Here’s how to keep your business running like clockwork while you’re awayThe research by PeoplePerHour, a job website for freelance workers across a range of industries, revealed that many freelancers spend an impressive 21 nights on holiday per year, with the average employed person spending around 10 nights away from home.
The survey also showed that self-employed freelancers seem to travel twice as far as people on a salary – a staggering 2,200 miles on each holiday. Long-haul, it seems, is an attractive proposition when you are your own boss.
Age is also a factor in the holiday differences. Younger people – those aged 18 to 24 – are much more likely to take holidays outside the UK than those in the older age brackets. This is presumably at least partly due to their lack of commitments, such as children, pets and mortgages. The older freelancers become, the less likely they are to holiday abroad.
The findings also point out the occupations that holiday the most. Freelance writers, according to the survey, go away an average of three times per year, while other careers that do well on the holiday front include designers, translators, social media specialists and photographers. These are obviously the careers to head into if you enjoy long and leisurely holidays.
The CEO of PeoplePerHour, Xenios Thrasyvoulou, puts the increase in holidays for freelancers down to their flexibility. He said their choice of employment status allows them to decide when to go away without having to ask the boss for time off or working around the holidays of co-workers.
Although holiday flexibility is one of the obvious joys of being your own boss, there are – of course – downsides, the biggest of which is that no one is earning money on your behalf when you are on holiday. There is also the possibility of missing contracts and other work while you are sunning yourself on the beach. Many freelancers seem to take their work with them – or at least ensure they check their emails while they are away – for just this reason.
If you work on your own, there is no one doing your work for you while you are away. Returning from a well-earned holiday to find a pile of work waiting for you on your computer is not unusual; however, this may be a small price to pay for taking twice as much holiday.
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