Independent professionals (IPros) and well-being: An emerging focus for research?

Michel Syrett

Journal of Management & Organization, 2016, vol. 22, issue 6, 817-825

Abstract: In this paper, the author, a freelance writer and researcher who has worked in this way for over 30 years, draws on his own experience of independent working to present freelancing and well-being as an important yet neglected area of research. The paper is therefore presents a brief overview of the context of freelancing, particularly in the United Kingdom and Europe as this is the working environment of the author. This overview is blended with a review the existing research on the topic of freelancer well-being. The aim is to reveal the questions and issues that the author feels encompass well-being in this context as well as to highlight some recent initiatives where independent workers and their clients have worked together to support key areas of their vulnerability compared with those in full-time employment. Setting this often intensely personal perspective set against the wider context of academic and practitioner research reveals that, in contrast to some the common public opinion that freelance and contract work is ‘second-rate’ option, many independent professionals are happy about the way they work and experience high levels of job satisfaction. However, what does also emerge is that beyond local professional bodies and associations, many feel almost completely unsupported. Of greatest concern were reports of being treated with neglect and even suspicion by policy and law makers. The hope is that this paper heralds the beginnings of a wider research agenda into this important but neglected aspect of the independent professional workforce.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/ ... type/journal_article link to article abstract page (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:jomorg:v:22:y:2016:i:06:p:817-825_00

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Management & Organization from Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press, UPH, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kirk Stebbing ().