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Many Forbes readers are familiar with Malt, the largest independent talent or freelance marketplace operating in Europe. Under the leadership of co-CEOs Vincent Huguet and Alex Fretti, Malt has grown well beyond its beginning as a French IT startup and has become a freelancing juggernaut operating across the EU and UK. It’s done so through a combination of acquisitive and organic growth, for example, creating an European-wide independent management consulting arm headquartered in London, built on its purchase of the well-known German consulting platform Comatch. Malt is the best examples of the “Glocal” model in freelancing, investing in local teams to support local freelance talent in Spain, France, Benelux, Germany, and the UK.
Huguet described Malt’s ambition in a 2017 Medium article, “In four years, we have developed a model that is radically different from what other marketplaces offer. Most of the other marketplaces offer tasks or services on demand, rather than talents on demand, which leads to ever lower prices and more and more inefficient offshoring. We are human-centered, not task-centered. We believe freelancers who share your geography and who you truly interact with will do a better job. Our model has proved very successful in France: it is popular with freelancers and companies alike. Now our ambition is to export that model to other countries…”
One of Malt’s contributions to the industry and its clients is research, and Malt’s annual “Freelancing in Europe” report offers a helpful perspective on the freelancing revolution across the EU and UK. The team packs a tremendous amount of information into its annual survey reports, too much to cover in a single Forbes article, but let’s unpack the most interesting and broadly relevant findings:
An overview of Malt clients by size. Overall, Malt freelancers work a slight majority of their time for small company clients. Germany offers the largest number of large and medium sized companies, reflecting the market’s greater industrial size and maturity.
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European freelancers are confident about their future as freelancers. As the data indicates, two-thirds or more of Malt freelancers in most market described themselves as confident about their future. German freelancers were most confident
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(86%), while Spanish freelancers were least (57%). A key factor may be north-south differences in both market size and level of industrialization.
Markets differ in the opportunities available to freelancers but, in general, are improving. The economic uncertainties of 2023 posed a challenge to freelancers around the world. As the Malt data show, a return to growth is broadly experienced. Not surprisingly, given recent policy changes regarding freelancing (IR35), UK freelancers describe a larger problem than other markets.
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A majority of fulltime European freelancers are committed to their freelancing career. Overall, 61% of freelancers reported no current interest in changing to a fulltime role, and 10% were currently searching. Skillset categories varied fairly little, with Art and Design freelancers most open to employment (45%) and Support Functions least open at just 30%.
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Freelancers are clear and specific about the factors that enable or impede an effective client relationship. When asked what would motivate them to continue working with a client, a strong working relationship, an interesting project, and effective, ongoing, communication, came out on top:
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When asked about obstacles to effective collaboration, unrealistic expectations, poor communication, and an inadequate brief were most often mentioned:
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Working with values-congruent clients matters to freelancers. Overall, almost three-quarters of freelancers would refuse a brief from an organization that did not share their values. Of note, this conviction is broadly shared across markets.
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Freelancers often see themselves more skilled than client employees. This may reflect a number of factors: for example, a slight majority (51%) of Malt freelancer’s clients are small companies (> 250 employees) with less funding or access to top talent. Also, a majority of Malt freelancers (53%) have > 7 years freelancing experience. Their greater variety of project experience as a freelancer, or earned self-confidence as an experienced independent, may factor into how they evaluate client skills.
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How freelancers spend their time. The data gives a helpful description of where freelancers spend their time. Unsurprisingly, the majority of time is dedicated to client work. However, worth noting is that freelancers invest 10% of their time, on average, sharpening their skills. When asked why, personal interest is the largest individual factor (68%) followed by a focus on changing client needs (49%) and following new business trends (45%).
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What have we learned?
These data both confirm and improve our understanding of how freelancers across markets and categories of expertise describe their experience. The data contribute to an image of freelancers as a discerning professionals and increasingly savvy solopreneurs. The data shows undeterred confidence in the future of freelancing despite economic and social bumps of the past few years. The data suggest that freelancers are selective in choice of work and clients. And the data indicate a professionalism that includes regular investment in gaining new skills both to attract client opportunity and deliver a better outcome.
Impressive also is the congruence with data from other sources, such as the Humancloud.work freelance trend tracker, a quarterly survey of freelance sentiment. In the most recent quarter (Q2 2024) they found that 85% of surveyed freelance entrepreneurs were confident about the long- term future of freelancing.
What does the Malt team make of the findings overall? The final word on “Freelancing in Europe 2024 Survey” goes to co-CEO Alex Fretti:
“Freelancing is now part of the European work market and is here to stay, with 90% of freelancers not actively looking for in-house employment. Freelancers are deeply committed to deepening collaboration with companies, as 70% of them make it their top priority to build lasting relationships with their clients. The future is about combining “bought” in-house talent with “borrowed” external expertise. Europe isn’t only catching up with the US in embracing freelancing but also innovating in how companies and independent talents partner in the long term. Freelancing represents a strategic choice for forward-thinking companies and a preferred career path for top experts.”
Viva la revolution!