A furthered understanding of the implications for work-related outcomes and health factors in addition to possibilities of personal and professional growth as a self-employed individual is of primary focus within this project.

Why is it important to investigate the solo self-employed?

Solo self-employed individuals work on assignment without any other employees. They often have their own companies or are self-employed via a platform company that takes care of billing and taxes. In recent years the latter form of self-employment has increased dramatically in Sweden.

When it comes to the contracts and work situations of the self-employed there is surprisingly little to be found in work-life research, especially regarding those who work via billing platforms. Such platforms function as de-facto employers, yet solo self-employed individuals maintain full responsibility for finding their own assignments and clients. 

As a solo self-employed individual, one has control over when and where to organize one’s work, how much to work, which assignments to undertake, and which clients to work with.

While the individual has control in their work, solo self-employment is characterized by insecurity. Insecurity can relate to the circumstances of an assignment, income, and even the type and volume of work required for an assignment. Furthermore, the solo self-employed individual must attend to various professional relationships: clients, first and foremost, but possibly even networks of other self-employed individuals and entrepreneurs or a platform company acting in the place of a formal employer. 

Maintaining a balanced work and personal life can be an additional challenge for the self-employed. Full responsibility for the organization of one’s work can mean flexibility and freedom to an extent, but it can also lead to difficulties with setting boundaries between work and one’s personal life given that work can pile up quickly and it can be difficult to turn down work assignments. 

Furthermore, self-employed individuals find themselves in many different branches and sectors, which thus can entail variations in how the psychosocial and even physical work environment presents itself. In other words, there are a number of factors that, when combined, can be linked to work-related attitudes and behaviors as well as health outcomes. 

What is the long-term goal of this project?

The goal of this project is to increase awareness of the conditions that the solo self-employed experience in order to construct a well-functioning and sustainable work life for these individuals. Relatively little is known about the work situation of the solo self-employed and how their work situations are linked to work-related attitudes, behavior, and health. For this reason, it is of the utmost importance to direct attention to this growing sector of the labor market. 

This project also seeks to identify possible risk factors in order to develop targeted, long-term plans to prevent the potentially negative effects of this type of contract on the health and well-being of the solo self-employed.

Reference group

The NOWSTARS self-employment reference group consists of representatives from a labor union and a research institute.

The group consists of the following people

• Stephen Schad, chairman, Association for self-employment companies
• Linda Weidenstedt, PhD, Ratio, independent research institute

 

Contact

Claudia Bernhard-Oettel

Professor

claudia.bernhard.oettel@su.se

08-16 38 86

See profile page for Claudia Bernhard-Oettel

• Visiting address
• Albanovägen 12