3 in 5 Freelancers Say They’ll Never Return to a 9 to 5 – Here’s Why

According to a study on freelancing conducted by Upwork, approximately 60% of freelancers have no plans to return to a 9-to-5 job. Indeed, there are huge trade-offs when shifting gears from full-time employment to freelancing. In short, you’re trading off stability and security for flexibility and greater potential growth. In many ways, comparing freelancing to full-time can be like comparing stocks to bonds.

If you prefer certainty and stability over the work-life balance and the potential for uncapped earnings, a traditional job will probably be more your cup of tea. However, if you’re more of a lone wolf and you’re fine with the added volatility that comes with being a freelancer (income can vary widely from year to year or even month to month), the riskier, but potentially “growthier” option could be worth the added risks.

Though many freelancers do shift gears back to becoming full-time employees, perhaps because they want to settle down with something stable, it’s not a mystery as to why a majority of freelancers just don’t envision themselves returning to a 9-to-5 grind. While the volatility of monthly income paves the way for great uncertainty, it’s not hard to imagine that the lifestyle provided by freelancing is tough to give up, even if it means missing out on benefits or having added uncertainty as to whether next month’s paycheck will be as large as those in the past.

Just as stock investors have to ride out potentially steep ups and downs, freelancers can face considerable volatility when it comes to incomes. Either way, there are ways to manage the wild swings so that one won’t unexpectedly come up short on the rent in any given month. Notably, keeping a fatter cash cushion handy can be valuable so it’s not “feast” or “famine” in any given month.

In this piece, we’ll look at a few of the factors why three in five freelancers are in no rush to get back to the 9-to-5:

Flexible schedules are hard to come by in the world of full-time work

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest perks of freelancing is having the freedom to set your own schedule. If you’ve got a child or other commitments, you can schedule your workday around those priorities. Of course, it can be tricky for many freelancers to set boundaries between work and their personal lives.

Either way, it’s tough to return to a rigid schedule (whether it be 9-to-5 or 10-to-6) if you’ve grown used to setting your own hours and scheduling around other commitments in your life to achieve a better work-life balance.

Furthermore, with many offices mandating a return to the office for full-time employees, the relative flexibility that remote full-time workers gained in the years that followed the pandemic lockdown years looks to be coming to an end. Indeed, remote 9-to-5 is a perfect middle ground for workers who want the stability (and benefits) of full-time without as much rigidity. Of course, full-time hybrid and remote opportunities are still out there. But for freelancers who’ve grown accustomed to working on their own terms, such a transition may be difficult to get back into.

Job security through multiple clients

Freelancing is often viewed as having less job security than a traditional full-time job. And while that may be the case for some self-employed folks, it isn’t for those who’ve “diversified” their client bases.

With economic headwinds mounting and layoffs sweeping through various sectors of the economy, a freelancer who has their eggs in more than one basket may be able to weather out particular nasty storms better than a full-time worker. Of course, diversifying across multiple different jobs won’t be able to eliminate industry risks, especially in the face of nastier economic downturns.

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