Corporate versus Freelance

Distribution of corporate and freelancer respondents

	Corporate	Freelance
Organization type	71.71%	28.29%

Freelancers make up 28.3% of the respondents (i.e., careerists, not including the students/hobbyists), and 71.1% are what we are calling “corporates” (i.e., including partners in large firms, partners in small firms, and employees).

Workplace by age group

	Corporate	Freelance
18 and under	25.4%	74.6%
19-29	74.1%	25.9%
30-44	72.1%	27.9%
45-64	56.8%	43.2%
65 and over	29.7%	70.3%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

There are more freelancers aged 18 and under, and age 45-64. They have a lower percentage of respondents 19-29.

Workplace by gender

	Corporate	Freelance
Female	75.1%	24.9%
Male	71.0%	29.0%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

Slightly more freelancers are men: 85.7% to 82.9% for corporates.

Workplace by ethnicity

	Corporate	Freelance
Indigenous / Native	76.5%	23.5%
Black / African	74.5%	25.5%
Asian / Pacific Rim	72.4%	27.6%
White / Caucasian	72.0%	28.0%
Other	67.9%	32.1%
Hispanic / Latino	65.9%	34.1%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

The freelancers and corporates have comparable percentages of all ethnic groups, except for Hispanics. Freelancers are 5.1% Hispanic compared to 3.9% for corporates.

Workplace by geographic region

	Corporate	Freelance
North and Central America	74.7%	25.3%
Oceania	71.4%	28.6%
Europe	68.2%	31.8%
Asia	65.4%	34.6%
South America	62.7%	37.3%
Africa	59.9%	40.1%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

North and Central America is the only region that has a greater proportion of corporates than the sample as a whole. All the other regions have a greater proportion of freelancers than the sample as a whole.

Workplace by educational attainment

	Corporate	Freelance
Grade/primary school	48.5%	51.5%
High/secondary school	57.4%	42.6%
Some college or university	65.6%	34.4%
College diploma, associate’s, bachelor’s, or other degree	76.1%	23.9%
Master’s degree	74.3%	25.7%
Doctorate	62.7%	37.3%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

Corporates have a greater percentage of respondents with a college degree or better than do freelancers (73.5% to 60.4%).

Workplace by education value

	Corporate	Freelance
A lot	78.0%	22.0%
Some	74.1%	25.9%
A little	70.8%	29.2%
Not at all	62.9%	37.1%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

Corporates feel their academic studies have helped them in their web career to a much greater extent than do the freelancers: 55.2% to 45.9%.

Staying current, corporates versus freelancers

	Company	Freelance
Read relevant websites/zines/blogs	95.8%	74.7%
Trial-and-error	81.1%	62.9%
Work with others at my company	74.6%	26.1%
Read books	72.2%	57.1%
Attend seminars and conferences	41.8%	20.6%
Participate in discussion boards	40.0%	38.2%
In-house training	34.4%	23.0%
Participate in mailing lists	30.1%	24.2%

In every category of activity by which a web professional can stay current in the field, fewer freelance respondents are doing those activities than corporates.

Workplace by job title

	Corporate	Freelance
Project Manager	80.79%	19.21%
Web Director	79.56%	20.44%
Other	79.02%	20.98%
Art Director	78.83%	21.17%
Educator	78.26%	21.74%
Usability Expert/Consultant/Lead	77.06%	22.94%
Interface Designer, UI Designer	76.65%	23.35%
Information Architect	74.57%	25.43%
Marketer	74.22%	25.78%
Developer	73.94%	26.06%
Writer, Editor	72.97%	27.03%
Webmaster, Web Master	69.97%	30.03%
Web Producer	67.97%	32.03%
Creative Director	63.53%	36.47%
Accessibility Expert/Consultant/Lead	58.57%	41.43%
Designer	57.04%	42.96%
Web Designer	56.49%	43.51%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

Web Designers, Designers, and Creative Directors make up a disproportionate amount of freelancers. Developers, Project Managers, Interface Designers, Art Directors, and Web Directors make up a disproportionate amount of corporates.

Workplace by longevity in the field

	Corporate	Freelance
Not applicable	61.9%	38.1%
Less than a year	72.9%	27.1%
1 year	71.9%	28.1%
2 years	72.9%	27.1%
3 years	72.7%	27.3%
4 years	73.6%	26.4%
5 years	69.2%	30.8%
6 years	70.2%	29.8%
7 years	73.4%	26.6%
8 years	73.0%	27.0%
9 years	74.3%	25.7%
10 years (or more)	69.7%	30.3%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

Freelancers and corporates are comparably experienced in the field. Freelancers have a slight edge in the percentage of respondents with at least five years of experience: 58.7% to 56.9%.

Workplace by previous work

	Corporate	Freelance
Web design/development was my first professional job.	76.7%	23.3%
Before the web, my work was non-technical.	69.3%	30.7%
I migrated to the web from a background in IT/technology.	69.3%	30.7%
I migrated to web design from a background in print design/advertising/art direction, etc.	68.7%	31.3%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

A slightly greater proportion of corporates have web design as their first professional job than in the sample as a whole. The freelancers are slightly more likely to have migrated from other fields.

Workplace by hours worked per week

	Corporate	Freelance
Less than 20 hours	16.6%	83.4%
20-29 hours	28.8%	71.2%
30-39 hours	74.2%	25.8%
40-49 hours	85.3%	14.7%
50-59 hours	64.1%	35.9%
60 hours or more	50.5%	49.5%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

The corporate respondents are much more likely to work the standard full-time job (40-49 hours per week): 59.5% to 26.1%. Freelancers are more likely to work less than 20 hours per week (12.7% to 1%), and more than 50 hours per week (28.4% to 16.4%).

Workplace by degree of web work

	Corporate	Freelance
All or nearly all of my work is web-related.	76.7%	23.3%
Most of my work is web-related.	68.4%	31.6%
About half my work is web-related.	61.9%	38.1%
Around a quarter of my work is web-related.	60.1%	39.9%
Web-related work is a small part of what I do.	53.8%	46.2%
I don’t do any web-related work.	65.5%	34.5%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

For 85.5% of corporates, their web-related work is all or most of their responsibilities, compared to 75.8% of freelancers.

Workplace by salary range

	Corporate	Freelance
Less than $10,000	42.5%	57.5%
$10,000-$19,999	54.5%	45.5%
$20,000-$39,999	70.2%	29.8%
$40,000-$59,999	82.5%	17.5%
$60,000-$79,999	82.5%	17.5%
$80,000-$99,999	78.8%	21.2%
$100,000-$119,999	70.3%	29.7%
$120,000-$149,999	66.8%	33.2%
More than $150,000	53.8%	46.2%
Overall	71.9%	28.1%

A significantly greater percentage of freelancers make under $40,000 (53.4% to 29.8%, but also, a greater percentage of freelancers make over $100,000 (11.6% to 8.7%). Computing the admittedly flawed weighted average yields the following: Corporates: $54,665, freelancers: $42,108.

Workplace by perceived geographic bias

	Corporate	Freelance
Definitely not	72.7%	27.3%
Probably not	71.3%	28.7%
Maybe	71.3%	28.7%
Cautiously yes	73.8%	26.2%
Definitely yes	68.9%	31.1%
Overall	71.8%	28.2%

Workplace by perceived age bias

	Corporate	Freelance
Definitely not	75.6%	24.4%
Probably not	71.9%	28.1%
Maybe	66.9%	33.1%
Cautiously yes	66.5%	33.5%
Definitely yes	61.2%	38.8%
Overall	71.8%	28.2%

Workplace by perceived gender bias

	Corporate	Freelance
Definitely not	73.1%	26.9%
Probably not	68.0%	32.0%
Maybe	70.7%	29.3%
Cautiously yes	72.9%	27.1%
Definitely yes	71.1%	28.9%
Overall	71.8%	28.2%

Workplace by perceived ethnic bias

	Corporate	Freelance
Definitely not	73.7%	26.3%
Probably not	67.0%	33.0%
Maybe	62.1%	37.9%
Cautiously yes	62.4%	37.6%
Definitely yes	61.3%	38.7%
Overall	71.8%	28.2%

Workplace by perceived diability bias

	Corporate	Freelance
Definitely not	77.2%	22.8%
Probably not	70.9%	29.1%
Maybe	63.4%	36.6%
Cautiously yes	63.7%	36.3%
Definitely yes	61.6%	38.4%
Not applicable	71.1%	28.9%
Overall	71.8%	28.2%

Freelancers have a higher percentage of respondents who said they believe that age, ethnicity, and disability bias has hurt them professionally. (Note: Not gender or geography, for which the freelance and corporate percentages are essentially the same.)

Workplace by excitement with profession

	Corporate	Freelance
Yes - very frequently	70.7%	29.3%
Yes - frequently	72.4%	27.6%
Yes - once in a while	72.1%	27.9%
No	67.3%	32.7%
Don’t know	76.5%	23.5%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

There is no significant disparity between freelancers and corporates.

Workplace by job satisfaction

	Corporate	Freelance
Very satisfied	75.3%	24.7%
Somewhat satisfied	69.7%	30.3%
Neutral	66.3%	33.7%
Somewhat dissatisfied	74.7%	25.3%
Very dissatisfied	80.6%	19.4%
Overall	71.7%	28.3%

Although corporates and freelancers have the same percentages of respondents indicating either “very” or “somewhat satisfied,” the corporates have a higher percentage of respondents indicating “very satisfied” (28.6% to 23.8%).

Workplace by next career move

	Corporate	Freelance
Get a promotion at my current job	94.6%	5.4%
New job in a new organization	86.5%	13.5%
Attend a conference/take classes/other educational activity	79.0%	21.0%
Start my own business	74.5%	25.5%
Stay where I am	74.3%	25.7%
Change my area of specialization (for instance, from design to development)	68.6%	31.4%
Leave the profession	67.8%	32.2%
Learn a new skill	66.9%	33.1%
Begin (or expand) my professional writing or speaking	61.9%	38.1%
Other	57.4%	42.6%
Start pitching a better class of client	32.5%	67.5%
Get my first job in the field	31.4%	68.6%
Find a partner whose skills complement mine	26.7%	73.3%
Overall	71.8%	28.2%

Corporates and freelancers appear to have different priorities. Corporates are more likely to: get a promotion, get a new job in a new organization, start their own business, or attend a conference. Freelancers are more likely to: learn a new skill, change their area of specialization, start pitching a better class of clients, begin or expand professional writing or speaking, or find a partner with complementary skills.