Survey: Remote work experience leads RO employees to take on additional projects, consider freelancing

Almost half (47%) of the respondents to a survey of recruitment platform Best Jobs are considering becoming freelancers.

A total of 44% are interested in this because of schedule flexibility and independence. The freedom to work from anywhere is important for 15% of the respondents, while 12% hope to have higher revenues. As freelancers, 38% of the respondents said they would like to work from home, 12% would move to the countryside, 10% to the mountains, and 9% to an exotic destination.

A total of 52% of the survey respondents said they took on additional projects, besides their job, at least occasionally. When they worked during their holiday, 14% did so for additional projects, 24% for both work and additional projects, and 41% only for work-related tasks.

Among the survey respondents, 47% said they chose to take on additional projects to earn more. Another 30% take on extra projects for their personal development and to get acquainted with new areas, 18% to help others, and 6% to develop their portfolio.

Among those who have additional projects, 65% are involved in paid projects and 35% work as volunteers. Only 38% take on projects in the same area as the one they work in.

The areas that allow employees to work alongside their job are technical (24%), education and training (16%), sales (14%), financial and accounting (10%), and IT (8%). A total of 9% of the survey respondents said they had projects in content creation and social media.

Currently, 70% of the respondents said they worked or believed they would have to during their holidays. Many of them end up doing work-related tasks during their time off because there is nobody to replace them (23%), because they want to help their team (22%), or in case of unexpected situations (19%).

Furthermore, 49% of the respondents said they agreed to work during the holidays only in exceptional cases, while 25% do this when their boss requests it. Another 15% would agree to solve work-related tasks during their time off if they receive additional pay, while 11% said they usually turn down job-related tasks while on holiday.

The survey was carried out between July 16 and August 6, among 1,033 Internet users in Romania.

(Photo: Ilona Titova/ Dreamstime)