The rise of alternative employment and future trends

During the pandemic, people have had the time to reflect on what they want in their career. Such introspection has left many rethinking their motivations and direction in the context of work. 

Gex Z and Millennials, in particular, are waving goodbyes to 9-to-5 jobs and shifting towards self-directed employment such as independent contractors, freelancers or self-employed business owners – kicking their own professional goals.

According to the AiGroup’s Self-employment in Australia fact sheet, by February 2021, self-employment had more than recovered to be 3% higher than in February 2020. 

These independent workers start their own businesses for some combination of reasons: to solve a societal problem or create something of value for the world, to have a better work/life balance or simply because it makes them happy. 

But there are many things that come with being self-employed: all this stress, pressure and headaches. No one started as a Jedi Master from day one. Self-employed people are just doing their best and getting support wherever they find them.

To address the emerging needs of the new workforce, we want to get behind-the-scenes knowledge about self-employment and foresee the key areas that would be highly sought after by this modern workforce. 

Tax management & Accounting

Think about all the nuts and bolts of starting a business and the time-consuming tasks such as taxes and accounting. 

People who run their own shows will probably need a little help from the experts or the right softwares to face the tax and accounting realities. 

There are various DIY softwares out there such as Xero, Quickbooks and Stripe that help you easily track sales and expenses and manage your business online. They help you do the maths and give you a breakdown of all the numbers to know what they mean. 

Or another way is hiring an accountant or bookkeeper who takes the time to explain things to you, taking the anxiety out of tax time and giving you the peace of mind plus extra time to focus on building the business. 

Access to Credit

There are lots of little (and frankly unsexy) parts to working for yourself. For example: the majority lives paycheck to paycheck and experience revenue volatility. These are the roadblocks to accessing credit because it can be hard for you to prove your forward earning potential without an employer-generated payslip. 

When it comes to financial products, self-employed people have different needs than salaried employees. Unfortunately, banks are still slow to keep up with this change in the workforce. There are additional hoops these workers have to jump through to qualify for credit, even if they earn as much as those in full-time jobs.  

With that in mind, brokers will play a major role in guiding these clients with what paperwork they