Who are you working for?

Much has been written about the joy (and terror) of working for yourself. Less has been written about the joy of working for someone else (even though it is the best option for most people). And very little indeed has been written about the comparative benefits of each. So that’s what we’re going to do here. We’ve been reflecting on the past year, and what’s different about this to our previous lives (with an obvious slant towards what it’s like working in an ad agency, as that’s all we really know). Working for yourself is very different, in so many ways we didn’t really appreciate before we did this. And it’s certainly not for everyone.

 Fixed income/variable income.

Perhaps the most obvious thing is that there are just no financial guarantees in this wonderful independent life. You have two choices – either set yourself a (modest) fixed income and then let the business make a profit or loss, or you’re a freelancer or partnership and your income fluctuates with the work you do (or don’t do). We chose the latter, choosing to make more, or choosing to make less as projects come and go. This has the fundamental effect of your salary no longer defining your worth or progress in the world (as it can for many, even if implicitly).  

 Fixed(ish) hours/variable hours.

If you’re working for someone else, then your hours are (sort of) fixed and (sort of) legally protected. If you find yourself working evenings and weekends you can moan to your boss or sue someone for abusing you. That’s because no matter how many hours you work, you still earn the same salary. Nobody likes to say it, but the rational ‘homo economicus’ way to play this game is for the employee to try and work as little as possible and the employer to try and get as many hours out of you as they can. Because in a world where the salary is fixed, and your employment is legally protected that is totally the rational thing to do. When you work for yourself, things are a lot more fluid. You can choose to work more, or work less, and usually that means you get paid a little more or a little less. That feels a lot fairer than employment (if you’re the kind of person who always works evenings and weekends). But you shouldn’t underestimate the value and security of guaranteed hours – it’s not always possible to get extra projects when you might want extra hours and income. For some reason, those of us who work for ourselves often end up working roughly the same working week as before, even though we are under no real obligation to do so. Cultural norms die hard.

Cliff edges/gradual slopes.

When you’re playing that game of hours versus effort in employment, you get cliff edge effects. If you’re working really, really, hard and you’re brilliant at your job, you might one day get a promotion and suddenly ascend to a higher annual salary. This tends not to happen gradually; one day you’re just making your rent payments and the next day you’re comfortable and eating Deliveroo on a Friday. If you’re just doing the minimum to get by, and you’re just OK at your job, you probably won’t lose it, you will keep earning the same salary as the others at your level who are better than you. But one day when your agency loses a couple of big clients, you will find your name on a list and suddenly your income will drop to zero for a little while. When you’re working for yourself, these things happen a little more gradually, you work a bit less, earn a bit less, work a lot more, earn a lot more, it’s largely in your hands. An odd feeling. Fundamentally different.

Debt to colleagues and company/debt to future self.

On those days you’re working for yourself and you leave early, or take a longer lunch, there’s a strange feeling of unease. When we had that unease back in corporate life it was easy to locate, ethically – we were feeling like we might be letting down our colleagues (who would have to pick up the slack) or even the company (we were responsible and diligent like that). But when you’re working for yourself, why would you feel like that? As long as you deliver the goods for your client, then who cares? Thinking about it a bit, we realised that this was a feeling of borrowing time from our future selves. There’s always a day when you have a little too much on and wish you had got some of these tasks done before so you didn’t feel quite so overwhelmed. At that point, you have nobody to blame but yourself, last Wednesday, when you decided to go home at 3. Finding a way to make peace with that is important.

Holiday as a right/holiday as a choice.

If you’re working for someone else, then they are legally obliged to allow you time off. It’s in your contract. If they coerce you not to take that time, you can assert your rights legally and you will win. Your great grandparents fought for this. You should thank them when you next see them. Take your holidays. You’re a mug if you don’t. Your agency is big enough and profitable enough to cope. But when you work for yourself, your holidays are a choice. Of course it’s good for our mental health to take them, but nobody’s telling you what a ‘fair’ amount of holiday is. And when you’re in the throes of running a new business, it’s really hard to make that decision. We keep promising ourselves that we will take August off. We promised ourselves that this year. Then we each took one week of holiday in August. Roll on August 2022. Maybe we will hold our nerve this time.

Blame someone else/blame yourself.

If you didn’t get promoted. If you had to work the weekend. If you’re not getting the chance to work on the exciting clients. If you missed your holiday. Then you know who to blame. Your boss is a dick. Your agency doesn’t value you. IT’S NOT FAIR. Of course not everyone thinks like this. But many people do (and you might be one of them). Just listen to the conversations around you in bars and cafes any day of the week. Lots and lots of them are about how terrible people’s bosses are to them. And how the world owes them a living. Some of these people are right. But many of them are just not looking at things from the perspective of the business (the agency just lost £2M of income, someone’s going to lose their job, it might be you, it’s probably not unfair, it’s more likely just unfortunate, and it’s just reality). But when you work for yourself, you have lost your excuses, my friend. Of course, you might think your clients are unreasonable assholes, but this probably isn’t a sustainable client retention or new business strategy. They haven’t got an employment contract with you, so they don’t really owe you anything, legally speaking. If things aren’t working out right, you have to look in the mirror. This can be uncomfortable if you’re not used to it. A more interesting strategy is to think like this when you still work for someone else. You will probably become much more effective at your job than many of your colleagues.

Status from job title and agency reputation/status from personal reputation.

Yeah, you’re the global vice president. Get you. And you work for that agency that made those ads everyone saw and loved. You’re cool. If this crazy pandemic fever dream ever ends, you will be flying business class and taking clients out to the best restaurants in town. When you work for yourself, you can see all this for the nonsense it is (if you didn’t already). For many, this is a welcome return to taking some pride in your own work and having a sense of worth that comes from having done decent work for clients who want you (not the reputation of the organisation you work for). For others, this is a devastating loss of status from which they may never recover. Be honest with yourself about which of these people you really are.

Working for yourself isn’t better. 

It’s just different. 

The benefits of job security and fixed incomes are little discussed and probably undervalued. 

The mindset and reality of working for yourself is hard to properly get your head around and not widely understood. 

We’re still working it out.