#16: Why Would Anyone go freelance? (Part 2)

Cool jobs / Bad jobs

This is part 2. You can read part 1 here.

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After a decade of freelancing, I still have periods when I feel lonely and vulnerable, and wonder if I’ve betrayed my childhood wish for ease and safety. At other times, I love it, and feel grateful for having flexibility and choice.

In short: sometimes it’s a bad job; sometimes it’s a cool job—in the words of social scientist Beate Elstad, who studies the careers of cultural workers and freelancers at OsloMet University in Norway.

For a 2015 study, Elstad sampled about 300 freelance jazz musicians and freelance journalists, asking them about their work conditions and motivation. For instance, she evaluated their intrinsic motivation with questionnaire items such as “My work tasks are by themselves a strong motivating force”, to be rated from 1 to 5.

She also tallied the “cool job” and “bad job” characteristics:

Elstad found that choosing freelancing was linked to higher work satisfaction—to a “striking” extent. “That’s not to say that if you have to go freelance, you’re not able to have a good job situation—but overall, those who want to go freelance are much more satisfied,” she told me.

“Why do jazz musicians report to such a large degree that being a freelancer is a personal choice, as long as permanent jobs barely exist for jazz musicians in Norway?” she asks in her paper.

One possible explanation is that artists know early on, when embarking on their music education and career, that there are no permanent jobs as jazz musicians—so those who do not want to be freelancers “self-select themselves away from such a career”. Elstad herself did freelance jazz gigs for several years alongside her academic job, but says she knew she was too risk-averse to enjoy freelancing full-time.

On the other hand, the shift from full-time, permanent staff work to freelance and contract work in journalism is more recent, she writes, so more journalists have been forced into a freelance career and are less satisfied with their work conditions. (Personally, I didn’t feel that I was forced into it. But like the jazz musicians, I did consider that freelancing was part of the deal if I wanted to be a journalist.)

On the whole, the freelancers in Elstad’s sample perceived their jobs as more cool than bad:

But the level of satisfaction was not exceptionally high. “In our sample 69% partly agree or highly agree that they are satisfied with their work situation,” the paper says, compared with 85% of employees overall according to previous research on job satisfaction in general.

The musicians also perceived that they have somewhat better working conditions—in particular, less social isolation—and higher intrinsic motivation than the journalists.

“It can be cool and it can also be very bad. That’s the most important message,” Elstad says. “If freedom is really important for you to pursue your inner interests, go for it. But be well aware that when you’re self-employed, the risks are transferred from the employer to you,” so you’re more vulnerable in case of illness, or having to care for children or elderly relatives, for example. As one freelance journalist in the study puts it:

“Yes, it is great to be a freelancer when you are young and stupid, but now I have a permanent job. It means a stop in my career, but at least I do not lose sleep at night just by hearing the word ‘the flu’.”

I feel lucky to live in a country with easy access to tax-funded healthcare, and I pay for private freelancers’ insurance for extra protection in case of illness. But still, those quotes—and the whole study—hit home.

It’s one of the reasons why I applied for the Attuned fellowship this summer and am now writing this newsletter. Having a steady income and freedom definitely tips the scale towards more cool than bad.