Striking Work-Life Balance with Freelance Jobs

Recently, Shark Tank – India judge, and renowned entrepreneur Namita Thapar tweeted, “stop wearing ‘I work long hours, I travel a lot, I have no time for family as a badge of honour.” She called for better work-life balance at all companies for a “mentally fit and more productive generation that gets quality time and more involvement from both parents”. Years ago, Narayan Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys had written an email to employees who were single to finish their work, shut their workstations and go home on time. He said these long hours were not only unproductive but detrimental for the colleagues who had families but were compelled to remain at work.

In the past two years of the pandemic when everyone was “stuck” working from home, it dawned on many employees how much they were missing out on family time. It has compelled companies and individuals to relook their work structure and try to find a middle ground. For the longest time women have been compelled to completely drop out of the workforce to manage their family duties. This has been detrimental to skilled individuals and has been a huge economic cost for the countries at large. Once again, even as the condition was improving for women the pandemic compelled many to completely drop out of the workforce and we can once again spot a great disparity in the gender balance in workplaces.

Tech companies are witnessing high attrition rates too as many employees are refusing to return to offices full-time. Many employees who faced job losses and severe pay cuts resorted to taking up gig work as freelance professionals working from home. Attracting clientele among start-ups and MSMEs, many of these skilled professionals with extensive work experience are earning a sizeable side income. They get flexibility, learning opportunity, and the opportunity to work with dynamic companies and teams, besides earning a good income. 

For women, work-from-home freelancing opportunities allow them to be available for their families and manage their commitments. Also, it has opened doors for many women whose spouses are in transferrable jobs to have a steady source of earnings and projects. 

For companies, the hiring costs are lower and there is access to skilled professionals who were previously beyond their reach. Also, it facilitates the rapid hiring of resources for projects that need temporary resource persons. Many new start-ups are engaging freelancers in a full-time capacity, paying them for the work they do. This offers flexibility for the company and the freelancer to take up lucrative projects. 

Can professionals afford to work as freelancers full-time? Maybe not. There are many perks to being a full-time employee that a freelancer does not enjoy. However, companies can create a flexible work model that gives employees the space to maintain better work-life balance and learn and grow in their professions.

ZoopUp.com provides a platform for clients and skilled professionals to work together on projects. One can find opportunities to bid for projects in a competitive setup and improve their earning potential.