We asked a series of questions about how and why they joined self-employment
There is lots of existing data on the motivations for entering self-employment, but less on expectations and experiences around mental health - and as mental health is increasingly a driver for people entering self-employment, we wanted to understand more about whether it delivers on the promise.
Almost one-third of our group stated they didn’t choose work in self-employment - and found themselves in self-employment due to circumstances outside of their control.
These reasons include being unable to find employment which suits their needs, roles being made redundant, being forced to work by a hirer under a self-employment contract, or working in freelancing temporarily to support their income.
This dispels a myth that freelancing is a choice - and for many it was a necessity.
However, even within the group who explained they didn’t choose to work in self-employment, a little over half still feel they are happy to be working this way.
More research into those who feel forced into self-employment is needed.
As we see most years, a desire for flexibilty and control over work is still the most common reason for becoming self-employed.
35% however stated improved mental health was a driver for becoming self-employed, suggesting poor support for mental health in employment is still a major issue.
Working around caring responsibilities was a driver for almost a quarter of the group, and being unable to find permanent work was a reason for 23% of the group - a significant proportion, not choosing to work for themselves, but finding it neccessary.
6% of our group mentioned working with a disability as the reason for becoming self-employed - UK Government data shows that around 13% of the self-employed are registered disabled, and those registered disabled are more likely to be in self-employment than those who are not disabled. This is an area we’d like to explore further.
The remaining 12% not represented in the chart above lists a long tail of reasons, including: roles being made redundant, spending more time with family, and many stated reasons around employed roles not supporting them or being accessible to them, such as introversion, ethnicity, gender, and neurodiversity.
Also, a good proportion mentioned a desire for variety.
50% of our group stated they had caring responsibilities - whether this is children, relatives or other demands.
This places significant additional pressures on those who are self-employed.
But also is often a major contributing factor towards becoming self-employed, to find more flexiblity around their caring responsibilities.
The 2021 Census estimated that there were 5.8 million unpaid carers in the UK.
62% of the group expected to see mental health improvements from working in self-employment.
That’s a significant expectation, and perhaps speaks more to the negative impact that employment can have on mental health, than perhaps the benefits of self-employment.
20% didn’t expect any improvements, and 18% didn’t consider the impact of self-employment on their mental health.
7% felt they thought it would have a negative impact.
61% of the group say they feel their mental health has, on average, improved since becoming self-employed. 26% say it has declined since becoming self-employed.
Notably, there is no real difference between those who have been self-employed for 2+ years and those who are new to freelancing - suggesting that the impact of freelancing on mental health has not significantly changed over the years, nor does longer periods of time freelancing have a bearing either way.
New freelancers report a marginally higher (9%) improvement in mental health.
Of the freelancers who expected to see improvements in their mental health, 75% did see improvements.
Of the freelancers who expected to see a decline, 67% saw a decline.
