Why mental health matters more for freelancers - pt3
There are no sick days.
I’m slowly rebuilding our resources section, in a more structured manner to make it easier for freelancers to understand the importance of mental health, find resources to tackle specific issues, and put things in place to take care of their own wellbeing.
I’ll be posting new resources, guides, topics and tools, which will eventually build into a full resource library, covering a broad range of topics. Sort of like a book, but that you get a new chapter every week(?).
If you’re subscribed now - you’ll get every chapter. If you join half-way-thru, you’ll be able to go back and browse the archives, or see the resources on leapers.co too.
We’ll also be including stories from fellow freelancers about their journey - so if you’d like to share, please get in touch.
Let’s begin with why this matters so much.
Why mental health at work matters even more when you're freelancing - pt3.
In the previous weeks, we’ve been looking at why mental health at work matters so much for freelancers: because there’s no business without you and because you face a unique set of challenges.
This week, we look at why mental health at work for the self-employed is so important, because of an obvious but crucial challenge
There is no paid sick leave for the self-employed.
When you’re self-employed, there are no paid sick days. If you’re unable to work, you’re not getting paid.
If you’re not working, you might be worried about your income suffering, which can lead to anxiety and stress, which can lead to your body struggling to return to health, and on, and on, and on.
For short-term illnesses, perhaps a couple of days due to a cold, or “something going around”, perhaps this is not the end of the world (although many freelancers “work through” being unwell, prolonging their return to health).
Bugs and sniffles aside, a large portion of freelancers find themselves unable to work due to poor mental health too. 50% of our annual research group found themselves unable to work at some point during 2024, due to poor mental health.
30% were unable to work for 3 days or more in 2024 due to poor mental health, compared to 28% unable to work due to poor physical health.
And for some, poorer mental health and poorer physical health can lead to longer times when they’re unable to work - and prolonged time being unable to work and being unwell, can lead to further poorer mental health and physical health - a downward spiral effect.
So, proactively investing in to your own wellbeing - both physical and mental wellbeing, is essential. Not only to avoid falling ill where possible, but to build resilience when you do.
As there are minimal protections for us in relation to illness - for example, employees are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay from their employer, prevention is always better than cure.
Taking adequate rest, putting support structures in place, managing workloads and boundaries, healthy communications, effectively managing conflicts - all of these things help to avoid undue stress, which can lead to illness, and ensure you’re better equipped to deal with what life throws at you unexpectedly.
Poorer mental health leads to poorer productivity.
Even if you’re managing to avoid sick days, poorer mental health is directly linked to poorer productivity.
Our research shows that only 10% of freelancers had no incidences of stress, anxiety or poor mental health having a negative impact on their ability to work effectively during 2024.
Let’s read that again - 90% of freelancers felt that poor mental health affected their ability to work effectively at some point in 2024.
20% felt this frequently, 46% felt this occasionally.
So you’re more likely that not, to have your work affected if your mental health is poorer. Which can obviously impact your quality of work and reputation with clients.
There’s a very direct line between your emotional wellbeing and your financial wellbeing.
On the whole, the self-employed report averagely better mental health than employees.
We have generally have more control over our work, more autonomy and aim to work on projects which are meaningful and rewarding. We can design our days to suit how we work best, and it gives us time to balance and integrate our lives with work in a more harmonious way.
But at the same time, for those bad days, where things aren’t working as well as they could be, when you aren’t in control of the situation or not sure how to cope with the challenges that your job is throwing at you - if you haven’t put a support structure in place for yourself, it can be hard, really hard.
Being proactive and putting foundations in place on the good days, means you’ll be better supported on the bad days.
To be continued…
Did you know, over 34% of freelancers chose to work in self-employment to find improvements in their mental health?
We want to share your stories - if you’re interested in being interviewed for an upcoming edition, or would like to share your experiences in self-employment, please DM me. I don’t bite.
For hirers:
There’s not much you can do, if one of your freelancers is ill or struggling with mental health, but there’s plenty you can do to help them avoid falling unwell in the first place:
Avoid any behaviours which have a negative impact on the mental health of your freelancers (i.e. late payments, lack of contracts, ghosting, poor communication, lack of onboarding, etc).
Signpost to where support is available, via industry bodies, charities, and supportive organisations
Consider tailoring experiences for your independent workers, to recognise the differences in the way they work with you, rather than lumping everyone under the ‘employee’ model, or worse, excluding freelancers entirely.
Of course, there’s much more you can do too - get in touch to see how Leapers can help your organisation to become more #FreelanceFriendly
Background Reading:
» Interesting take on why businesses often fail - and it’s not cashflow, but founder fatigue.
» Some tips on dealing with feeling sick when you’re a freelancer from Leapers
» Personal Income Protection can help if you’re facing longer term illness or can’t work due to injury
» On rejection - something not just freelancers are facing.
Fancy a cuppa on us?
The lovely team at Studio Black have given friends of Leapers 15% off on their first order. Studio Black are a small roaster who are supporting the Film & TV Charity, 1% of the proceeds go to support the charity who are doing amazing work, including research into mental health in the film, tv and production industry.
» Drop your details here to access the deal.
That’s all for today
✌️ mk