Perspectives on the Future of Work: March 14

Upwork’s weekly column brings you the latest news on hiring and working with freelancers, freelancing, and the future of work.

Week of 03/14/2016:

Fast Company | How Freelancers Can Plan for Parental Leave

Having a baby is a life-changing experience to begin with, but lack of paid parental leave can add additional layers of stress and difficulty when you’re self-employed. Writer and editor Ellen Sheng says it’s a challenge many expecting freelancers must face, especially given the growing portion of the U.S workforce that gravitates toward self-employment each year.

“With steady pay a challenge for freelancers even during the best of times, maternity leaves are difficult to plan for because of the unpredictability and also length of time away,” says Sheng. “Doctor-mandated bedrest or an expected early delivery can sunder carefully laid plans, leaving new parents in a vulnerable spot financially.”

Sheng interviewed several freelance mothers to get their tips and insights into the best way to juggle a heavy workload and manage unpaid maternity leave throughout pregnancy.

• Planning ahead is critical, says LA-based writer and editor Jennifer Chen, who suggests hustling to line-up extra work well in advance of when the baby is due. Chen found scheduling interviews and booking work with clients months in advance helped line up paychecks to buffer the impending down-time. However, working twice as hard while pregnant wasn’t easy. “I didn’t realize how tired I would be,” she says, adding her energy levels waned the further along she got in the pregnancy.
• Saving up for maternity leave is also a must, suggests author and freelancer Natalie Burg, who recommends setting aside three to six months worth of income to cover downtime. Additionally, it’s important to take into account the additional time it takes for freelance checks to roll in after you resume working once the baby arrives, adds Burg.

Gamasutra | Work-for-hire is The Most Common Way Indie Devs Pay Bills

Living the “indie dream”—where it’s possible for game developers to make a full-time living from creative passion projects—isn’t entirely a pipe dream, reports Gamasutra’s Alex Wawro, but it’s a rarity among the rapidly expanding games industry. The reality is many indie developers, whether solo freelancers or small teams working in collaboration, make ends meet by tackling work-for-hire contracts between the personal projects that excite them.

“While it’s common knowledge that many indies take contract work, it’s less common to see developers publicly vouching for how critical it is to their financial well-being,” says Wawro.

This observation comes in response to a recent informal game developer survey conducted by Finji Games co-founder Adam Saltsman. Gathering 634 anonymous responses from fellow independent developers, Saltsman uncovered a number of insights into areas of game development not commonly voiced in public. Several notable takeaways from the survey data include:

• 49 percent of respondents were solo developers.
• 55 percent of respondents indicated they pay the majority of their bills through work-for-hire / freelance projects.
• 24.9 percent of respondents have been self-employed full-time game makers for at least five years.
• 86 percent of respondents live in or within a 30-minute drive from a major metropolitan area

How | Why Freelancers Should be Called Creative Entrepreneurs

Copy strategist and brand journalist Laura Vrcek believes full-time freelancers shouldn’t under-value their work, and makes a case for a simple change in title description that can help empower self-employed individuals to realize their worth beyond the nuts and bolts of the projects they take on.

“There’s a big difference between being an experienced professional who may have decided to leave office life in order to pursue a portfolio of their own clientele…and creative newbies working on one-off design projects between semesters or for trade,” says Vrcek. “It’s not that the latter doesn’t deserve recognition or praise, but there are inherent differences between the two, the main one being that the full-time freelancer is pursuing an income-generating career.”

In her list of reasons why freelancers should consider themselves “creative entrepreneurs” first and foremost, Vrcek cites some of the best qualities that self-employed creatives possess:

• The ability to take smart, calculated risks.
• Strong multitasking skills required to run a business in addition to delivering content and services.
• A knowledge of the top tools and best practices needed to thrive in a given industry.
• A fierce competitive spirit.
• The ability to consider the bigger picture and long-term view.

What changes in the way we work have caught your attention recently? Tell us about them in the comments below!

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