孤独——自由职业者无法承受之重

为什么做零工的人想有一份规律的全职工作？让你猜测的话，可能脑海里最先想到的会是财务问题。毕竟，正式员工享有包括带薪休假在内的许多福利，这是做零工的和自由职业者无法得到的。此外，拥有可预见的薪水也是一件很棒的事情。

但是对于近一半的自由职业者，尤其是占美国自由职业者三分之一的千禧一代而言，没有稳定全职工作的主要缺点是完全不相干的另一个因素：感觉自己像一个外人。

近日，德勤咨询公司对大约4000名美国员工进行了一次问卷调查，受访者囊括全职员工、兼职人员和独立合同工在内的所有类型。正如你所料，60%的全职员工表示他们不愿意辞职发展自己的事业，原因在于“收入会有落差”，42%的人表示丧失公司提供的福利是主要原因之一。

孤独的自由职业者

不过，那些曾经或现在的自由职业者给出了不同的答案。近70%的人表示，如果有选择，他们未来不会再自谋职业了。千禧一代的自由职业者中，有一半在受访时表示“缺乏与公司内部文化的联系”，让他们感到气馁。这一比例比其他代际的人更高。曾经或现在担任自由职业者（所有年龄段）的人中，只有不到一半（48%）对这段经历“十分满意”。孤立甚至孤独感，也是造成这一结果的重要原因。

雇主可以做什么?

显然，不和正式员工一起工作的合同工错过了非正式场合的日常交流，例如咖啡店的闲谈、紧急时刻的午餐会议、即兴的垒球赛等。这些活动会让人们产生归属感。德勤公司首席人才官麦克·普雷斯顿表示，所以，各大公司需要找到其他办法来包容自由职业者，包括提供培训和指导，帮助他们发展职业生涯。

普雷斯顿称：“我们正在努力营造文化，吸引和挽留临时员工。”他补充道，因为“社群很重要。”德勤建立了一个在线门户，合同工可以在其中看到公司里开放项目提供的机会，以及其他一些也给正式员工浏览的信息。

让自由职业者感觉到他们是客户公司文化的一部分，可能会在未来起到更加重要的作用。普雷斯顿指出，一份新的研究显示，到2020年，美国的合同工人数将达到5400万（现在是4000万），这大约是私营企业员工数的45%。其中许多人可能拥有“宝贵的独特技能和丰富的经验”。他认为，那些能够“营造环境，与人们建立紧密联系（无论这个人是为了某个项目与他们合作，还是一辈子在公司工作）”的雇主，将会在未来赢得竞争优势。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

审校：任文科

If you had to guess why people who work in the gig economy would prefer a regular full-time job, finances might come to mind first. Employees, after all, are usually entitled to lots of benefits, including paid time off, that gig economy workers, or freelancers, don’t get. A predictable paycheck is nice, too.

But for about half of independent workers — especially Millennials, who make up about one-third of freelancers in the U.S. — the main drawback is something else entirely: Feeling like an outsider.

Deloitte recently polled about 4,000 U.S. workers consisting, like the workforce overall, of a mix of full-time employees, part-timers, and independent contractors. As you might expect, about 60% of people with full-time jobs said they’d hesitate to strike out on their own because of “inconsistent cash flow,” and 42% cited losing company-paid benefits as a main concern.

The loneliness factor

But among those who were either past or current freelancers, a different pattern emerged. Almost 70% said that, given the choice, they wouldn’t opt for self-employment in the future. Half of the Millennial freelancers surveyed said that “a lack of connection to a company’s internal culture” discouraged them, a higher percentage than for any other generation. That feeling of isolation, even loneliness, was also a big reason why the survey found that fewer than half (48%) of past and present freelancers (of all ages) reported being “very satisfied” with the experience.

What employers can do

Clearly, contractors who don’t work side by side with regular employees miss out on the kind of informal day-to-day contact — coffeepot chitchat, last-minute lunch meetings, impromptu softball games — that makes people feel they belong. So, says Deloitte’s chief talent officer Mike Preston, companies need to find other ways of drawing freelancers into the fold, including offering training and coaching to help develop their careers.

“We’re working now to create a culture to attract and retain contingent workers,” he says. Because “community is important,” he adds, Deloitte has started an online portal where contractors can find postings on open project opportunities inside the firm, along with other information that’s also available to regular employees.

Making freelancers feel they’re a part of a client company’s culture may matter even more as time goes on. By 2020, according to new research, independent contractors will number 54 million in the U.S. (up from 40 million now), or some 45% of the private-sector workforce, and many have “unique skill sets and deep experience that can be valuable,” notes Preston. He sees a competitive advantage ahead for employers who can “shape an environment that creates an affinity — whether the person is working with them on one project or for a lifetime.”