9 out of 10 freelancers feel move to freelancing improved their quality of life, new Dinghy survey finds

Insurtech pioneers Dinghy – the creators of the world’s first on-demand insurance cover for freelancers – have just announced the results of a wide-ranging freelancer survey which discovered that 91% of freelancers found the move to freelancing had had a positive impact on their quality of life.

The survey – sent out to thousands of the UK’s most prominent freelancers and self-employed workers – covered a wide array of areas related to all aspects of freelance life. ‘Freelancing in 2020: State of the Industry’  – uncovered a number of other interesting findings too.

Finance and Flexibility

Nearly 1 in 3 freelancers, for example, have not received payment for the work they’ve done at some point in their careers. Of that 30%, well over a third had simply been ‘ghosted’ by their client once the work had been submitted. It’s a truly remarkable statistic in this day and age, and goes to show that recent calls for stronger and firmer legislation when it comes to late or non-existent payment were not misplaced.

Despite that, the overall findings painted a very positive picture. Indeed, as one respondent noted, freelancing had provided them with “the life of a poet and the income of a banker” – not a bad situation to find oneself in.

Almost half of all freelancers stated that the single greatest thing about freelancing was the flexibility it encouraged – the ability to work when you want, where you want, and with whoever you want being a huge bonus. Ultimately, it seems, freedom is what many of us aspire to most. As one freelancer said, their move to freelancing had allowed them to “become the master of my destiny” – something, we’re sure, all of us strive for.

Security and Success

From career security to future aspirations to preferred methods of procrastination, ‘Freelancing in 2020: State of the Industry’ applied a broad brush to the freelance lifestyle, and the resulting image was one to savour.

Ross Pounds, Head of Content at Dinghy, was delighted with the response: “Too often companies are fixated on their bottom line at the expense of what really matters to the customers they serve. We wanted to get a better picture of freelance life so that we have a better idea of where exactly the industry is heading next.

From their worries and foibles to the thing that gets them up in the morning (or at lunchtime, in the case of one respondent), our survey gave us a great picture of what it is that makes the freelance community tick.”

Julian New, Dinghy’s Marketing Manager, echoed that sentiment: “It was a privilege to get inside the minds of the UK’s freelance masses. Freelancing is the future of work in this country, and in the world more generally, and this survey highlighted both problems that need to be fixed and the reasons why so many workers are gravitating towards freelancing in the first place. We’re already looking forward to our follow-up in 2021.”