Freelancers are reported to be happy, sleeping enough, having enough free time to spend with their family, friends, and doing their hobbies, new OfficeNeedle data shows.
While this is all promising, the analysis also shows some more worrying facts. For example, freelancers say they have health problems, no health insurance, and more. Continue reading to see what the report is saying.
The survey polled 2690 freelancers of different ages, working in different fields, with various years of experience. The majority of them were millennials, while more than a quarter of them (28%) were younger than 25.
The most interesting finding says 99% are happy with freelancing
Job satisfaction is a big factor in everyone’s career. It seems like freelancers are very content with their careers, as 99% say they are happy with freelancing. Out of those, 59% are extremely happy with freelancing.
Also, their satisfaction shows in another interesting fact. Namely, 55% of them admitted that they prefer their job as a freelancer to a full-time job with the same pay and flexible hours. However, 45% said they would consider such a job opportunity.
Although happy, 85% say they find freelancing stressful
Freelancing usually comes with a lot of benefits, like being your own boss, choosing your working hours, and working whenever you feel like it. However, this does not exclude the possibility of freelancers still finding it to be a stressful career.
For example, 49% of surveyed freelancers said they find freelancing to be moderately stressful. On the other hand, 15% said that freelancing was not stressful. Moreover, only 16% reported they find freelancing extremely stressful.
To be able to lead a comfortable life, freelancers have a lot of work to do and a lot of trust to gain from different clients. That is why it is not surprising that some of them work even more than 10 hours a day (18%). Also, 57% of them report working on weekends at least sometimes, while one in four always works on weekends.
Another interesting statistic tells us that 65% of freelancers think they are overworking. On the other hand, only 49% do not feel like work is taking over their life. Despite this, 78% have enough free time.
How freelancing affects their health?
With overworking, burnout is imminent. And with burnout, both effects on physical and mental health are not surprising. The study asked freelancers to grade if overworking has affected their physical and mental health and to what extent.
For 29%, overworking has affected their mental health extremely. On the other hand, 41% state that overworking has not affected their mental health at all. Around 15% stated that overworking affected their mental health either moderately or slightly.
When asked about the relationship between physical health and overworking, the numbers are different. First of all, only 39% say that overworking had no effect on their physical health. However, only 13% say that overworking affected their physical health (stomachache, headache, backache) extremely. Moreover, around one in four said that it affected their physical health either moderately or slightly (23.2% and 24.6% respectively).
While these freelancer statistics show that freelancers see an effect on their health, the majority of them do not have health insurance. As a matter of fact, the study disclosed that only 48% of them have health insurance.
Also, despite their health problems, freelancers are not too actively involved in the following activities – running, exercising, going to the gym. Only 17% of them do so every day, while 46% say they do not engage in these activities at all.
Moreover, overworking and burnout usually mean that workers and freelancers struggle with maintaining their productivity levels. However, freelancers are divided in half over whether and how overworking is affecting their productivity. Namely, 50% disagree with the statement that overworking has reduced their productivity. On the other hand, one in 10 say that overworking has reduced their productivity extremely.
Conclusion
In spite of all the problems freelancers encounter in their professional way, they declare to be happy without a doubt. Some data suggest that this is because of their independence and freedom of choice. Such promising data results in more and more workers trying the self-employment waters. However, some are more and some less accomplished in it.
