A few thoughts on millennial flakiness and freelancing
The flexibility of freelancing might be a godsend for digital natives or ‘solopreneurs’, although the realities of doing business like expenses, getting paid and legalese might be a concern
Millennials are predicted to make up 50 per cent of the global workforce by 2020 but CEOs say attracting and keeping them is one of their biggest talent challenges, a PwC survey says.
Why is that? The answer is simple: They grew up differently from previous generations. Millennials want their work to be valued and efforts regularly recognised. They also expect rapid progression, stimulating work and constant feedback from their managers. So it is really no wonder that a lot of millennials prefer the creative and open job market of freelancing, instead of having to operate within ossified corporate hierarchies.
What is the deal with millennials?
Pre-millennial generations may wonder about these ‘youngsters’ who seem to demand a whole lot of flexibility and encouragement, something that was definitely not the norm ‘in their day’.
An Ernst & Young survey of millennials showed that 75 per cent want the ability to work flexibly and be on track for promotion, earning an entire generation the label ‘self-entitled’. Having been raised to believe that anything is achievable, and that everyone is unique, it should come as no surprise that millennials expect the same at work.
Also Read: 6 important things to remember about your millennial colleagues
According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, there are plenty of millennials out there—80 million plus (the largest cohort size in history) in the US alone. And they are an important generation, too. Say what you will about them, pre-millennials, but they are the ones who will need to support a significantly larger older generation as life expectancy increases. As the most educated, well-fed and intelligent generation in the history of the world, perhaps our pessimism about them is misplaced.
Freelancing – the happy medium for millennials
‘Digital natives’ is ad industry parlance for the millennial generation. Growing up with broadband, smartphones, laptops, social media, they expect instant access to information, what better metaphor is there for instant gratification at work than freelancing itself?
Websites like Freelance.com, Upwork and PeoplePerHour allow freelancers to work on projects literally (like in the original sense of the word) everywhere, as these websites serve as marketplaces where talent matches opportunity anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, if you’re a corporate manager struggling with getting more out of your young team, you won’t find relief from millennials here.
One big downside to freelancing: getting paid!
Like second-hand iPhones, freelancing looks perfect until you get too close. The one horrifying downside: getting paid on time. Ask any freelancer — this is the thing that drives them bananas. There’s nothing worse than working hard on a project to have the client drag their heels on payment.
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There is also a secondary level of protection, where freelancers would be able to gauge the reliability of clients by looking at their ratings, a feature adapted from eBay by progressive sites like Upwork. While the ratings system is good, it’s not really going to serve you if you’ve already done work for a particular client, and they refuse to pay you. So what kind of protection can you get?
How best to ensure payment: contracts, contracts, contracts
Protection in terms of the law for freelancers is rather sketchy and vague in many countries. The onus is on you as a freelancer to protect yourself. This reflects the unfortunate reality that the pace of technological progress often far far outstrips the capability of lawmakers to keep up.
The EU’s battle with Google over “The Right To Be Forgotten” is a high profile exception that proves the rule. Google has been indexing stories on people since their founding. Does it really take so long for lawmakers to catch on that embarrassing stories live on online?
This however neatly illustrates another divide between millennials and their elders. Millennials don’t care about privacy. They are far more likely to manage their own privacy settings than to lobby their representatives to rein in invasive tech companies.
On legal matters though, there still is no substitute for a well-written contract. On this, all generations can be in agreement, even millennials. A few rules of thumb will serve very well here. A good contract should have, at minimum, the following:
Scope of work: Be as specific and exact as you can to prevent misunderstanding later.
Intellectual property: Who is the owner of the content, logo or design you produced?
Payment amount and method: Absolute clarity is essential — payment by when, late payment penalties, payment schedules (if any).
Revisions: How many rounds and how much you are willing to do in terms of revisions.
Deadlines: Make sure a specific date is agreed and stated in writing.
“Kill rate”: Early termination payment terms are also essential to protect you if your client decides to pull the plug early.
And last but not least, how best to get paid
They say a good sale illuminates how your product can help the customer ‘get paid, get laid or get made’. I’m told that Tinder and Instagram work well for the latter two, but the greatest variety for millennial freelancers is for getting paid. Traditional cross-border wire transfers and local bank transfers incur high transfer fees and minimum balance fees. My informal research reveals the new mainstream, and it’s fringes.
Paypal: It’s been around for the longest time and boasts the biggest number of users. But it does seem to charge a high percentage for virtually every transaction, except buying goods and services online.
Payoneer: Surprisingly founded an age ago in 2005, and based in New York, Payoneer is a favorite among freelancers who want to withdraw their earnings quickly even via an ATM.
Skrill: If you use Skrill (formerly Moneybookers) in conjunction with freelancer.com, you get an exemption on fees up to EUR2,500 (US$2,700), as long as this takes place within a window of six months.
The digital nomad lifestyle is here. So long as you don’t need traditional banking services, being a globetrotting millenial freelancer is almost banal. Don’t say Bo-Jio.
Also Read: Payment solutions key to e-commerce success in the Philippines
Freelancing: the way forward?
Freelancing is everyone’s dream (at least for a while). You get to work at your own pace, on your preferred stretch of beach and so on.
But, there’s a yin to every yang. There’s no pension plan, there’s no corporate medical insurance and no paid vacations. Twenty-four/seven availability is the rule, as you’ll need to work harder during busy times to cover for the lean times.
You and only you are accountable for all the work that gets done, so that means 100 per cent of the responsibility will be on your shoulders — there will be no bosses, managers or colleagues to share that burden with. It speaks well to the courage of millennial freelancers that such a lifestyle is so broadly accepted.
Having said that, many people (not just millennials) and companies (especially SMEs and startups) are firm believers that freelancing is the way forward in this digital age. If industry predictions are right, one in two of us will be freelancing by the year 2020.
Millennials may be the force behind the movement of making freelancing a primary source of income, but pre-millennials are also benefitting from this paradigm shift as it provides them with opportunities to work well beyond retirement age. And that, at least, will be one less generation gap for all of us to bridge.
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The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here.
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