What is a freelancer? Broadly speaking, they work for themselves and for multiple clients. Self-employed people often work for just a single client or ‘employer’. The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed estimates that there are just over 2m freelancers in the UK. This represents around 5.5% of the total UK workforce jobs of 37m. Surprising? Maybe not. The same statistic in the United States is a startling contrast. According to Upwork, a thriving portal for freelancers, there are around 64m people working for themselves. If we subtract the self-employed estimate of 16m, there are 48m freelancers out of 170m workers – over 28%. So, what does this mean? Does it matter for UK business leaders? Today, we discuss the business benefits of using freelancers for project work.
Freelancers
With the UK having just over 2 million freelancers, that is a relatively small percentage of our economy. According to the UK’s ONS, over 75% of 16-64-year-olds are employed. Employment is by far the largest proportion of the UK workforce. The current average working hours of more than ¾ of permanent workers is 36.6 hours per week. For context, most management consultants work 50-80 hours per week. According to work management platform Asana, who surveyed 13,000 knowledge workers (of which around 1 in 5 were UK-based), 54% of working time is spent on ‘busyness’. This is one metric that suggests that not all working time is productive or value-add. However, since freelancers are by nature paid to carry out a specific task or project, busyness is less of a factor. Aside from flexibility and cost effectiveness, this is one of the major business benefits of using freelancers.
With the US having well over 28% of their workforce freelancing, it might go some way to explaining their economic fortunes. At the start of this year, the UK registered growth of +4.2% above pre-pandemic levels. The US registered +12.0% over the same period based on official UK Government figures. In terms of productivity, the UK was +1.1% higher than pre-pandemic. However, according to the Resolution Foundation, a UK think-tank, they estimate that it has actually fallen -0.5% since pre-pandemic based on ONS data. In contrast, American productivity has grown by +1.9% on the same metric since 2019. They suggest that the biggest divergence in performance is in professional, scientific and technical services, accounting for 17% of this productivity gap. Could freelancing and a more flexible workforce be part of the reason for higher US productivity growth?
Project work
That there are only just over 2m freelancers in the UK is something of a mystery. Sure, we don’t have the same penetration of platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork, but something else is behind it. Could it be our greater worker protections? Is it our attitude towards ‘gig’ or freelance workers? In the US, they are much more attuned to a ‘hire and fire’ way of working. If the economy slows, layoffs are all over the headlines. If the economy rebounds, hiring sprees are commonplace. In the UK, even a severe downturn, such as the financial crisis of 2008-09, less than 1m lost their jobs. While estimates vary, the US is estimated to have shed 150,000 tech workers last year and somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 so far in 2025. This is against a backdrop of strong economic growth and surging tech share prices.
With worries about productivity, including an estimated 54% ‘busyness’, rising employment taxes and workers not wanting to return to offices, why the cold shoulder on freelancers? Here, you have a ready and willing workforce looking to contribute their time and skills to multiple organisations. Assuming that projects are outside of IR35, there isn’t even the Employer’s National Insurance Contributions raid to worry about. Many freelancers will travel to meet clients. Most will deliver exactly what you asked them to deliver. There simply isn’t scope for ‘busyness’ as they want to get paid. Could this untapped marketplace for talent, project work and flexible costs be about to explode? For any senior leader struggling to find talent, spending precious hours and investing huge amounts to make a difference, make a change and shake things up, this is an undiscovered country.
Preparing for business benefits using freelancers
Unlike employees, freelancers are ready to pick up the ball and run with it. That means that pieces of work or projects need clear definitions and readiness. Most UK employers don’t think about work in terms of units or packages or projects. This reduces flexibility, fluidity and focus on key outcomes, which become buried in day-to-day noise and challenges. As we previously explored, there is a shifting global mindset towards work and what people want from it. We found that almost 44% of UK workers are not actually full-time employees in either the private or public sector. Furthermore, more than 46% of all jobs created since 2010 fall into this category. We would not be surprised to see this rise to 50% of all UK workers by 2030 i.e. a decline in full-time employment modes.
Freelancers also come in all shapes and sizes. Whereas an organisation might be keen to improve equality, equity and inclusion, they may not have considered mixing work types. If you have 100% full-time, permanent employees, you may be missing out. Although this is not a uniform trend, some ethnic minorities and marginalised communities are more likely to be self-employed or freelance, for example. It is estimated that about 46% of freelancers are female and 54% are male. Additionally, more disabled people are as a proportion working as freelancers than employed. Even the British Business Bank, which has loaned over £32bn to support smaller businesses since inception in 2014, recommends leveraging freelancers. They state that freelancers offer “a flexible, cost-efficient solution and several benefits during growth periods, from expert insight to additional, capable hands.” In conclusion, hiring permanent, full-time employees is not the only way forward. It may also boost productivity.
Working with Think Beyond
Think Beyond is a management consultancy featuring directors and self-employed partners. We work with multiple clients in multiple sectors. Our work is a combination of retainers and projects. We also offer clients the opportunity to combine a regular, independent perspective with ad hoc projects and bespoke work packages. In summary, our clients pay for specific outputs or the time to come to the conclusion of a specific objective. There are parallels between how we work and many of the business benefits of using freelancers.
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