need to explore creativity and so most of them are embracing the freedom and flexibility that come with freelancing. Bad thing is, once they turn away from traditional work, they more often than not are not willing to return to it.

In the same light, there’s a constant rise in the number of bootstrapped internet entrepreneurs. A lot of these entrepreneurs make this decision because they never want to get trapped in the 9 to 5 snare or the four walls of boredom. They want to provide solutions; they want to be creative – in their own terms and they don’t have to spend heavily to get tasks done, they can simply hire freelancers without the customary overhead of running an office. And more importantly, they can be freelancers themselves and use the income from freelancing to fund their startups.

Freelancing is changing the future of work. Freelancers are taking over.

People are no longer willing to come sit at an office, doing stuff they don’t enjoy. Even those who still keep their day jobs freelance on the side and will more likely take a dive into full-time freelancing. In just a matter of years, there’ll be more people freelancing than people doing traditional jobs and companies will be forced to outsource more.

Are you ready for the future of work?

Originally posted on the Hubify Blog and CloudMedia Blog. If you enjoyed the article, please give us some love on Medium.

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