Ghosting, late payments and a crisis of confidence | Creativebrief

A growing trend towards ghosting

For the creative industries, where significant time and resources can be invested in acquiring business, the news that investment can simply be ignored may not be surprising. ‘Ghosting’, a phenomenon in which a client approaches an organisation or individual for work and then disappears, is a common complaint. Yet the research suggests this trend is only growing.

According to Leapers’ study 72% of respondents have been ghosted. A truth that poses the question: why are we not getting the basics right as an industry?

“I hope in most cases that it’s just that everyone is overwhelmed and stretched,” says Knight. He points to the fact that when people are looking for freelancers they are turning to platforms like LinkedIn, getting 600 responses and then not being able to respond to them all. Yet he believes that volume is a poor excuse. He explains: “It’s 2025, we have the technology to auto-respond as the lowest form of human decency, and even that is too much effort for some.”

The study suggests that when it comes to employee experience, freelancers just aren’t being considered. He explains: “Going missing in the middle of a project or after the work has been delivered is simply unacceptable and inexcusable.”

Building sustainable relationships

Knight believes that agencies need to think more about building successful and sustainable relationships with freelancers. Advocating for more people-centric processes, he explains: “Clients need to put a process in place to find, engage and manage their freelancers. This means actively thinking about how you work together, not just focusing on compliance. We need more accountability, more time spent on designing the relationship, good onboarding, good support, and good relationship management.”

According to the research, 45% saw their mental health decline in 2024. So is there more as a collective industry to do to support this vital yet undervalued and under-supported workforce?

Knight believes that recognising the value that freelancers bring to the industry is a vital starting point. 

“We should start by publicly recognising the importance and value of freelancers to our industry, not hide them behind NDAs or pretending we don’t use them. Organisations need to have more internal accountability for freelancers, and identify the opportunities to work better together and remove the pain points, whether it’s how we source talent, contracts, onboarding, feedback, payments, feedback, and signposting to support,” he adds.

According to Knight 70% of freelancers don’t know where to find support for their mental health, a challenge which hirers are well placed to support. 

He explains: “If you can’t implement something yourself, work with partners like Leapers or NABS or organisations who can help you put signposting and support in place for your freelancers. There’s positive ROI in working more effectively with freelancers, through increased productivity, lower talent costs and improved brand reputation – but ultimately, it’s about taking shared responsibility for those we work with.”

The financial strain of freelancing

It is equally vital that companies espousing the importance of mental health don’t underestimate the devastating impact of financial instability on individual wellbeing. Just as the industry has collectively recognised ‘it’s ok to not be ok’, it is not ok to pay late.

Yet 71% of respondents experienced late payments and had to spend time chasing late payments. A state of play which poses the urgent question: what needs to change?

“We need complete transparency from clients and better awareness of the law from freelancers. Larger businesses should publish data on how quickly they pay their freelancers, and by not publishing their data, can name and shame themselves,” says Knight.

The government’s new Fair Payment Code awards good and prompt payers, but Knight believes there’s not enough being done to hold poor payers accountable, as the code is voluntary

He explains: “There’s lots of advice on what freelancers can do to reduce the likelihood of late payments, but whilst the responsibility and burden should not be upon us to resolve the issue, being more aware of our rights under law of being able to charge interest, debt recovery costs and not being afraid to chase payments is essential. Naming and shaming, unfortunately, is too much of a professional risk to the freelancer – but step into any freelancing community, and you’ll see conversations about which clients are bad payers, leading to other freelancers avoiding that business. 90% of freelancers say they won’t work again for a badly behaving client – so clients are only preventing themselves from working with the best people.”