Freelancing business is showing signs of a revival after the government eased the lockdown earlier this month, according to a study by Refrens, a Bengaluru-based invoices and payment system for freelancers.
The report titled ‘Freelancers Getting Back To Work’, which is based on a survey of 14,000 respondents, showed that around 64% freelancers said they have more work now compared to the previous two months.
About 63% of invoices raised in the month of March before the country went into lockdown are now fully paid as per the findings, compared to 16% payments made in April and 27% in May. This is a change from the earlier trend that the company reported in April wherein domestic payments were delayed to 24 days from an average 19 days earlier, while international payments were taking double the time than usual.
The roles that are seeing greater demand include designers and writers. About 76% designers and 80% content writers say they have more work in June compared to April or May.
Companies are increasingly opting to work with freelancers as such an arrangement reduces costs, making it a preferable choice in these uncertain times. ET had earlier reported that platforms like Instamojo and Razorpay have also seen a 20-25% growth in payments from micro-entrepreneurs including freelancers and individual-run businesses since April.
Gig platform Flexing It saw a 75% spike in the number of freelance positions published in April, while HR technology firm PeopleStrong estimates that 25-30% of workforce in sectors such as internet business companies, information technology, IT enabled services, startups, hospitality, quick-service restaurants (QSR), retail and logistics will get converted to freelance roles over a period of time, ET had earlier reported.
“As the economy is opening up, freelancers are seeing a fast revival. To some extent, Covid-19 has become a blessing in disguise for freelancers. Remote working is becoming a part of the culture and companies want to save on fixed costs of a regular hire, so freelancers become the obvious choice,” said Naman Sarawgi, founder of Refrens.com.
Leave a Reply