As an employer, if you’re paying the industry standard, what’s going to make a freelancer choose to work for you rather than a similar company? The difference is a job that intrigues, motivates and provides an opportunity for learning and development, she says. And just like employees, freelancers these days are interested in sustainability and inclusivity. “There’s never been a more important time for a company to ask itself: Who am I? How do I create work that’s great? And how do I create a sense of belonging?”
Gratton, who teaches a popular MBA elective to second-year students on the future of work at LBS, says today’s students realise that they are going to have to work into their seventies. “That’s the economic reality right now,” Gratton reminds us. The FT calls 2020 book The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in and Age of Longevity, co-authored with Andrew Scott, “a wake-up call” on what to expect and how to consider your options. In a multi-stage working life, freelancing for some of that time makes sense.
Her next book, to be published in 2026, looks at how important it is for all of us to weave our own lives and to gain mastery. Freelancers build micro skills over time, she says, and they have to consciously shape their work. “The market changes really quickly, so you have to be much more cognisant of your career path than you have to be inside an organisation.” In fact, she says, given the rapid pace of change, everyone needs a freelance mindset.
Full-time staff remain important nonetheless. “They hold the culture of the organisation, its history, its contracts, its networks.” But leaders are now looking at what needs to be done, and how: “Who do we need who’s going to be full time? Who do we need who’s going to be a skilled freelancer?” For traditional hires, they need to make the deal very attractive: what will make them want to stay? Some companies have 70% freelancers, some 30%, some none. “A great CEO is capable of understanding the mix that they need.”
Find out about the HR Strategy in Transforming Organisations programme at LBS
Source: Why freelancers want your work but not your job | London Business School
