freelance survey 2012
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FREELANCE SURVEY2012
Presentation1
A word on the methodology used
How the market for freelancers looks like
What is the freelancer facing? The freelancer perspective
Freelancers and Service Providers, a Win-Win scenario?
Conclusions
Content
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What is a Freelancer?
We define a freelancer as an interim manager, or expert
working on a temporary and independent basis with a company or organization.
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Freelance Survey
Online March - April
2012
500 respondents
Joint initiative
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Fast MovingFin
an
ce, B
an
kin
g &
Insu
ran
ce
Automotive, Transport & Logistics
IT &
Tele
com
Oth
er
Healthcare - ICT
Utilities Public
Med
ia
Travel, Tourism & HoReCaN
on
pro
fit
Bio
tech
nolo
gy
Education
Creative, Art, Culture, Photography, etc
Who were these 500 Freelancers?Industries
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Finance & Accounting
Project Management
Mark
etin
g &
Com
mu
nic
atio
n
ICT
HR
& T
rain
ing
Sale
s
Administration Operations: Production, manufacturing & quality
Other
Procurement, supply chain & logistics
Customer ServiceLegal
R&
D &
En
gin
eerin
g
Who were these 500 Freelancers?Activity domains
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2%
22%
44%
25%
7%
26-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-72
7%
14%
14%
10%
9%
6%
6%
6%
3%
1%
4%
19% 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
>10
Age Experience
Who were these 500 Freelancers?Age & Experience
N = 343N = 198
55%
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N = 380
Who were these 500 Freelancers?Gender
79%
21%
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9
13% 24%
41%
12%
4%
2%
4%
5%
31%
13%
60%
23%Abroad
Who were these 500 Freelancers?Regions of activity
N = 372
“Golden Triangle”
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THE MARKET FOR FREELANCE ASSIGNMENTS
The
Mar
ket
How the market for freelancers looks like
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N = 418
2012
DEMAND
After some challenging years, the freelancers anticipate a positive trend
+
-
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N = 64N = 422
85%
8%4%1%2%
Did you find an assignment during last 6 months of 2011?
I didn't find an assignmentIt was my choice not to have an assignmentI'm a freelancer only since 2012Other
Yes No
Chargeability over the last 6 months
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55% of freelancers feel and expect higher competition
2009 2010 H1 - 2011 H2 - 2011 H1 - 2012 H2 - 2012
Competition is increasing
N = 407
+
-
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N = 398
2009 2010 H1 - 2011 H2 - 2011 H1 - 2012 H2 - 2012
Fee evolution is negative
+
-
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Bache
lor o
r Hig
h sc
hool
sho
rt ty
pe
Maste
r or H
igh
scho
ol lo
ng ty
pe o
r uni
vers
ity
Post
uni
vers
ity
PHD/ M
BA
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
10% 5% 8% 12%
65%55% 44% 23%
21%28% 32%
37%
4% 6% 6% 21%5% 5% 5%4% 2%
Impact of education on fee
300-499 500-699 700-899900-1099 1100-1299 1300-1500
N = 295N = 301
N = 282
31-40 41-50 51-60 61-72550
590
630
670
710
750
Impact of age on fee
Average fee Median Fee
Man Woman540
580
620
660
700
711
640
Impact of gender on fee
Average Fee Median Fee
Age, Gender & Education are factors that influence the daily fee
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N = 334 N = 340
N = 340 N = 309
0-3 months
4-6 months
7-12 months
1-2 years More than 2 years
600
620
640
660
680
700
720
740
Average Fee per Assignment Duration
2 3 4 5600
650
700
750
Average rate per billable days per week
0200400600800
747 727 714 709 705 705 704 698 698 687 673 663
Impact of sector on fee
Average Fee
Median Fee
Opera-tional
interim fct
Interim people
mgr
Other Project based roles
Change or risk roles
550
600
650
700
750
800
850
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Impact of roles on fee
Average Fee
Count
Median Fee
The assignment role and sector also have impact
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What is the freelancer facing?The freelancer perspective
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N = 496
Once a freelancer, ‘always’ a freelancer
61% would not return to a payroll
job
Only 3% considers returning to a
payroll job
Remarkably, those considering to return don’t match the ones that became
freelancer through restructuring
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N = 496N = 488
What drives and what holds you back?
3/4
of fr
eela
ncer
s
app
reci
ate
aut
onom
y an
d va
riatio
n
2/3
of fr
eela
ncer
s
fear
finan
cial
unc
erta
inty
and
not
findi
ng n
ew a
ssig
nmen
ts
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- Older Freelancers work less days per week than their younger peers.- Only 27% of 60+ work 5 days a week
N = 362
1
2
3
4
5
6
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
1%
5%
16%
28%
49%
1%
Billable days per week
For over 50%, the 5-day week is not the standard
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N = 375
The own network preferred and most efficient sourcing channel, closely followed by service providers
Own ne
twor
k (in
clud
ing
prio
r clie
nts)
Serv
ice
prov
ider
s
Direct
con
tact
with
curre
nt cl
ient
s
Onlin
e sit
es fo
r sea
rchi
ng fr
eela
nce
jobs
Socia
l med
ia
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
Net Promoter Score – Effectiveness Channel
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N = 490
Over 1/4th of Freelancers has more than 1 assignment
1/4th of Freelancers has extra remunerated activities
75%
25%
NoYes
N = 401
Common extra activities:•Accounting•Teaching/Coaching•Directorship•Sales
45%
26%
29%One
Multiple
None
How to mitigate the Financial uncertainty
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N = 326
This means that on average, a freelancer is billable for 81%Partially, this is an own choice.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >70%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Average length in months in between assignments
Finding assignments: the average length between assignments is 2,28 months
50%
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The ideal assignment length is 7-12 months (seconded by assignments of 1-2 years)
0-3 months 4-6 months 7-12 months 1-2 years More than 2 years
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
13%
20%
32%
22%
13%9%
20%
35%31%
6%
Assignment Duration
average duration (N = 406)ideal duration (N = 409)
Freelancers want and get assignments of 7 months to 2 years
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Freelancers and Service Providers, a Win-Win scenario?
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N = 393
82%
18%
Do you have experience in working with Service Providers?
Yes
No 43%
57%
Would you consider to work via 1 service provider exclusively?
N = 319
Facts & Figures
35% of ALL freelancers
consider working
exclusively
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N = 310 N = 302
Match makers
Expertise domain experts
Umbrella agents
Quality agents
Big 40%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
12%7%
22% 20%10%
28%
25%
32% 38% 58%
15%
3%
8%4%
10%37%
47%
33% 25%
19%
8%19%
7%13%
4%
Which type of Service Provider do you know and worked with?
I don’t know this type
I know the type but never worked with them
I know the type but I’m not interested in working with them
I sometimes work with them
I always work with them
Big 4
None
Match makers
Expertise domain experts
Umbrella agents
Quality agents
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
6%
5%
16%
41%
6%
26%
For which type of agent are you most likely willing to work in the future?
Facts & Figures: Who is the preferred partner?
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0%
10%
20%
30%
33% 29% 24%11%
2%
Why wouldn’t you work with a Service Provider?
N = 65
* 65 out of the 500 respondents answered this question
Bad c
om
munic
ati
on/r
ela
tionsh
ip
Bad p
rofile
vs
ass
ignm
ent
matc
h
Body S
hoppin
g
Com
peti
tion w
ith o
ther
FL/Inte
rnal
Consu
ltants
Hig
h inte
rmedia
ry m
arg
in
Lack
of
follow
-up/s
upport
/feedback
Low
conta
ct w
ith e
nd-c
lient
/ purp
ose
of
the a
ssig
nem
ent
Short
term
ism
Tre
atm
ent
as
subord
inate
iso
part
ner
0
50
100
150
200
7 16 5 16
157
7 3 8 8
Disadvantages of SP's
N = 258
Hate-Love relation: What FL don’t like about SP’s
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N = 315 N = 308
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
5%2%
4% 2% 3%
11%
5%
12%
22%
16% 17%
Loyalty FL towards service providers
Loyalty from 0 (not loyal) to 10 (absolutely loyal)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100%
5%
10%
15%
20%
8% 6% 8% 8%5%
14%
9%
15%13%
7% 8%
Loyalty service providers towards FL
Loyalty from 0 (not loyal) to 10 (absolutely loyal)
Average loyalty of Freelancers towards Service Providers; 7,92
Average loyalty of Service Providers towards Freelancers; 6,34 >
Hate-Love relation: Loyalty
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N = 417
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%
55%
21% 14%7% 2%
What will be your most likely strategy in times of crisis?
Hate-Love relation: But in times of crisis
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N = 363
Shar
ing
know
ledg
e
Organ
izin
g ne
twor
k ev
ents
Supp
ort d
urin
g as
signm
ents
Organ
izin
g tra
inin
gs0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%
68%52% 52% 50%
Main actions that Service Providers can take or develop further to optimize your role as Freelancer
Freelancers have clear expectations
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N = 138
Guara
nte
ed n
um
ber
of
charg
eable
days
Adm
inis
trati
ve a
ssis
tance
Netw
ork
poss
ibilit
ies
Support
duri
ng a
ssig
nm
ents
Tra
inin
g p
oss
ibilit
ies
Lead g
enera
tion f
ees
Earn
ing o
f quality
label: r
efe
rence
s,,,
Acc
ess
to c
om
pany k
now
ledge
Primary motivators to work through SP’s
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Expertise domain ex-
perts
Quality agents Match makers Big 4 Umbrella agents
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
56%
45%
31%
22%15%
Willingness to work with current SP
N = 267
Freelancers find this with?
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Conclusions on freelancers
Main motivators: autonomy & variation – and not fee or flexibility
Freelancers are aware that market is getting more competitive
Gender inequality in fees
Social media: present, but not as an assignment finder
Higher education results in higher fees
Important sourcing channels: own network & service providers
Preferred type of service provider: expertise domain experts
Concerns towards service providers: margin, added value, loyalty
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Conclusions on service providers
Finding the right assignments
Financial compensations
Expertise development Networking
ONCE A FREELANCER, ALWAYS A FREELANCER