Despite technology enabling anytime, anywhere working, just eight per cent of freelancers and contractors surveyed prefer to work completely remotely, research from Qdos Contractor of The Qdos Group highlights.
More than two thirds (67 per cent) of independent workers prefer to instead split their time between working onsite with clients and working remotely. This suggests that despite being self-employed and not employees, freelancers and contractors are an important, visible presence in many of the companies which engage them.
Research into 716 UK freelancers and contractors revealed:
– 67 per cent prefer a combination of onsite and remote working
– 25 per cent prefer working purely onsite with clients
– eight per cent prefer to work completely remotely
Qdos Contractor CEO, Seb Maley comments, ‘While profession and role can often dictate where freelancers and contractors are able to work from, technology has liberated millions of independent workers, giving them the freedom to choose how are where they work.
‘Despite the rise of remote working and the opportunity to work from home, many freelancers and contractors enjoy the variety that working onsite with clients and remotely brings, and prefer it. Regardless of the fact these workers are self-employed, these findings dispel the myth that engaging with freelancers results in a distant relationship with less face to face contact and onsite working. Independent workers are very much an important, not to mention visible presence.
‘People work this way for greater control over their career, and a better work/life balance. What’s more the UK business benefits from the evolving workforce, as together freelancers and contractors contribute over £119 billion to the economy each year. To enable the UK’s independent workforce to truly thrive however, government must rethink its stance on the current tax system and IR35, which is arguably reducing the benefits of self-employment.’
Further reading on working remotely
