Come i freelance stanno cambiando il futuro del lavoro

Un recente segnalare prevede che entro il 2027, il numero di freelance costituirà circa 50% della forza lavoro statunitense, a 86,5 milioni. Anche se la forza lavoro globale si è evoluta considerevolmente nell'ultimo decennio, questo rapporto rappresenta il dinamismo dell'attuale generazione di lavoratori professionisti. Sottolinea anche come l'indipendenza del lavoro sembra superare tutti gli altri benefici che gli ambienti aziendali portano con sé. I giovani lavoratori scelgono sempre più spesso l'ambiente di lavoro flessibile, che sembra offrire una soddisfazione personale e professionale ineguagliata dai lavori regolari a tempo pieno. Inoltre, è più evidente che mai che freelance è diventato una fonte di reddito secondaria sostenibile o, in molti casi, primaria.

In un'epoca in cui i freelance stanno diventando grandi come sviluppatori web, scienziati dei dati, redattori/redattrici tecnici e scientifici o market research consultants, it is tempting to ask whether doing a regular full-time job at one company is worth the time and energy. While breaking away from the 9-to-5 schedule has become a hit among workers both young and old, there are multi-level challenges regarding long-term financial stability, medical insurance and other health benefits that freelance workers have to deal with. But what is the reality at the grassroots level? What do the job satisfaction indices point at? Here is an analysis of how the gig economy is changing the future of work.

1. Il freelance ti permette di concentrarti sugli obiettivi personali di carriera

Usually, when young people start their careers, they have a list of career goals that they want to accomplish in their lives: from learning programming languages to becoming watersport instructors. Freelancing provides the opportunity for young people to pursue those goals, especially when they are new in their careers and might not have too many financial liabilities. In today’s age of collaboration and interdisciplinarity, it is necessary to upskill and learn new things on a daily basis, both within and outside of our careers. For example, a PhD graduate working on electronic devices might want to study bioinformatics. Choosing to freelance can be a great option in such a situation because freelancers are free to choose their schedules and workloads.

Freelancing helps experienced professionals helps tailor their work hours and skills in relation to the number of years they would like to keep working. It’s also possible that corporate workers choose to become freelance workers after reaching a certain age, say 40 or upwards, which not only makes the first steps of establishment much easier but also lets them choose who they want to work with and how much work they want to do. Some reasons that corporate workers turn to freelancing also include falling job security, changes in immigration laws, reduced employee benefits, etc.

2. Il freelance fornisce una rete di sicurezza

There’s a huge probability that the current job you’re doing isn’t the best fit. However, you cannot think of making the career shift of your choice because of some necessary financial requirements. Starting to freelance in a domain you’re skilled in can help reduce the stress in many ways. It’s also the option a lot of professionals are shifting towards because of the reduced job security that regular jobs lack today. Companies are changing their manpower management tactics, the number of work-hours is increasing while the attrition rates are rising. This pushes skilled professionals to take up freelancing as a career option besides their regular jobs in order that stressing periods at work don’t throw them into a burnout zone.

Questo cambiamento nelle menti dei lavoratori aziendali ha influenzato la qualità generale dell'attuale forza lavoro americana. Le giovani menti stanno diventando più attive come freelance la sera invece di passare ore dopo il lavoro con i loro colleghi. Sempre più giovani professionisti stanno creando profili di freelance su siti web come Upwork, Toptal e KolabtreeLavorando sullo sviluppo della loro esperienza lavorativa complessiva e delle loro competenze, invece di socializzare con i loro coetanei.

3. Crescenti preoccupazioni per la sicurezza e la garanzia del rischio professionale

Più di 129 milioni di lavoratori negli Stati Uniti. are covered by worker’s compensation, according to NELP, but many companies in the gig economy do not provide it because their workers are classified as independent contractors. Although this is a concern well-discussed with regard to gig workers in the US, such as those working as delivery agents, door-to-door salespersons or for ride-sharing cab companies, the concerns are similar for freelancers as well. When freelancing professionals work on projects that take them to distant locations or to unknown website databases, they are completely out on their own and are at risk of accidents, hacking or unwarranted property damage. These risks are quite real and freelancers have to prepare for them without their careers being affected badly.

Tuttavia, molte aziende stanno includendo i loro lavoratori freelance nella loro base di dipendenti e li assistono con benefici di assicurazione medica e contro i rischi di incidenti. Il lato negativo è che tali aziende sono limitate nel numero e possono essere presenti solo in alcune città.

Gli scienziati freelance sono gli ultimi arrivati in questo regno parallelo del lavoro. Anche se in passato era difficilmente immaginabile, i lavoratori della scienza ora comprendono circa 16% di lavoratori gig. Gli scienziati di dati freelance sono i leader questo spazio, che comprende circa 10% while scholars from other disciplines are soon gaining a vast prominence. What affects the freelance workers in this space is that they need to remain connected with colleagues in their field. They also might require government or external funding. Scienza dei dati is, by far, the most lucrative area of freelance work than other science, technology, engineering and medicine related fields.

Independent working is not a difficult possibility for technology majors, who need not more than a computer system and a couple of programming languages set up on it. Similar case for writers, editors, market ricerca analysts and scientific illustrators as well. But how they carve out their niche and grow their ambitions is totally a skill that depends on personal caliber as well as access to the right platforms. What is intriguing to note is the pace in which scientists, market research consultants, trainers, and app/web developers have risen as freelancers/independent workers, which clearly points that freelancing is surely going to remain as one of the viable career choices in the future. This sustainability + flexibility combination is playing out well in both the US and Europe.

Overall, the change is positive and is leapfrogging ahead. It all boils down to how freelancers are regarded by organizations. Are they considered as constitutive employees of the organization or is the communication with freelancers just about the work and project completion, targets and deadlines? In the years to come, freelancers would like to expect more “inclusiveness” that traditional employees enjoy. They may also be able to remain loyal to the organizations they work for, even if it is on a contingent-work basis. The success of the freelance economy, although a tough bet to consider now, may fuel the concept of self-employment in the minds of the future generations to come, given the rise in the demand of niche skillsets.