Help with English: Freelancer vs. ________?

[Alfred001]

How do people typically refer to being employed by a company as a member of the company as opposed to as a freelancer?

 

If you were to phrase it: "I want to work for you, whether freelance or _____"

[Strange]

"Employee" (for the UK, at least).

 

And, again for the UK, I think I would use "as a contractor" rather than freelance.

[swansont]

"Employee" (for the UK, at least).

 

And, again for the UK, I think I would use "as a contractor" rather than freelance.

 

 

Contractor can imply for a fixed time, while freelance more strongly implies one job/assignment at a time (in the US at least). Freelance is also used more for journalistic/artistic work.

[fiveworlds]

Freelance is also used more for journalistic/artistic work.​

 

 

That depends on where you get the freelance work from there is freelance engineering jobs etc.

 

How do people typically refer to being employed by a company as a member of the company as opposed to as a freelancer?

 

 

Freelancers are treated as being self-employed. You would have your freelancing business and pay tax on your earnings. Employees are not treated as being self-employed.

[Nature Geek]

"Employee" (for the UK, at least).

 

And, again for the UK, I think I would use "as a contractor" rather than freelance.

Employee for the US too.

[OldChemE]

The crux of it is as Fiveworlds says. In the US, at least, there are many laws in force concerning what things a company must and must not do involving their employees, which are not applicable to someone who is freelance or a contractor. Its a matter of legal obligations (Social security, tax withholding, etc, etc). Thus, there is a difference in legal status between the two.

[Alfred001]

So the consensus seems to be employee.

 

Would you say it as "I want to work for you, whether freelance or as an employee?"

 

The phrasing is a bit awkward, though,

[Argent]

"I want to work for you. I am happy to do so as an employee or in a freelance role."

 

That said, I would prefer to use consultant or contractor.

[Delta1212]

"Permanent employee" might even be better for making the contrast.

 

I would probably phrase your statement as something more like "I want to work for you and would be happy to do so as either a full employee or as a contractor on a freelance basis."

 

Emphasizing the dichotomy really requires additional words beyond just "employee."

[Alfred001]

"Permanent employee" might even be better for making the contrast.

 

I would probably phrase your statement as something more like "I want to work for you and would be happy to do so as either a full employee or as a contractor on a freelance basis."

 

Emphasizing the dichotomy really requires additional words beyond just "employee."

 

So there really isn't a clear cut and simple way in English to make the distinction, it seems like.

[Strange]

In the UK, I think the distinction between "employee" and "contractor" is very clear.

[Delta1212]

In the UK, I think the distinction between "employee" and "contractor" is very clear.

I agree up to a point, but casually "employee" is often used to refer to anyone employed by a company, which may include some people who are technically contractors. If it's someone who is working off-site the distinction is a little clearer and I wouldn't ever refer to those people as employees, but there are situations where the distinction is mostly down to how they are paid, what benefits they are so and the expectations of long-term employment, whereas their day to day duties are not any different from a regular employee's.

 

I've known people who switched between contractor and employee with no difference being made to their work other than how their paychecks were processed, and it's entirely possible to work with someone in a company and not know whether they are technically a contractor or full employee.

 

It's the existence of this group of contractors that I think makes the term "employee" a little fuzzier than it otherwise would be, and I'm not sure that it makes as strong of a distinction with contractor in such a situation as it would for someone who, for instance, is doing work for multiple companies at a time or comes and goes on a purely project oriented basis.

[Strange]

I agree up to a point, but casually "employee" is often used to refer to anyone employed by a company, which may include some people who are technically contractors.

 

 

I agree. But in the current context (which appears to be applying for a job) I think the distinction would be clear to the hiring manager, especially as the distinction is made.

[Alfred001]

I should say, to make things clearer, the context I'm working with is the translating industry where you have translating agencies who have translators employed who work in their office and are paid a salary and then they also have freelancers who work from home and who are paid per word.

 

 

In the UK, I think the distinction between "employee" and "contractor" is very clear.

 

Do folks from the US agree that if I juxtaposed these two things it would be clear what I meant?

 

I should say, though, that I think, and I may be wrong, that in the US the word "contractor" is heavily associated with someone doing construction work or some kind of work on the house in the same way that the word "startup," is heavily associated with tech companies, even though, technically (no pun intended), any new business is a startup, but no one would ever call a new grocery store a startup.

 

Because of this I think in the US context the distinction would be freelancer vs employee.

 

I agree up to a point, but casually "employee" is often used to refer to anyone employed by a company, which may include some people who are technically contractors. If it's someone who is working off-site the distinction is a little clearer and I wouldn't ever refer to those people as employees, but there are situations where the distinction is mostly down to how they are paid, what benefits they are so and the expectations of long-term employment, whereas their day to day duties are not any different from a regular employee's.

I've known people who switched between contractor and employee with no difference being made to their work other than how their paychecks were processed, and it's entirely possible to work with someone in a company and not know whether they are technically a contractor or full employee.

It's the existence of this group of contractors that I think makes the term "employee" a little fuzzier than it otherwise would be, and I'm not sure that it makes as strong of a distinction with contractor in such a situation as it would for someone who, for instance, is doing work for multiple companies at a time or comes and goes on a purely project oriented basis.

 

Yes, this is, I think, a significant factor. As I said, the employees work in the office, the freelancers don't.

 

 

 

 

I agree. But in the current context (which appears to be applying for a job) I think the distinction would be clear to the hiring manager, especially as the distinction is made.

 

Yes, the context is applying for a job.

 

Are you from the US or the UK?

Edited April 3, 2017 by Alfred001

[StringJunky]

Freelancer

-Self-employed, and responsible for paying tax through the self-assessment process

-May be set up as a sole trader or a limited company

-Generally works for several clients at once, often on a per-hour or per-day basis

-Often works from home or own premises

-Most common in media, marketing and creative industries

Contractor

-Self-employed, and responsible for paying tax through the self-assessment process

-May be set up as a sole trader or a limited company

-Usually works for one client at a time, often full-time on a particular project for several months

-Generally works in the client’s office

-Most common in the IT industry

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2016/05/difference-between-freelancer-and-contractor/

[iNow]

I'd go with paid staffer. It includes both full-time and part-time workers, but excludes contractors, temps, and freelancers.

Note also that not all employees work "in the office." That's a misconception that ignores the reality of many of today's jobs.

[iNow]

Except for the part about employees very often not working from an office, I'm rethinking my previous reply. The term paid staffer makes less sense now post caffeine.

 

I should say, to make things clearer, the context I'm working with is the translating industry where you have translating agencies who have translators employed who work in their office and are paid a salary and then they also have freelancers who work from home and who are paid per word.

In which case, they're still contractors. It's just that the terms of those contracts have them paid per word instead of per hour.

 

Do folks from the US agree that if I juxtaposed these two things it would be clear what I meant?

Yes. While not all lay people make the distinction, just about anyone who works in the field knows that the term employee refers to something which excludes contractors.

 

I should say, though, that I think, and I may be wrong, that in the US the word "contractor" is heavily associated with someone doing construction work or some kind of work on the house in the same way that the word "startup," is heavily associated with tech companies, even though, technically (no pun intended), any new business is a startup, but no one would ever call a new grocery store a startup.

You're overthinking this. Contractors allow companies to avoid paying benefits so corporations use them all of the time to minimize labor costs while still getting the same quality / caliber people.

 

Freelancer almost always means newspaper or artist, in my mind at least.

[Delta1212]

I'd go with paid staffer. It includes both full-time and part-time workers, but excludes contractors, temps, and freelancers.

Note also that not all employees work "in the office." That's a misconception that ignores the reality of many of today's jobs.

Yes, I should clarify that I was noting that in opposition to a freelancer or contractor who works in the office, as that is the area where things get fuzzier in casual speech. An employee can obviously work somewhere other than the office (I'm working from home tomorrow, myself), but someone who is paid on a freelance or contracted basis and does not work at the same location as the full employees is the situation where they are most obviously not an employee.

 

It may be a bit fuzzier for companies that have no office space at all and where everyone who works for the company works off-site full time, but those situations are comparatively rarer still.

 

 

And while, yes, "contractor" is more commonly used to mean someone doing construction, in the context of employment there is no ambiguity and nobody is going to be confused by it. Just like how "car" is most commonly used to refer to an automobile but if you're on a train you can still tell someone which car you are in without worrying that they are going to think you drove your vehicle onto the train or something equally silly.

 

 

Also, I'd say I associate "freelancer" with someone who does work usually on a project basis, and the work tends to be fairly solitary. As in, they will do the whole project, or a fairly self-contained portion of a larger project, themselves. A contractor, by contrast, would be used to do normal office work or work in a more collaborative or team-based environment, potentially working with full employees doing the same or similar work.

 

The work that most commonly fits the bill for freelancer in that case would be artists or newspaper writers, but there are other jobs where you could do it. Really any kind of writing at all, programming, web design, video work, private investigator or really any of a number of semi-solitary professions.

 

If you can work for a different company from one project to the next, doing pretty much the same work and without considering it to be a change of jobs, I would consider that a freelancer. A contractor would be more strongly associated with a specific organization for the job they are doing in my mind.

Edited April 3, 2017 by Delta1212

[StringJunky]

A contractor would be more strongly associated with a specific organization for the job they are doing in my mind.

And on a per-project basis. They may also have their own workers,, who work for them to help fulfill the needs of the project/contract.

Edited April 3, 2017 by StringJunky