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National Freelancers Day 2016: Why We Think Freelancers Are Fantastic

Posted by Oliver Corrigan on Jun 3, 2016 2:40:23 PM
Oliver Corrigan
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National_Freelance_Day.jpgFreelancers, the unsung heroes of Britain’s business landscape and economy, are to be celebrated and recognised next week as part of National Freelancers Day.

Thursday 9 June 2016 is the official National Freelancers Day, a day devoted to celebrate the efforts and achievements of some of the most driven, enterprising, creative and ambitious people that make up Britain’s workforce, our self-employed freelancers.

To mark National Freelancers Day 2016, an exclusive event is taking place over at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden, London. The day will comprise of interactive workshops, Q&A sessions, networking opportunities, as well as the prestigious Freelancer Awards ceremony, in which National Freelancers Day recognises and awards the UK’s “best independent minds.”

The Freelancer Awards were launched in 2014, designed to find the 15 best self-employed individuals in the UK. As the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed (IPSE) website states:

“The competition is an ongoing celebration of all things self-employment, and continues to be both a supportive boast for 15 small businesses, and a hunt to crown two champions – in the older Inspire category and the younger Aspire category.”

The 2015 competition attracted freelancers from a diverse mix of professions and industries, ranging from marketers and designers to architects and health professionals. Last year’s winner of the Inspire category was Paul Allington, aka the ‘Code Guy’, a software developer. Keely Gilmour-Grassam won the younger Aspire category, founder of a copywriting agency. The sheer volume and diversity of the award’s applicants illustrated the exciting creativity and diversity of Britain’s burgeoning freelance environment.

The rise of the freelancer: Britain’s evolving working landscape

The makeup of the British working community has changed phenomenally in recent years. Thanks to increasingly advanced mobile technology and telecommunications, we can work seamlessly from remote locations with virtually the same level of productivity and effectiveness (if not more) as we were working under the same roof.

And many British professionals are taking advantage of the opportunities that remote working and virtual offices offer. Every day, individuals take the plunge and head out on their own, starting their own business and adding another layer to the UK’s colourful freelance community.

The stats speak for themselves. As of January 2014, a report showed the number of self-employed people in Britain reached 4.36 million, an 18 percent rise since 2008.

A separate study found that the average freelancer earns twice as much the amount the average British worker in employment earns.

More recent statistics involving freelancing in the UK (taken from 2015), show that the freelancing industry in general has grown by 14 percent in the past decade and that the flexibility offered by the UK’s freelancers is worth around £21 billion to Britain’s economy.

It is testament to the growing significance of freelancers within the British corporate community that the number of businesses hiring freelancers and outsourcing crucial tasks to freelancers, continues to grow. According to a report by the freelance job site, Elance, the number of companies taking on freelancers in 2013 increased by 46 percent. Payments to freelancers have also been steadily growing by as much as 37 percent year on year, again demonstrating the corporate ‘weight’ freelancers are now regarded with.

Some of the world’s leading multinational businesses are jumping on the ‘hire a freelancer’ trend. The financial news and media company Bloomberg, for example, (which was founded in 1981 and has 202 locations around the world), is committed to taking on freelancers for a variety of roles, including marketing and web designing.

Nintendo, the world’s largest video game company in terms of revenue, takes on freelancers, to fill software engineering, technical writing and bilingual administrative support roles.

Yes, it’s safe to say that the 21st century has definitely brought with it a demand for quality, hard-working, creative and results-driven freelancers, and the corporate world is recognising the unique benefits freelancers bring to business.

Thanks to the National Freelancers Day, the once unsung heroes of our working community and economy, are being put on the appreciation and recognition pedestal they deserve.

Are you are a freelancer or do you run your own business in the Leeds vicinity? If you are looking for a Leeds virtual office or quality shared offices where you can make use of the facilities, network and do business at your leisure, get in contact with Carrwood Park: providers of high-quality office space on the outskirts of Leeds.

Click here to see our virtual office packages

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