As full-time jobs dried up or disappeared during the recession, more and more workers became independent contractors, signing on for short-term projects and part-time responsibilities. And an undetermined number of these so-called “disposable workers” prefer the life of free agents, floating from gig to gig, with no benefits, and no delusions about the work lasting for the long haul.
Or so says a NY Times story. The evidence that workers find freelance situations more appealing seems to be based on the experience of one gentleman who works in marketing for a health care manufacturing company in Georgia. The gentleman, Michael Sinclair, gives this as his ringing endorsement of the independent contract’s existence:
“I think it’s far less risky than being in a full-time job somewhere and cut at will and left with nothing,” Mr. Sinclair said. “I see this as the way more people will work in the future.”
Wow! Sounds so amazingly exciting! Makes you want to quit your full-time, fully-benefited job right now, doesn’t it?
Later, the story goes on to explain that while the shift to freelance is certainly a cost-saving trend among employers, the main (only?) thing that employees find appealing or preferable about freelancing is that it’s better than not working at all. In fact, Mr. Sinclair’s experience aside, the freelance life can be fairly awful, according to the Times:
They have struggled to deal with the instability, the second-tier status often accorded contractors and other temporary workers and the usual lack of benefits. In most states, they are ineligible for unemployment insurance and worker’s compensation. Indeed, it is not at all clear that the shift to these kinds of arrangements is good for workers.
The experiences of two other current independent contractors who quite clearly would prefer to return to full-time work are presented, including a woman who was fired from her HR job at a hospital, only to be rehired by her old employer as an independent contractor for half of what she used to make—and without health insurance. Her comment:
“It’s not permanent,” she said of the assignment. “So I am not feeling secure.”
To tally up the count, that’s 1 worker who gives the independent contractor’s life a mild “not so bad” rating, and 2 workers who say they’d much prefer full-time employment. And yet, the story’s lead pumps up the “appeal” of the short-term gig.
Oh, and the Times says that “despite the drawbacks” of freelancing, “there are many who have entered this world voluntarily.” Like Michael Sinclair, for example, who “had been working at a marketing and strategy consulting firm in the Atlanta area but was laid off last year.”
With no full-time opportunities out there, Sinclair offered himself up as a part-time consultant and sound work here and there floating from project to project. Does that really sound like he entered the independent contract world “voluntarily”?
Seems to me like he had no other choice. And when you have no other choice, any opportunity whatsoever can seem appealing.