Fiverr, the company that is changing how the world works together, today announced the results of a survey, conducted in partnership with Censuswide, analyzing U.S. workers who are working remotely or who did so this year* and their current sentiment towards remote work and their jobs in 2021. The data set, which looks at 1,035 of these workers, revealed that the current work from home environment is leading to an increase in people’s desire to freelance.
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“We already know that the pandemic has increased the motivation for companies to work with freelancers, additionally, we are seeing that working from home has also encouraged more full-time workers to give freelancing a shot,” said Hila Klein, COO at Fiverr. “At Fiverr, we’ve seen new U.S. freelance registrations rise 48% year-over-year [Q3 of 2020], more than doubling the growth rate during the same time period last year. And not only are their numbers growing, but freelancers on Fiverr are also making more money in 2020, compared with previous years. The opportunities are endless and while COVID has definitely accelerated this shift towards freelancing, we expect it to keep trending upward post COVID.”
Working from home has allowed freelancing and side hustles to take off.
With a lack of commuting and more time spent at home, people are taking the added time they now have and using it as an opportunity to add new revenue streams to their income. In fact, 68% of workers surveyed said that they are more open** to taking on freelance work and/or a side hustle since the outbreak of the pandemic and more than half (55%) of these respondents agreed*** that working from home has made them realize that freelancing could be a legitimate career option for them. Of those that are more open** to taking on freelance work or a side hustle, many are simply interested in trying something new (39%), while others reported that having more time on their hands (35%), and the flexibility of working from home (51%) has drawn them to consider freelancing.
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That said, unfortunately many workers surveyed are also more open** to freelancing because their work has been affected by the pandemic – over a quarter reported being more open because they are currently concerned for their job security (26%) or because they had their full time pay decreased, so want another revenue stream (23%).
People are more satisfied working from home now versus earlier this year.
The majority (97%) of workers surveyed in this study claim to have been working from home only for the last 8 months, with just 3% working home for more than 8 months. Studies have shown that it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and now that working from home is a habit for many, satisfaction has greatly increased. 41% of respondents reported being very satisfied with their work-from-home arrangement now as compared to 29% when they first started working from home. These satisfaction levels could be down to personal investment into set-ups. Over two thirds (68%) of employees surveyed have personally invested into their work from home set-up. Further, employees surveyed have invested an average of $237 into their work from home set-up in 2020.
While working from home has proven to have its advantages, it also comes with its disadvantages. The top three biggest challenges faced working from home are too many distractions (31%), setting clear boundaries between work life and home life (27%) and feeling isolated (24%).
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