A recent poll from professional networking site LinkedIn has explored the demographics of one aspect of the contractor and freelancer lifestyle by looking into member’s experiences of working from home. More than 8000 people responded to the question ‘Does working from home really work?’ which raised a number of interesting points.
In response to the question 29% of LinkedIn members said ‘Yes, I’m living proof’ whereas the majority (52%) said ‘It’s great every once in a while’. Only a fifth of respondents said that working from home was either not for them, or that work is for the office.
With a recent PCG report in freelancing suggesting that around 5-6% of the UK workforce works as freelancers, the LinkedIn survey suggests that an even larger amount of workers enjoy a change in their workplace. Over half of those who responded with ‘yes’ were below that age of 36, with 29% between 30-36 and 26% 18-29. In contract to the PCG’s report which found that a fifth of freelancers were over 60, only 7% of over 45 year old said ‘yes’ in LinkedIn’s survey.
ICS also surveyed contractors earlier this year to look at the changes in the contractor marketplace and found that only 18% of respondents were new contractors or those who had worked for less than 3 years. With unemployment levels fluctuating and the UK jobs market facing similar difficulties, it is no surprise that a rising number of people, particularly young workers, are looking at contracting as a serious option.
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