The money worries that can hit the self-employed are well known but the psychological effects are often overlooked
When Lorna Morris, a freelance graphic designer, has a lull in her work, her first concern is paying the bills. But there is another form of anxiety that can emerge from time to time.
It is an existential panic which she sums up as: “Am I good enough to do this?”
She is not alone. Amy Wrzesniewski, associate professor of organisational behaviour at Yale school of management, says that, among the self-employed, worries over money are the most pressing.
But there is also anxiety about “whether one is doing enough work, or good enough work, without the external references of organisational or co-worker norms”.
Self-employment is hardly new. But as companies continue to loosen their ties to employees, so permanent staff are replaced by freelancers. The growth of technology platforms, like Fiverr or Freelancer, have given self-employment a technological makeover and a new lexicon of the sharing or gig economy.
When Daniel Pink published ‘Free Agent Nation’ in 2001, a book chronicling the shift from employee to independent worker, moving from one contract to another or freelancing for several organisations, he did not foresee the changes in technology that would accelerate this trend.
He describes the new contract between company and worker as “a series of transactions [rather] than an enduring relationship”.
Yet, the focus on independent workers has tended to focus on financial insecurity. The ruling in California that Uber drivers are employees rather than contractors, drew attention to the precarious position of independent workers lacking workplace benefits such as holiday pay.
While this is clearly important, the psychological impact of the gig economy is often overlooked. A recent paper, ‘A qualitative study of stress in individuals self-employed in solo businesses’, published in the ‘Journal of Occupational Health Psychology’, noted that the self-employed have largely been missing from research in occupational health psychology.
Self-employment can be “liberating too”. Morris is grateful for being able to take time out of her day to sit in the park if the sun is out or work while travelling. There is also the variety of work: “I work with so many different people. I really value that.” Laura Davidson, trustee of Mental Health Research UK, says that research shows “the independent contractor has the best of both worlds, with plenty of freedom, but lower levels of stress, and higher job satisfaction”.
Yet there can also be anxiety. Sara Horowitz, founder of the Freelancers Union, which is based in New York, puts it like this: “If you’re running health programmes for mine workers you have to be experts in black lung disease; if you’re running them for freelancers you have to specialise in anxiety.”
Professor Wrzesniewski agrees. Companies help people create their work identity, she says. “Structure is something that independent workers have to create for themselves, which makes their identities more precarious and also much more personal.”
Gianpiero Petriglieri, a psychiatrist and associate professor of organisational behaviour at Insead, the business school, has been researching identity and the independent worker. Being responsible for a piece of work, with no employer to hide behind or blame can make people feel vulnerable, nagged by a dread that shame lurks round the corner, he suggests.
The biggest anxiety, says Emily Brett, a freelancer who consults on music strategy and event programming, is the fear of failure. “There is much more of a personal and emotional investment in one’s own project. You’re not protected by the name or brand of a big company, and if you fail it is on your shoulders.”
Professor Petriglieri identifies two types of anxiety in such workers: performance anxiety (Am I good enough?) and existential anxiety (Who am I and why am I doing this? Is it valuable?). “When you feel your work defines you and it’s not secure then you may feel like you’re not doing enough.”
Guy Standing is the author of ‘The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class’, which described people experiencing volatile wages and labour insecurities. He has also identified the “profician” — professionals who are self-selling entrepreneurs, living opportunistically on their wits and contacts.
He notes the biggest problem is burnout. “The profician has to live a very frenzied and opportunistic life.” It can manifest itself in hyperactivity and overwork.
In one study of Dutch self-employed workers, researchers found that the number of hours worked did not cause problems. But rather it was what they called “workaholism” — the inability to separate work and home — that caused burnout.
Jesse Potter, the author of a forthcoming book, ‘Crisis at Work: Identity and the End of Career’, says that stepping outside traditional careers may prompt feelings of failure and trigger status anxiety.
“The idea harms people. They feel they should be on an upward trajectory and it makes them feel like they are failing if they are not.”
Though this also affects employees.
One strategy to deal with anxiety is to meet like-minded people, not just to combat feelings of isolation but to provide some of the functions provided by an employer or professional body, such as identity.
In part this explains the rise of internet forums such as Turkopticon, where people can meet virtually, or shared workspaces such as Second Home.
Petriglieri believes business schools increasingly provide this function too. He notes that freelancers may also carve an identity by contrasting themselves with “company drones”. “It helps people cope with their sense of self, they feel special.”
Brett, who attended a session at the Escape School, which helps people set themselves up as freelancers, found that a change in mindset helped. “Instead of fear of the unknown, see it as an exciting opportunity. Instead of thinking: ‘everyone is judging me’, stop guessing as to what people think of you.”
On balance she thinks the freelance life is less anxiety-inducing than employment. “There is no such thing as a ‘job for life’ any more, as an employee there is always the risk of redundancy, the company could go under, or one can be looked over for promotion.”
Pink agrees, believing people choose to work independently because it seems safer. If you have several clients and customers and one disappears that is bad but it is not devastating: “However, if you’ve got one employer and that employer lets you go, you’re in big trouble.
“In short, today’s workplace has a baseline level of anxiety that’s very different from 40 years ago.”
— Financial Times
