Many skilled older workers hope to move from demanding full-time jobs into more flexible work later in their careers. Still, online freelance platforms may not adequately recognise the professional credentials and reputations they have built over decades, creating a mismatch, according to a new study published in Administrative Science Quarterly.

Digital technology and the growth of the gig economy have created new opportunities for highly skilled professionals to transition from traditional office-based employment to freelance work. For late-career workers, such a move can be particularly appealing because it offers the possibility of continuing to use their expertise while gaining greater flexibility and control over when and how they work.

Yet the study, conducted by researchers at Cambridge Judge Business School and the University of California, Santa Barbara, finds that older professionals can encounter what the researchers call “reputation system misalignment”. Their established professional reputation may carry significant value in traditional employment, but online platforms often assess workers primarily through ratings, reviews and completed jobs generated within the platform itself.

“We call this a ‘cold start’ problem and it’s especially acute for late-career workers seeking to change their working pattern,” says study co-author Sienna Helena Parker of Cambridge Judge Business School. Workers entering a freelance platform may therefore find that years of professional achievement do not automatically translate into the reputation signals needed to attract clients online.

The transition can require late-career workers to reassess both their professional value and their reasons for moving into freelance work. “We find that these late-career workers who make a change to freelance work often need to recalibrate not only their professional worth but also their motivations for making such a move that is more challenging than it might look before they take the plunge,” Parker says.

This misalignment can be especially significant for late-career workers because their motivations often differ from those of younger freelancers. Early-career workers may be more willing to accept a temporary loss of professional status if they believe freelance work will lead to greater opportunities, recognition or advancement in the future.

Late-career workers, by contrast, may turn to freelancing precisely because they want work and career to become less central to their lives. Rather than pursuing further professional advancement, they may place greater emphasis on flexibility and immediate satisfaction in their work. Starting again on a platform where their established reputation carries limited weight can therefore conflict with the very reasons they chose freelance work.

The findings have broader implications as populations age and people remain in the workforce longer. Workers aged 55 and older are among the fastest-growing segments of the workforce in many countries, making successful late-career transitions increasingly important. In the United States, the Department of Labor projects that workers aged 55 and older will account for 23.8% of the workforce by 2033, compared with 15.1% in 2003. Understanding how online employment platforms support—or hinder—these workers may therefore become increasingly important as flexible and platform-based work continues to expand.

More information: Sienna Helena Parker-Waldern et al, Cold Starts and Burning Desires: Reputation System Misalignment and Late-Career Transitions to Platform Work, Administrative Science Quarterly. DOI: 10.1177/00018392261464889

Journal information: Administrative Science Quarterly Provided by University of Cambridge