Fixed Salary for Freelancers: Is It Worth It?
I keep on finding more and more Filipino freelancers who are willing to get paid with a regular wage each month doing freelance work long term. Usually, there isn’t any written deal – the arrangement is that they get to have fixed payments every month regardless whether the freelancer had performed work or not. There isn’t any defined job scope: the client is free to throw in any work to the hired freelancer.
I am talking about getting jobs directly from clients and not from freelance sites such as oDesk and Elance.
At first glance one visible advantage of being a regular salaried freelancer is that they are given “guaranteed income” for several months to a few years. The “guaranteed income” that I mention here usually does not involve written agreement to bind the freelancer to the client legally. More often, the freelancer usually get freebies, such as several books, licensed software and even a computer from the client – to learn new skills required for the job.
I haven’t tried any of those fixed salary arrangements; I’ve always preferred working by the hour or set fixed priced rates with an agreed scope of job. I think that arrangement is fair for both clients and freelancers: in hourly work, clients get billed only for work, while freelancers get paid only when they do work; in fixed priced jobs, clients get work done for what is agreed, while freelancers get to work only at the agreed scope. I think this arrangement is fair and protects the interest of both parties.
On the other hand, a salaried freelancer, whether full time or part time, puts the freelancer at the mercy of the client. The client thinks that he can just throw any amount of work to the freelancer to get more out of the monthly billing. The freelancer may soon realize that he should raise his rates, but could not easily do so because he feels he is indebted to the client – will all the payout and freebies that he got for the work.
Besides that, I think this salaried freelancer feels like he is an employee than a freelancer.
Right now, I had tried to make deals with potential freelancers to convert their monthly salary arrangements to fixed prices.
For as long as there are freelancers who are willing to accept salaried arrangements, it may be possible that there might be time when this practice becomes the norm. Pursuing a freelance career may not be an attractive option anymore.
Are you one of those freelancers who are willing to get paid monthly regardless of the work volume? If so, are you satisfied with the arrangement or do you have regrets in accepting these offers?
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Category: Freelancing
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I won’t feel comfortable in a fixed salary arrangement; I want clear boundaries. When boundaries are not set, it is easy to abuse the gray areas.
Sadly this is happening, particularly to Filipino part-time/full-time freelancers. I don’t know if it’s true with other nationalities. I think Filipinos “bowing” to foreigners makes it easier for the Pinoys to get exploited.
Those Pinoys who “bow” to foreigners are probably desperate for work. $300-$500 a month of “fixed salary” may sound good but if you won’t “bow” you can actually double that amount. If someone pays me $300 a month for writing 300-word articles, the most that I would produce is 60 articles per month, and that is two articles a day. If the client asks more than that number of articles in one month for $300, I won’t accept it. I am at present writing for one company based in the US, they are very fair in their dealings with their writers, they pay for every word that you put on your article; at the end of every month you receive your payment (via Paypal) with the word count of every article you have written in that month. Every 6 months they give a raise to those writers who have stayed long with them. I have been writing for them in the last 9 months. The best part is that you get to have your byline in every article you write for them and you can use your articles as part of your portfolio, it is clearly stated in the contract.
What’s the name of the company you’re into re: freelance writing? I want to give it a try for freelance writing.
Maybe you can recommend me?
I’ll just leave a message in your blog about the company. But i can’t recommend, i haven’t tried it yet.
I’m always against that ‘fixed salary’ because it’s so easy to say, like, ‘OK, I’ll pay you $300 a month’ but there aren’t any conditions as to how many articles or how many projects you’d take in a month…Some say like, 40 hours per week, but then you have to finish a certain amount of work in 1 hour.
I think Filipinos are grabbing fixed salary freelance works because of ASSURANCE. Real freelance writing is NOT predictable…by having a fixed salary, it’s like they are secured.
But I’m still against it. I’d rather be paid per article than for the whole month.
Nope, I don’t think that fixed salary is a good idea for a freelancer!
thanks for the good post.
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Fixed salary for freelancers sounds like a misnomer to me. You freelance because you need to own your time, work for people you want at your own pace. Why get tied to a job? That’s a puzzler.
And you look for work not based on freebies. Those are just aperitifs. The real meat is the hourly rates for your work or getting paid by word count like Pastilan said.
naku sister ko isa sa mga fixed salary na freelancer. pero ok lang kasi $1.2k naman per month and hindi naman heavy yung work so she can still do other jobs on the side. who wouldn’t want that right? do you think it’s a bad idea if this offer is thrown your way?
yun nga lang natapos na kasi lately naubos na rin yung papagawa.
Wow! That’s good income. Trustful boss? Is she into IT or writing jobs?
no problem daw. maluwag nga sa kanya eh kasi may times na wala talagang mapasang work pero sinuswelduhan pa rin sya. graphics design for websites ginawa nya. pero yun nga, di rin nagtagal mga 3 months lang ata.
Yoko nga ng fixed salary, baka maoverworked ka tpos underpaid naman.
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Jan’s right. What entitles you to be a freelancer is because you have no compromise whatsoever. You take the job if you want and that’s it. On the other hand, I can see why many people will be interested in a fixed salary. There is in fact, as you said, guaranteed income and that may mean a lot to many. In this case, I think that you should set up the right price, considering that the “buyer” or employer could just throw anything for you to do, regardless of workload or anything else.
Well that just takes the fun out of it! Seriously, I can see what that would be an appealing option for many, but it might mean a lower income and the potential to be taken advantage of.
A freelancer with a fix monthly income? It’s kind of like working as a contractual or maybe a project basis, and using your own resources like electricity, computer…
And dating sa akin nyan is parang… Me (a programmer) telling my boss…
Me: I can’t work as a full time employee to your company. I think I need to resign.
Boss: No please. If you want, you can work at home, project basis, like a contractual. But if that became our set-up, you would need to report to us every week.
May script pa ako hahaha. But that’s for real! And doesn’t it sound like I would become a freelancer, only with a fix income, no benefits, and I think lower monthly salary.
My new officemate who had just resigned (family-related reason) is a good programmer. My boss wouldn’t want to let her go. And guess what, they would be offering her just like the script above! And I think, lower salary.
Does this mean that freelancers who accepts job offers with monthly income are just like regular employees working without benefits, using their own resources, and tied-up to the company? I would be tied up to my boss if I agreed to the new terms. But won’t able to get extra jobs, because I would be beating deadlines.
Many employers think that getting a full time employee will cost them a lot. And there are those who thought getting a freelancer is the best specially for quickie jobs and on-and-off jobs.
But freelancer with fix salary? Parang regular employee. Parang ako yun.
Pahabol… I am allowed to be late and absent sa office. Bawal pero hindi ako masipa sipa. Although dreadful deadlines ang nibebeat ko, there’s still special treatment sa akin not like on any other employees. So, para rin akong freelancer with a fix salary.
Pero there’s no such thing as freelancer with fix salary.
Interesting question! We’ll we have been blogging friends for long to know more about your situation deeply than what you had described on the comments. Looks like you’re working as a freelancer than being an employee, but you’re getting fixed payouts each month.
Just like other freelancers or online workers I’ve met online while enjoying life at home.
I’m beginning to think that fixed payouts are becoming a common arrangement and won’t even go away. Worse, it could replace the traditional fixed price contracts or hourly-based work. If that happens I think I would rethink and prefer to be back working in the office – or just explore other means of income away from freelancing.
I’m actually a regular employee =) pag umalis ako, wala na silang programmer hahaha
But if ever that I resign, I would see to it that I would look for clients, or if my boss wants to outsource sa akin, syempre the price is different.
Hi Gem. Currently I’m working as an “I.T.” with a fixed salary here in Baguio. The salary is unbelievably very small. But since I’m starting to earn from my affiliate marketing ventures I am deciding to resign from my job and concentrate on online marketing.
Do you know any rented rooms/apartment for rents here in Baguio with available internet connection?
You can contact me through email. Thanks.
Freelance is freelance and there’s no way you should be paid fixed… Of course there will be exceptions…
My rule of thumb (and I always apply this whenever I work on long-term projects like fixed for one year) is minimum 300% of what you usually make for a normal month.
I may not be a freelance in an online job sites like Odesk or Elance but with the idea of having a fixed salary / month is not a freelance at all for me.
Thanks for posting, this updates with freelancing trends.
I still think it’s based on the arrangement. Doing freelance jobs doesn’t have to exactly limit you to one option of being paid by the hour. In essence, being a freelancer means taking a job with conditions that suit you. If the job offers a fixed pay but has favorable conditions then why not take it?
Fixed income for freelance writers. Tough call if you’d ask me.
Pros
Like what you said, you’ll get a monthly income whether you produced work or not (unless specified that you’d have to make a ? number of articles per day.
You can start typing wherever you want, maybe as long as there’s an internet connection.
Cons
You’d have a fixed payment even if you made a brilliant article, well researched, etc. (But I guess every post should be like that anyway LOL)
Fixed means fixed. Not raise or whatever he he he.
I am writing for a medical company too as freelance. There is no fixed income, but there’s a contract. Speaking of which, I think I better go back to that assignment that had been sitting on my table for months. (Figuratively speaking of course)
Z
In my own opinion, freelance is called freelance simply because you own your time. You don’t have a fixed schedule.
So having a fixed salary is definitely a no-no. Howeverl, as what others said, some freelancers agree to fixed salary for security purposes. My advice for these freelancers is not to allow themselves to get abused in terms of work load.
Interesting topic. For now, I would like to keep my options open. I won’t mind been paid for a fixed salary for a project; but like you said, it all depends on the job scope and requirements. If I get to choose, I will normally go for the price agreed prior to project launch. Sometimes the time spent and difficulties of the work varied, it’ll be fair for both sides. Well shared! ^^
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Thanks for your thoughts. The freelancing world is indeed changing!