Freelance workers are essentially 3rd party contractors who are take on projects of a wide variety of companies at their convenience, while not being formally employed by any one company. IN this regard, these types of workers are very flexible and can negotiate the circumstances of their work hours and prices with the company whose project they are taking on. In the modern era, freelance work opportunities are flourishing, as more people realize that doing so can leave them free agents within the world of work, sometimes even relinquishing the common 9 to 5 schedule which so many conventional workers are prone to following.
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Although currently most employees work full time, it can be inferred from many trends that freelancing, as a career, is growing. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has further revealed that the number of freelance is set to grow by approximately 4.32 million people, or 26 percent compared to the previous year. If one seek to better understand what freelance workers are and how they work, as well as strategies for managing them then feel free to read on.
What is a Freelance Worker?
A Freelance work is contracted by a company or individual client to work on a specific project. While working, freelancers can handle multiple projects from several different clients at once; naturally, they must be able to prioritize work and efficiently manage their own time.
Freelance workers can be loosely related to that of an entrepreneur because they technically work and run their own business. They are also at liberty to determine their own price for the services that they provide. Although freelancers are allowed to work more flexibly and can determine their own working hours as they operate as separate entities than that of their clients, it is necessary for them to still be able to complete contracted projects at the allotted time, and therefore, following and meeting deadlines is, as is the case for any worker, an important factor.
If you are wondering about a freelancer’s responsibilities, the answer is very diverse as they work alone, they will also take care of various things such as providing consulting, doing marketing, taking care of administration, and much more.
Why Do Many People Choose to Become Freelance Workers?
As we mentioned earlier, freelancers are only increasing as a career. This is certainly inseparable from the various advantages of this type of work. Broadly speaking, working as a freelancer will allow for several advantages over full time workers, namely:
- Gaining flexibility
This is the main point that leads many people into choosing to work as a freelancer. Freelancers can more freely manage their own working hours, work locations, and workloads. In addition, they can also set the work rules themselves.
- A diverse source of income
Freelance workers can receive more sources of income because they can work for more than 1 client. They can also be more flexible in setting prices. So, when freelancers get a lot of clients then they will get the opportunity to earn a large amount of income.
- Free from monotonous routine
Have you ever felt like you were doing the same repetitive job everyday? If the answer is “yes”, then this can be avoided by working as a freelancer. Freelance workers not only have the flexibility to choose the type of work that they want to do, but they also have the freedom to control their own working hours. Thus, freelancers also have a better work life balance.
What Are the Disadvantages of Being a Freelance Worker?
It is important to know that this type of work also has some drawbacks. Some of them include:
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- It takes time to build trust between clients
When working as a freelancer, of course, you will need time to gain the trust of your potential clients. So, therefore you will need to expand your network and carry out promotions so that the services offered can be used by many people.
- Have a big responsibility
You need to know, freelance workers also have a big responsibility. When working alone, a freelancer needs to take care of many things. Some of them include being responsible for business development, finding clients, managing communication with your clients, doing billing, paying taxes, and many more. In addition, they must also be able to make their own decisions for the business and not everyone is ready to tackle these tasks alone.
- No allowances
When working full time at the company, employees will generally receive benefits such as health insurance or employment insurance. However, when working independently on a freelance basis, workers cannot get these benefits from the company.
Strategies for Hiring Freelancers in Companies
If your company is in need of a freelancer to complete a project, then we will share tips and strategies for managing these employees. Even though they work independently, as clients, the company still needs to pay attention to how they work so that the work they do can be in accordance with what is expected. Here are some strategies you can do.
- Set expectations together
When hiring freelance workers and using the services they offer, the company must explain what is expected of the freelancer in detail. Examples include explaining the desired website development process, the design details you want to create, the features you want to embed, and a clear due date.
- Negotiate flexibility
Even though freelance workers work flexibly, as a client, the company can negotiate regarding this flexibility. Before entering into a cooperation contract, the company must first discuss this so that the project can run smoothly.
Examples of flexibility negotiations that we mean here are as follows. When your company hires freelancers to help the team at your company, then you can ask the freelancer to be available at certain hours when the team is working. Thus, the collaboration process can still run well. Or another example, such as when a team at your company is having a meeting discussing a project, the freelance team must also be available to participate in the meeting.
