Freelancing during the Covid-19 pandemic

What is the future of work for freelancers and the self-employed in the post-covid world? There couldn’t be a greater level of uncertainty surrounding this than there is now. And for many self-employed workers, freelancers and companies, this means their livelihoods are at stake.

It’s difficult to predict when we’ll have a clearer picture of their future. However, freelancers are fundamental for German business. They’re accelerators for transformation, vital for new start-ups, and also help businesses when they’re struggling to fill gaps in personnel. Yet they face a series of stumbling blocks including: fear of bogus self-employment, compulsory statutory pension insurance, and other regulatory hurdles.

For many self-employed workers, freelancers and companies their livelihoods are very much at stake.

That said, for many, a career as a freelancer offers more advantages than disadvantages – they wouldn’t want to give up their self-determination, or the flexibility and independence it offers, under any circumstances! This trend is growing, especially given the increase in remote-working brought about by the health crisis. The idea of having to choose between your dream job and your preferred place of residence has become a thing of the past.

So, why does freelancing remain so attractive despite the pandemic – and what should freelancers watch out for now?

(Bogus) self-employment

Self-employment is still seen as the “little sister” of permanent employment – which is why we urgently need a campaign to change the image of self-employment.

In our current ‘How Germany Works’ research series focusing on freelancers, we found that almost one in four freelancers (23%) encounter clients who cannot adequately distinguish between full-time staff and freelancers. These uncertainties hit freelancers in the STEM sector particularly hard: 25% of IT and 31% of engineering freelancers have already lost contracts because their clients was afraid of bogus self-employment. This is something no freelancer can afford in such difficult economic times.

Freelancing despite the Covid-19 pandemic

When you take a closer look at the motives for freelancing, it’s clear flexibility and self-determination are among the decisive motivators. The pandemic, digitalisation, and automation have all intensified the trend towards new working models and made agility a central issue for businesses. Freelancers can come in and act as agility drivers to react faster to problems and the needs of companies. This is able to happen because working freelance means being your own boss and enjoying flexibility – therefore make sure you’re aware of your value.

Even before the current health crisis, the demand for digitalisation experts in Germany couldn’t be fully met. This has only increased during the pandemic in certain areas of the country. According to the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BitKom), there have been 86,000 vacancies for IT experts across all sectors since the end of 2020. IT freelancers can therefore look forward to an increase in demand from the second half of 2021.

Freelancers can come in and act as agility drivers to react faster to problems and the needs of companies.

Nevertheless, despite the rosy outlook for IT freelancers, we shouldn’t ignore the immense challenges that come with self-employment. Finding assignments can be difficult, a lot of time and energy goes into tendering and ultimately there are hidden costs when unsuccessful. To avoid this, I’ve listed three “top tips” for you below.

If freelancers follow these points, they’ll be well on their way to fully exploiting the advantages of self-employment – for themselves, for companies, and for Germany as a business location.

Get legally fit

The danger of bogus self-employment hovers over freelancer activities like a Sword of Damocles. More and more regulations and compliance guidelines can unsettle freelancers. It makes sense to have legal support should you require it. Many HR consultants have expertise in legal and tax imaging and can ensure a more ‘relaxed’ working life.

Manage your time effectively

Who doesn’t know this feeling? A deadline is getting close and closer – the customer is expecting a project to be completed on time – and your stress levels are rising. Almost every freelancer has experienced this scenario once and it has an effect on mental and physical health. Good time keeping and self-management help to make projects more efficient. Clearly structured working hours and breaks lay the foundation for this. In order to work to your full potential, it’s worthwhile adapting your working hours to suit you.

Focus on learning

Continuous training is even more important for freelancers than for permanent staff. Making sure you’re up-to-date in your area of expertise is a vital part of being freelance. In Germany, the education premium even allows you to receive finance support. So, invest yourself regularly.

This article originally appeared in German on LinkedIn. Read it here.

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