Around two-thirds of freelancers (69 per cent) and temporary workers (63 per cent) in the UK moved, or considered moving, to permanent, part-time or full-time work last year, according to a survey conducted by Bullhorn®, the cloud computing company that helps staffing and recruiting organisations transform their businesses.
Both freelancers and temporary workers listed job security as the biggest concern with their current work, followed by rate of pay. The same factors also appear to be discouraging permanent workers to enter the gig economy, with just 2 per cent saying that they have considered it.
Q: What is your biggest concern with ‘gig’ work?
Freelancers Temporary workers Permanent workers
Job security 52 per cent 42 per cent 54 per cent
Pay 46 per cent 29 per cent 38 per cent
Nonetheless, the majority of freelancers (72 per cent) and temporary workers (63 per cent) would still describe their experiences as “Good” or “Excellent”, with both groups citing schedule flexibility (44 per cent) as the main factor keeping them in their current line of work. Only around a quarter reported increased difficulty with finding gig roles last year.
Q: How easy has it been to find work in the last year?
Freelancers Temporary workers
Easier 33 per cent 23 per cent
The same as before 44 per cent 48 per cent
Harder 23 per cent 29 per cent
“While the gig economy appears to be growing rapidly, unresolved issues around job security and pay could threaten to derail it,” cautioned Andy Ingham, senior vice president, EMEA and APAC, Bullhorn. “Ongoing regulatory concerns like IR35 and the continued impact of the pandemic could further exacerbate the issue. Why risk job security and worse pay for flexibility that can be increasingly found in the ‘new normal’ of permanent work?
“Targeting disgruntled freelancers or temps could prove to be an effective recruitment strategy for employers struggling with skills shortages and the so-called ‘Great Resignation’,” Ingham adds. “Whether we’re talking about gig or permanent work, it seems the winning combination is job security, a decent wage and, of course, a strong degree of flexibility. The employers that are willing and able to offer this will stand to gain the most in the current labour market.”
Tania Bowers, global public policy director at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) added: “The pandemic revealed not only the need for a dynamic and flexible workforce, but also the complexities of a more fluid labour market. When Covid-19 first impacted the UK, contractors, agency workers and other ‘giggers’ were left uncertain as to if and how they could access the SEISS or furlough scheme, creating a desire for greater security. The gig workforce is undefined in law, covering task workers, such as delivery cyclists, through zero hours workers, to regulated, protected agency workers and highly paid specialist professional contractors.
“More clarity in law is needed to define what employment protections and security each worker type should be given,” she says. “For example, the legal protection needed by an agency worker differs to that required by a self-employed professional contractor. Without this clarity, we will continue to see an unsettled gig economy workforce with workers (and in many cases their trade unions) believing they are treated or taxed unfairly.”
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