Freelancers are all too often the lifeblood and the lifesavers of a creative organisation. They’re the flexible extra resource we bring in when the workload suddenly increases and there’s no time (or budget) to hire; they’re individuals with incredible specialist skills who can change your organisation but you could never afford to hire permanently; they’re the crew on a theatre or TV production who make mind-blowing, award-winning work or in the case of many sectors in the creative industries, like film and TV, they are quite literally your entire workforce.
And yet, as Creative Access’ freelancer report shows, many employers are not treating their freelancers in this way. They are treating them as ‘other’ to their permanent employees; investing in training or wellbeing for everyone except their freelancers or worse, claiming to create a culture of ‘belonging’ that includes everyone except the large proportion of individuals not on permanent contracts.
If you have a creative organisation, at some point you will need freelancers. And here is our best practice for how to attract, retain and support the best freelancers in the business:
Think about their mental health and wellbeing
- Being a freelancer can be especially hard on your mental health
- Employers can play an important role in supporting freelancers with their mental health and wellbeing by opening up access to training and employee assistance programmes to freelancers
Give free access to your employee training
- 78% of freelancers in our survey said professional training was one of the most important areas employers and industry bodies can support them
- Ensure your freelancers can access all of your internal training
- Really progressive employers are now offering freelancers a stipend for further professional training – it’s definitely one way to ensure the best freelance talent will remain loyal to you over your competitors
- Or there may be professional training that your team could provide freelancers such as personal brand building, legal or financial management training
Provide a line manager and a mentor
- For any freelancer working with you for more than a few weeks, they should be allocated a line manager, who should check-in with them regularly and provide performance reviews as they would with a permanent employee
- You could also consider offering your freelancers a mentor through Creative Access
A culture of inclusion means everyone
- If you are truly building an inclusive culture you can’t segregate employees based on their employment contract
- Freelancers should be included in all social events, if you celebrate birthdays in your organisation make sure theirs is marked too
- Make it clear you will make reasonable adjustments for disabled freelancers – 91% of disabled freelancers in our survey highlighted this was an issue with employers
Help them build their network
- Having a strong and growing network is critical for freelancers to find new projects and earn money
- Look at where you could help by writing testimonials for them on Linked-In or for their website or introduce them to people in your own network
- Showcase the work they’ve done for you on your organisation’s channels and name check them
Read the findings from our freelancer report: Freedom or working for free? Freelancers in the creative economy.
A new press announcement from Creative Access on freelancers in the creative industries reveals that freelance talent demands change from creative organisations. Although freelancers are broadly happy with their career path, there is a breakdown in the relationship between freelancers and employers within the creative economy as 1 in 2 freelancers say they ‘don’t feel supported by employers’ they work with.
Although demand for freelance workforce support in the creative industries shows no signs of shrinking, overall satisfaction is waning among the self-employed.
- Freelancers ask for reasonable adjustments & employer training to thrive
- 50% of freelancers don’t feel supported by the employers they work with
- 1 in 5 (22%) became a freelancer due to negative experiences in a perm role
- Disabled individuals 30% more likely freelancing after negative perm role experience
- 54% say they’re offered a day rate or salary below their level
However, the research also showed that freelancers are overall pleased with their career path, pointing to several positive aspects about being self-employed, suggesting their job gives them satisfaction, namely around:
- remote work (62%)
- project diversity (61%)
- independence (61%)
- it being beneficial to their health & wellbeing (42%)
- and freedom to select clients (32%)
- Freelancers ask for reasonable adjustments & employer training to thrive
- 50% of freelancers don’t feel supported by the employers they work with
- 1 in 5 (22%) became a freelancer due to negative experiences in a perm role
- Disabled individuals 30% more likely freelancing after negative perm role experience
- 54% say they’re offered a day rate or salary below their level
Creative Access, a leading UK diversity and inclusion social enterprise today reveals new research that shows although freelancers are broadly happy with their career path, there is a breakdown in the relationship between freelancers and employers within the creative economy as 1 in 2 freelancers say they ‘don’t feel supported by employers’ they work with.
This is despite the creative industry’s heavy reliance on its freelance workforce. Self-employed talent currently represents a third of resource in the creative economy (source) – sectors such as film, TV, journalism, PR and many more have historically relied on freelance support to deliver projects and plug valued skills gaps.
Creative workplaces ‘excluding’ freelancers
Although demand for freelance workforce support in the creative industries shows no signs of shrinking, overall satisfaction is waning among the self-employed. The report from Creative Access surveying under-represented freelancers in the creative industries highlights poor standards from employers. When asked ‘do employers support freelancers and include them in their teams & organisations?’ half of respondents (50%) said no.
Unsurprisingly, 1 in 2 freelancers also said late payment from employers was an issue. And 1 in 3 disabled respondents said they went freelance due to a negative experience in a permanent role, this was higher than the average 1 in 5, which sadly raises a bigger issue of disabled freelancers being 30% more likely to have suffered bad workplace experiences as staffers, this ‘otherised’ treatment seems to continue into self-employed life.
Not all bad for freelance talent
Despite challenges freelancers face, respondents are overall pleased with their career path, pointing to several positive aspects about being self-employed, suggesting their job gives them satisfaction, namely around:
- remote work (62%)
- project diversity (61%)
- independence (61%)
- it being beneficial to their health & wellbeing (42%)
- and freedom to select clients (32%)
How can employers & the industry help freelancers thrive?
Despite positive experiences being self-employed, freelancers didn’t hold back in identifying how employers and the creative industry at large can better support them to do great work. It’s no coincidence that respondents said employer training on how to best support freelancers is one of the most important resolutions to the freelance, employer disconnect.
Respondents also pointed towards several key action points employers and the creative industry at large can take to help them thrive:
- Make it clear as an employer you will make reasonable adjustments for disabled freelancers – 91% of disabled freelancers in our survey highlighted this was an issue with employers.
- 78% of freelancers in our survey said professional training was one of the most important areas employers and industry bodies can support them
- Providing access to a mentor with a similar lived experience, was valued by 63%
- Access to networking events to build their client and peer contact base (67%)
- As well as training for employers on how to best support freelancers (48%)
“Freelancers are all too often the lifeblood of a creative organisation,” says Creative Access CEO, Bibi Hilton: “They’re the flexible extra resource we bring in when the workload suddenly spikes and there’s no time or budget to hire to plug highly valued, and often specialist skills gaps. And yet, our survey shows, many employers are not treating their freelancers in this way. They are treating them as ‘other’ to their permanent employees; investing in training or wellbeing for everyone except their freelancers or worse, claiming to create a culture of ‘belonging’ that includes everyone except the large proportion of individuals not on permanent contracts.
“At Creative Access we’ve been at the forefront of supporting diverse talent for over a decade, it’s all part of our mission to make the creative industries reflect UK society. However, we also appreciate our own role in offering career-long support – particularly when talent is self-employed and lies outside the safety net of an organisation.”