Auckland freelancer Elisabeth Easther makes her living from a portfolio career. Photo by Ted Baghurst.
As the gig economy gathers pace, more people are realising the benefits of a portfolio career. Workers can enjoy varied challenges and greater flexibility by taking on gigs - freelancing or contracting in different roles for a number of organisations.
Sharon Davies, managing director of Temp Market, says companies and individuals are opting for temporary assignments, which offer mutual advantages to employer and employee.
In a process known as Uberisation, Davies says the technology making the popular ride-sharing app Uber a success is being applied to meet talent requirements.
"Uberisation means using technology to access the required resources when and how they are required, which delivers flexibility, convenience and cost advantages."
A recent PwC report notes that two out of five people believe traditional employment will not be around in the future. Instead, people will have their own brands and sell their skills to those who need them. Worldwide, nearly a third of HR professionals are building their talent strategies around the rise of the portfolio career, hiring a diverse mix of people on an affordable, ad hoc basis.
Davies says the advantages of freelancing over a regular job are that people can charge more per hour worked, choose how many hours they would like to put in each week, and choose where they would like to do their job.
"In the gig economy, an increasingly large range of professionals are taking on one short assignment at a time - enabled and empowered by technology, completing it and moving to the next one. It's advantageous to the individual and it's advantageous to those organisations occasionally needing a designer, writer, project manager or any one of a wide range of professions and trades. They can access the skills they need, paying only for the hours worked rather than employing full-time equivalents with the associated HR, tax, leave and entitlements administration."
The emergence of Uber-esque HR platforms like Temp Market means an organisation can rate and select candidates based on ratings, says Davies. "Where temps might once have been viewed with mild suspicion the ability to rate them on their performance drives up the feasibility of accessing a part-time workforce.
Auckland freelancer Elisabeth Easther makes her living from a portfolio career. She works variously as a playwright, journalist, actress and documentary-maker, and can work in all of these occupations in a single day.
\"Today I worked on a one-woman show about the ornithologist Perrine Moncrieff and I've been writing the script for the upcoming documentary series, Islands of the Gulf. I've been learning the lines for an audition for a local TV series and I did a voiceover for Sky TV, which paid the bills for the day. I finished a weekly column I write for the Herald, and I've also sent three ideas for novels off to Penguin Random House. I think of writing like fishing. I bait a lot of hooks and every now and then I catch a fish."
Easther says that in her line of work, the financial rewards don't equate to the amount of effort put in, "but a proper job wouldn't be for me," she says.
"I like the freedom self-employment affords me and, being a mother, I don't want to compromise the time I spend with my son. Being in an office 9 to 5 would hinder the parenting and that's not an option, even though the income would be more reliable. The financial rewards of my career are negligible, but the emotional ones are incomparable."
Easther says she doesn't really have a brand that helps her secure new work, although sometimes people do come to her for words.
"Mostly I feel like I'm hustling, and every time I start a new job, project or story, it feels like starting from scratch - but that's okay. I've been doing this portfolio career thing for over 25 years, so I expect I'll just keep doing it."
One of the challenges of a portfolio career is never knowing what's around the corner, "which can be a good thing but is also a scary thing", says Easther.
"And figuring out my tax is a nightmare with so many bits and pieces. But it's all about having the imagination and resilience to not give up. I get bruised and battered by this life sometimes but, despite the inevitable and regular rejections, I always manage to dust myself off and keep on at it. And as much as it's stressful having lots of irons in the fire, life is never boring and I am the master of my own destiny, so I relish the variety. It isn't easy or relaxing, but when it's good, it's brilliant."
Raewyn Court