“Work differently.”[1]
“Love the way you work.”[2]
I have been an online freelance writer for three years now. Three years ago, I
was a freshman law student looking for work to finance my school allowance. I
initially tried to look for a tutorial job since it has been a “comfort zone”
for me during my university years. Unfortunately, I was unable to find some
openings in the Makati area, an exact contrast to the situation I had in
Katipunan where I would usually find a tutorial center within a fifty step
walk. Not finding a tutorial job meant saying good bye to younger students
calling me “Teacher,” “Ate” or “Atsi.” I had to look for an alternative. I
could not manage a full-time office work because it would surely conflict with
my class schedule. I started browsing JobStreet and researching for work online,
until I was advised that the solution might be there – online!
I started making an account and building my
portfolio on an online platform. An online platform is like a market where
clients and freelancers meet. As a newbie in the online freelance community, it
was difficult competing with other freelancers who have been working on the
online platform for several years already. I had to lower my rate and tried
hard to please my clients that my friends would ask why I subjected myself to
“consensual exploitation.” Luckily, I was able to build relationships with some
clients who would initiate the contact whenever they had some projects that I
could work on.
Online freelance work is often based on
trust, than on written job contracts. It is based on trust that the freelance
worker will submit a quality work on time, and that the client will pay the
freelance worker upon submission. In general, I would say that some clients are
trustworthy. I had clients who later on became my “friends,” making sure to
Skype me on my birthday and even telling me about their trips to Europe,
Christmas celebrations, or simple school achievements they had. During Yolanda,
a client even sent me a long email asking how my family was.
In a short period of time of working online,
I realized that there is still a lot to improve in the online freelancing
industry. While I have been reading news about the flexibility of online work
and how some freelancers managed to earn a million in just one year, I still
have some issues on the sustainability of this industry because of the lack of
specific regulations and legal protection afforded the freelance workers. The
following are some observations:
1.
Employer-employee relationship. Studying the Labor Code in my junior year, a
puzzle started to trivialize my thoughts on the work relationship between the
client and the freelancer. There is likelihood that freelance workers are not
classified as “employees” and thus not protected with several labor benefits
available to workers. If there is any, the contractual stipulation would often
define the freelancer as an “independent contractor” even if the four-fold test
of an employer-employee relationship can be satisfied: power to hire; power to
fire; compensation; control. While this innovative form of work affords
flexibility to the Filipino workers, it also poses a threat of taking away some
constitutional rights of workers: self-organization; bargaining and
negotiations; peaceful concerted activities; security of tenure; just and human
conditions of work; living wage; right to participate in policy and decision
making.
2.
Social security and health benefits. I know a couple of freelance workers like me
and there is usually one thing in common: We do not maintain our own Social
Security System (SSS) account as self-employed individuals nor even have our
own PhilHealth or other health insurance. The negative impacts of not having an
SSS or a PhilHealth account may not be noticeable until a person retires, gets
sick with the need for hospitalization or other fortuitous events. The lack of
social security for the freelance workers poses a risk, especially with the
increasing number of freelancers who look into the industry as a source of
living in the long-run. If this phenomenon continues, the Philippines may have
a considerable number of Filipinos without social security in their old age 20
years from now.
3.
Security of tenure. On the online platform that I first worked
with, I have lost jobs and clients like I have lost my room and locker keys.
The reasons vary: The client did not like my work; I was not able to meet the
deadline because I also had to study for an exam; and others. In the
traditional form of work within the ambit of the Labor Code, security of tenure
is guaranteed and a worker may only be dismissed for just and authorized
causes. In online freelancing industry, the just and authorized causes of
termination are most often discretionary on the part of the clients. Further,
the freelancers do not have the benefits of separation pay usually available to
the traditional form of employment.
4.
Unsecured payments and compensation. As of this writing, I have probably had more
or less a hundred pages of unpaid work. Some clients are unresponsive after
submission of the work. Some would say they are not satisfied with the output
and expressly state that they will not give the agreed compensation. Some would
tell that they are already sending the payment only to wait for it for weeks
before finally realizing that it is never coming. It is part of the risk that
freelancers have to take.
Despite the negative factors associated with
online freelancing industry, I would still rate it positively, than negatively.
On a national scale, online freelancing has certainly fed families, “employed”
individuals who would otherwise be unemployed, underemployed or printing their
resumes to spend each day falling in line for job interviews. Freelancing
helped me deal with tough work deadlines while studying for the daily grind of
law school. My work made me learn different academic citations and equipped me with working knowledge on different topics - luxury bags, cars in the 80s, transformational leadership, political strategy of Putin, the invisible hand, Lolita by Nabokov, cloud computing, and many more. It made me take that "leap of faith" going to classes, knowing I have read more academic journals for work, than case digests for my law subjects. Freelancing allowed the 24/7 green dot on my Facebook chat box
while my legs were trembling, fingers shaking, while trying to vomit words to
meet the page count for the last 30 minutes of work before it’s considered
late. I dream of the day when the online freelancing industry is safeguarded
with legal protection. I dream of the day when every online Filipino freelancer
is proud to say that “I work differently and I love the way I work.”
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