Even before the outbreak of racist action on the streets of the UK in recent days, the topic of racism and exclusionary practises within freelancing has been a topic of interest for me.
Last week, I posted a poll on LinkedIn to ask where people found their work as a freelancer - with the top answer by a country mile, being “via existing networks”.
Where recruitment processes in employment need to nagivate any potentially discriminatory practises, hiring freelancers is often still very much a game of “who you know”, with personal connections often being the route to finding work above all else.
Yet, even on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, where networks should matter less, there seem to be bias too, as demonstrated in this paper from Northeastern University.
Diversity and inclusion has been a hot-topic in employment circles for a number of years - and despite many initiatives not lasting very long, and budget cutbacks seeming to affect any DEI projects and roles first, there are some checks and balances in place - such as reporting.
Firms which are listed on the London Stock Exchange are expected to disclose information on their diversity policies, public bodies are required to publish information on their compliance with the Equality Act, there’s gender pay gap reporting for organisations over 250 people. It’s not enough, but many companies also voluntarily report on their board and employee diversity figures.
Diversity isn’t really the goal here, but rather inclusive culture - an integrated diverse workforce which feels welcomed and well-supported, not just performative actions to make a board “look” different.
Yet - freelancing is rarely subject to any of this reporting or hiring process. There are no checks and balances, and hiring (or choosing not to hire) individuals is more often than not, entirely subjective, and subject to the conscious and unconscious biases of those making the decisions.
Do platforms like YunoJuno, Upwork and Fiverr need to do more to address the issue? Does there need to be reporting on supply-chain diversity? What can be done to reduce the power of the “personal network”, and highlight talent who don’t have access?
I don’t have the answers - and no single individual will be able to solve the challenges, but anti-racism demands that we take an active approach to tackling the issue, of which I’ll ensure we’re designing into this platform.