WLP338 What's Going On with Remote Freelancing
In our previous episode, our guests Tammy and Theresa discussed career progression in remote and global teams. In this episode, Maya and Pilar look at another sector of the working population: freelancers, and discuss what’s going on with remote freelancers and remote workers who want to access opportunities in a country different to where they reside.
Maya set up Remote Work Europe to help people who had never worked remotely either as employees or freelancers before the pandemic, and were now considering those options long-term. RWE started as a Facebook group for people looking to find remote work in Spain and has now expanded to other countries. Maya is focused on providing a space where people can support each other to find remote work and understand the practicalities of what’s involved in each country, as well as curating remote work opportunities which she sends out in a weekly newsletter.
There used to be an obvious separation between being an employee and being a freelancer, but perhaps remote work allows for more flexibility even in the kind of employment we look for.
Picking up on Tammy Bjelland’s comment in the episode 337, where she mentioned that there aren’t that many remote jobs around: does the problem lie in employment law, and the fact that it doesn’t support global mobility, or at least a large degree of location flexibility?
In particular, there is a shortage of remote roles at entry level for people who might not have worked remotely before - most flexibility tends to be found in more senior roles or very niche jobs. The rise of “hybrid” means that sometimes it’s difficult to gauge the degree of location flexibility in a job. Hiring internationally is complex from a practical point of view and an organisational culture point of view, and it often comes down to what organisations prioritise.
From a career progression point of view, when you are junior, does this mean that you might need to learn on the job to work remotely? It might mean that to be trusted to work remotely, you might need some in-person time first. At the same time, identifying those skills that make you a good remote worker and stating them upfront when looking for work can help.
Being a “good remote employee” means little now, as there are so many ways of being “remote”. What do you enjoy about it? What do you do well in that environment? Is it a question of being very organised, or being a great facilitator of online team meetings? It requires a high degree of self-awareness, not just what you bring to your job, but why you are good at working remotely, and even why you prefer that setup and that you understand the challenges.
For those organisations that are requiring people to be in the office for a certain amount of time, it helps to be honest about the reasons behind it - so that potential employees can help to come up with alternative solutions, or at least decide whether those decisions fit the work environment they would like to be a part of.
25.30 MINS
Could it be that freelancing is on the rise? Many people thought they couldn’t work remotely, and they could. Maybe the opportunity to be a freelancer seems possible now too. And companies might be more open to contracting freelancers who work away from them, rather than always looking to create full-time, co-located jobs when they need more capacity.
However, setting up as a freelancer is not always straightforward, and in some countries, it might require a lot of bureaucracy and even cost. This could be seen as a missed opportunity for countries, as there are many benefits to enabling your citizens to set up as freelancers.
32.10 MINS
Recently Pilar interviewed Sondre Rasch, CEO of SafetyWing, a company providing insurance to digital nomads and remote teams. He reckons that the rise of freelancing and self-employment is undeniable. Countries should streamline this sector, making processes like tax deductions more straightforward. Currently, self-employed individuals face complexities akin to running a full company, including understanding company law and accounting. Traditional employer-staffing models, especially in countries with intricate labour laws like Greece or Brazil, may not be sustainable due to their cost and complexity. The future likely favours a more organised and efficient self-employment system, reflecting its growing role in the global economy.
In any case, the fact that remote work has become acceptable might mean that being freelance also becomes a widespread alternative- as has the fact that technology has become more affordable.
42.00 MINS
Which leads us to something else that has “been going on”: Pilar recently received an email from MS offering an incentive for using Bing on Microsoft Edge… A reminder of how valuable online collaboration has become for certain businesses…
We’d love to hear what you think about all this! And if you have any questions or any recommendations for future topics, do get in touch!
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