Search Results for: freelance

Serfs up for the self-employed and gig economy workers (and the middle class)

Serfs up for the self-employed and gig economy workers (and the middle class)

One of the most significant consequences of the 2008 economic crash was a remarkable shift in the nature of employmentThe recession led to a surge in the number of people categorised as self-employed. The numbers have been increasing ever since, albeit at a lower rate. By the end of 2019, the number of self-employed people in the UK exceeded five million people for the first time. Fifteen percent of the workforce.  More →

Self-employed workers and side hustlers to drive the UK’s economic recovery

Self-employed workers and side hustlers to drive the UK’s economic recovery

self-employedResearch released by Mettle and YouGov estimates that the UK’s growing self-employed and side hustler movement will contribute an estimated £125 billion in turnover to the UK’s economic recovery in 2021. Furthermore, small and medium-sized businesses (with 1-49 employees) are estimated to contribute approximately £310.46 billion. More →

More than half of UK workers planning to take on a side hustle

More than half of UK workers planning to take on a side hustle

workersOver half (54 percent) of UK workers say they are more open to taking on a side hustle or freelance work since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new research from Fiverr. Over 2 in 5 (44 percent) agree they are more open to it, due to the flexibility that working from home has given them. More →

Getting the measure of better working cultures

Getting the measure of better working cultures

For now, just forget the cyborg monkeys and spinach sending emails, the real short term tech action is all about how to gauge what workers are thinking or doing, and what to do about it – especially if whatever they are thinking and doing is not what the org wants for them or, more importantly, itself. Things are getting crazy. More →

Self-employed sector undermined and diminished by events of 2020

Self-employed sector undermined and diminished by events of 2020

An uphill fight for the self-employedNew research from IPSE, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed, claims that the number of solo self-employed people in the UK has fallen by 5 per cent compared to last year. The total number of solo self-employed (excluding those who have others working for them) has fallen from 4.6 million in 2019 to 4.4 million. Until now the sector had been growing continuously for 11 years – by a total of 40 per cent.   More →

New to working from home? Here is how you should set up

New to working from home? Here is how you should set up

Companies are in danger of losing top talent due to lack of flexible workingThe past year has been something of a game-changer in many ways and perhaps one of the most unexpected has been how people have had to embrace the idea of working from home. More →

Flex space occupancy remains stable through Covid-19

Flex space occupancy remains stable through Covid-19

Flex spaceA third of flexible workspace providers reported that occupancy rates have remained relatively stable through the global lockdown, only falling by 10 percent. On average, operators reported demand for flex space at 52 percent of pre-Covid levels, but some suburban markets have seen significant growth and pricing in those areas has increased. More →

Massive increase in numbers of self-employed people on universal credit

Massive increase in numbers of self-employed people on universal credit

self-employedA new report from IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) suggests that there has been a massive increase in the number of self-employed people on Universal Credit since 2019. More →

The mental health consequences of COVID grow increasingly clear

The mental health consequences of COVID grow increasingly clear

Mental healthThe number of self-employed people saying they have “poor” or “very poor” mental health has increased from 6 percent to 26 percent since the beginning of the pandemic (a 300 percent rise), claims new research by IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed). The number saying they had “good” or “excellent” mental health has also dropped significantly since the beginning of the pandemic – from two-thirds (68 percent) to just over a third (39 percent). This was most severe among women (a drop of 54 percent) and young freelancers aged 16-34 (a drop of 49 percent). More →

Remote work and the coming race to the bottom

Remote work and the coming race to the bottom

One of the most significant consequences of the 2008 economic crash was a remarkable shift in the nature of employment. The recession led to a surge in the number of people categorised as self-employed. The numbers have been increasing ever since, albeit at a more stable rate. By the end of 2019, the number of self-employed people in the UK exceeded five million people for the first time. That’s fifteen percent of the workforce. More →

Casting a spell on the future of work and workplaces

Casting a spell on the future of work and workplaces

There was a time we used to talk with dismay about the Japanese phenomenon of intense social distancing known as hikikomori. We would consider with horror the isolation, lack of engagement with society, poor mental health and loneliness of the people who had almost completely withdrawn to their rooms. Those poor bastards locked up in enclosed spaces linked to the outside world only by screens. More →

From the archive: the future of work and place in the 21st Century

From the archive: the future of work and place in the 21st Century 0

future of work and placeHowever much we know about the forces we expect to come into play in our time and however much we understand the various social, commercial, legislative, cultural and economic parameters we expect to direct them, most predictions of the future tend to come out as refractions or extrapolations of the present. This is a fact tacitly acknowledged by George Orwell’s title for Nineteen Eighty-Four, written in 1948, and is always the pinch of salt we can apply to science fiction and most of the predictions we come across. More →