Self Employment

[chiz]

I would guess this is not written by a self employed field archaeologist ?? :face-huh:

Its written by Gerry Martin, who I believe is self-employed, and also subcontracts self-employed diggers to work on his sites. Never worked for him myself mind.

I believe the article was initiated by the Ifa working party on self-employment in order to stimulate debate. I guess I should declare an association with the working group, although I couldn't make the meeting.

The most interesting part of the article to me (as a now ex-freelancer who is still concerned with what's happening regarding self-employment in archaeology) is the introductory paragraph (possibly not written by Gerry?) that says:

'...As part of that guidance, the working group seeks to distinguish between legitimate self-employment and the use of supposedly self-employed staff by organisations to avoid their legal obligations as employers....'

There is also mention of the TA63 article on self-employed day rates for specialists that worked out a rate of approximately ?200 a day to maintain a Mifa level income (and this was several years ago).

These two points are of great importance and hopefully will be further addressed by the working group.

Personally I found freelancing rejuvenating and tiring in equal measures, and wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is not already a skilled practitioner. I don't personally see it as a viable alternative model for all, certainly not at entry level, and certainly not the way it is being used by some organisations at the moment. I do see it as an alternative for some, especially specialists (even if they are 'strat' specialists like myself).

To me, this is the Ifa doing what it should be doing. I would hope that there could be further articles or viewpoints on all the issues surrounding self-employment in archaeology in order that we can get a true idea of the range and scale of the sector, and the issues affecting freelancers.