Social Lives 155 | The Rate's the Thing
You've got to fight for your right to not be paid shite
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THE RATE’S THE THING
It’s not an easy time to be a freelancer, especially in the UK. Everything - from coffee beans to co-working spaces - has increased in price and it feels like we’re getting less for our money. I did some quick ‘back-of-a-Pret-receipt’ maths the other day and calculated that the cost of my return train journeys to London has increased by 50% in the past ten years. Once I could get an advance ticket for just over £50, now I’m lucky if I get change out of £100 (before you all tut and wag your fingers at me, yes I’m booking in advance).
You would think, given the testing times we’re living in, that employers would be more mindful of the importance of day rates. Yet, increasingly, I’m seeing senior roles advertised on freelance platforms with rates that aren’t just low, but downright insulting. I’m prepared to give (some) benefit of the doubt to smaller businesses on tight budgets, but a lot of the time these preferred rates are coming from large agencies and brands who should know better. In one particularly egregious case, I saw a huge fast fashion retailer looking for a freelance Senior Social Media Strategist for £200 per day. Not only is this insultingly low for a senior, but the role was also within IR35, requiring you to be paid by an umbrella company and they wanted you to travel regularly to their office in central London. By the time you’d been hammered for PAYE, the umbrella company had taken their cut and you paid for the numerous trains and tubes you’d need to get to their office, it would barely be worth taking the role at all.
There’s an old adage that you can have two from: cheap, fast or good - but you can’t have all three. It’s certainly one that I abide by. I know I’m not the cheapest social media freelancer around, but I’m certainly not the most expensive either. I’ve spent a lot of time chatting to peers about what their rates are and aligning with them. I’m also an old bitch who has spent a decade in this industry, with the experience and portfolio to back my claims up when I’m pitching to new clients. I have the confidence and the ability to throw work back when the rate is too low, and I’m usually booked and busy. I do worry for newer freelancers, who may have been thrown into this life after being made redundant (and goodness knows there are a lot of people in that position after the numerous tech layoffs we’ve seen over the past twelve months). When you’re desperate for work and don’t know how you’re going to pay the - ever increasing - rent, you’ll take anything, even when the client is trying to pull a fast one.
What annoys me most of all is that I see these low rates advertised on freelancer platforms that make a big thing out of putting the freelancer first. It’s all very well and good to hold fancy awards ceremonies, where you pat people on the back and give them a nice little statue, but if you’re letting clients get away with asking for the world from a freelancer for pennies, can you really claim to be on our side? With so much talent coming onto the freelance market in the wake of layoffs elsewhere in the industry, it is arguably a buyer’s market out there. No amount of rate reports or blog posts can dispel the feeling that we’re being swindled.
One positive thing is that there are more unions out there for tech - and former tech - workers. Last year I joined the United Tech and Allied Workers Union, part of the Communication Workers Union, and I’ve been forwarding them the worst examples of low day rates that I’ve seen. If you’ve been reading Social Lives regularly, you’ll know that I believe firmly in the power of unions to enact change. While there are many excellent clients out there, there are some who can - and will - take the piss if we let them. I’ve felt incredibly heartened by the strikes I’ve seen happening across the UK in recent months and the strength of people prepared to rise up to protect their jobs and wages. I truly hope that we see more of that in the tech sector. If we don’t stand up for our day rates, who else will?
JOBS BOARD
Freelance: A fantastic London agency that specialise in Luxury Fashion (their words, not mine) are looking for a Social Media Manager to join their team on a freelance for 1 to 2 months.
Freelance: Flight Story are seeking an experienced freelance Social Media Manager
Freelance: Sumo Creative have a role available for a freelance TikTok Content Creator
Permanent: The National Theatre are recruiting a Senior Social Media & Content Manager
Permanent: There’s a role at the BBC for a Social Media Executive who loves pop music and pop culture
INTERESTING THING OF THE WEEK: HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH WHEN YOU’RE VERY ONLINE
As more and more videos of disturbing content do the rounds on social media, it can be very hard not to stumble upon something which has an adverse effect on your mental health. It’s a horrible fact of life that social media managers are exposed to a lot of horrible media and there is very little (if no) support available from employers to help them deal with this.
I saw this piece from Bellingcat recently which offers some useful tips on how you can mitigate harm when you’re reviewing online content. While it’s written for journalists and open source researchers, there are many tips in here which digital professionals can use in their work. While it’s depressing that we have to be the ones to protect ourselves from harm online rather than social media companies stepping up to the plate, anything we can do to protect ourselves and our peers can only be a good thing.
IN THE NEWS
NPR has become the first media organisation to leave Twitter due to misleading ‘government-funded media’ label (TechCrunch)
LinkedIn is rolling out a free verification system which will allow users to prove where they work (The Verge)
Twitter has announced that legacy blue checkmarks will be removed on April 20th. 4/20. Get it? (Social Media Today)
Twitter is rolling out 10,000- character Tweets – but only for Blue subscribers (TechCrunch)
THINGS I LIKE
Deborah Levy is my favourite living author and her books have genuinely changed my life. This profile of her discusses her work, her impact and her unique approach to her art. (The Guardian)
Numerous friends of mine have been chatting about this profile of Rupert Murdoch. Read it and you’ll realise that Succession is a documentary, not a drama. (Vanity Fair)
Is Substack Notes just a Twitter clone, or is it something more more? (The Verge)
Bone Music (London Review of Books)
A TikTok recipe which is actually good! I have made this Lo Mein twice this week with wilting vegetables in my fridge and it is both simple and delicious (TikTok)
THE VOID BOYS UPDATE
Can you believe that The Void Boys have been in my life for four whole years? They bring me live - and dead - mice, get muddy paws all over my nice clean sheets, repeatedly scream at me for attention and food when I’m in meetings, love to poke their noses into places where they shouldn’t be and are generally a menace. I love them so much.
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