Freelancers – Platform Livelihoods

Freelance, according to studies, is a way for people to be self-employed (not having a boss), which offers flexibility and choice to determine their own rates. The key concern is maintaining a steady flow of work, in such a competitive atmosphere. Some studies outline the struggles newbies face, especially building credibility on the platform. Experienced freelancers on the other hand, have a higher bargaining power, thus, getting the majority of the jobs which they sometimes subcontract.

Find references for this section at the bottom of this page or see the PDF for in-text citations.

Two key benefits articulated by freelancers is not having a boss and the allure of entrepreneurship.

I don’t have a boss and stuff, so it’s too good to be true. The jobs that we are being asked to do on GigOnline are most probably the same as what we’re doing in the office, but when we do it from a freelancer perspective, it puts more pressure on it, failure is not an option. When you fail, it reflects on your reputation. That contract could be ended right there and then if the client isn’t happy. It’s lovely being a freelancer because I can take our work where I need to, and not being confined to an office. (Wood, Lehdonvirta, and Graham 2018, 114)

However, some mentioned that this is a “mirage” due to work instability and long hours put into getting work, “One of the biggest freelancer concerns is maintaining a continuous flow of work. When you go freelance, it’s completely up to you to find projects and book clients” (Elan 2019, para. 4).

Workers experience discrimination based on geography, wages, task-based location, and tasks for native speakers.

We had some problems creating a profile there. I cannot do work in English correctly. Sometimes, they cancel the jobs. We do not understand what they are talking about. Sometimes, they give us poor ratings. That is also a dead block (Malik et al. 2020, 8).

There’s also a limitation on the type of work they can do (Malik et al. 2020, 9). Workers resort to changing their geographical location and online profiles as a hack to fit the requirements (Muhindi 2019).

Reputation is key in global freelance work compared to those in anonymous-microtask; they want to build a brand and be sought after. Experienced freelancers have higher bargaining power on platforms (Anwar and Graham 2019), with most of them transitioning and subcontracting work. New freelancers, however, have to prove their value. Sometimes, they fall “prey” to clients who make them do work for little or no pay in exchange for good ratings (Malik, Nicholson, and Heeks 2018). Experienced workers have built informal networks for support, building consciousness on the work and solidarity (Malik, Nicholson, and Heeks 2018, 12)

One of the biggest challenges is understanding rating systems, especially when workers are aggrieved.

Freelancing is perceived to be the first step towards reaching more substantive entrepreneurial aims, usually owning a business. One freelance worker reported working “…online with 99designs [as] simply a way to raise capital to establish local businesses for more secure sources of income” (Crosby and Cahaya 2017).

References

Anwar, Mohammad Amir, and Mark Graham. 2019. “Hidden Transcripts of the Gig Economy: Labour Agency and the New Art of Resistance among African Gig Workers:” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, December. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X19894584.

Crosby, A. L., and R. Cahaya. 2017. “The Lure of the City, the Possibilities of the Village: Crowdsourcing Graphic Designers in Indonesia.” In , 255–59. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Design Institute and Cumulus International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media. https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/94623.

Elan, Jessica. 2019. “7 Common Problems Freelancers Face — and How to Conquer Them Like a Boss.” Remote Bliss (blog). March 20, 2019. https://remotebliss.com/problems-freelancers-face-how-to-conquer-them/.

Malik, Fareesa, Richard Heeks, Silvia Masiero, and Brian Nicholson. 2020. “Digital Platform Labour in Pakistan: Institutional Voids and Solidarity Networks.” In Proceedings of the 28th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS). Marrakesh, Morocco: Association for Information Systems. https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2020_rp/147.

Malik, Fareesa, Brian Nicholson, and Richard Heeks. 2018. “Understanding the Development Implications of Online Outsourcing: A Study of Digital Labour Platforms in Pakistan.” Development Informatics Working Paper 73. Manchester, UK: Global Development Institute, SEED. http://hummedia.manchester.ac.uk/institutes/gdi/publications/workingpapers/di/di_wp73.pdf.

Muhindi, Abas Ben. 2019. “Towards Decent Work On Online Labour Platforms: Implications Of Working Conditions In Online Freelance Work On The Well Being Of Youths In Nairobi County.” MA thesis, University of Nairobi. http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/109681.

Wood, Alex J., Vili Lehdonvirta, and Mark Graham. 2018. “Workers of the Internet Unite? Online Freelancer Organisation among Remote Gig Economy Workers in Six Asian and African Countries.” New Technology, Work and Employment 33 (2): 95–112. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12112.