Freelancer Payment Woes Due To COVID-19

News / By / December 8, 2022

Study conducted from data of 1000s of freelancers. Delayed and Partial payments are becoming the norm. 

We studied the impact of COVID-19 on the freelance community. The study was conducted on the thousands of invoices managed on the Refrens.com platform. The key trends discovered in the study are related to payment delays for the freelancers. 

Insights generated through this study are clearly showing the early signs of the impact on freelancers.

Domestic Payment Are Delayed A Little

Domestic invoices payment time for freelancers is up by about 26% from an average 19 days earlier to 24 days now. 

Due to uncertain flow of work, most freelancers live from cheque to cheque which takes a dent due to this sudden rise in payment clearing time.

International Payment Are Delayed Drastically

International payments are the worst hit. The average payment clearing time has gone up by more than 100%. It is taking almost 28 days to clear an international invoice, while it took only 13 days in the Pre-COVID19 era, until 28th Feb.

Major delays are being observed in Payments from US, UK and Australia based clients while Middle east countries like UAE, Qatar are not showing any major change in payment behaviour. 

This has also to do with the delays from the banking system due to reduced staff and technical glitches. Thankfully, we have not been facing any issue with our own payment gateway, we are able to process payments on time for our users

Part Payments

Part payments is another behavior which has seen an increase. Earlier, only 12% Invoices used to be paid in parts and now a whopping 41% invoices are paid in parts. An increase of about  250%. The problem with part payments is that it disrupts the cash flow and the balance amount continues to be in a cliffhanger for a longer time.

As COVID19 unravels itself in all its might, businesses are suffering like never before in the past several years.  IMF chief, Kristalina Gerogieva, has gone on record saying, “It is clear that we have entered a recession that will be worse than in 2009”. Freelancers are equally prone to this recession if not more.

This story was covered by Economic times. The same can be accessed here:

https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/freelancers-wait-more-to-get-paychecks-amid-covid-19-lockdown/75012220

Related Posts:

women-freelancersIncreasing Trend of Women Freelancers: The Growth Path international-payment-gatewayIndia’s Best International Payment Gateway In 2023 freelancers-stuck-in-middleFreelancers: Stuck In The Middle? benefits-for-invoice-processingTop 10 Benefits Of Automated Invoice Processing tips-for-choosing-the-best-payment-gateway-for-freelancersFreelancers: 8 Tips For Choosing The Best Payment Gateway Default ThumbnailHow To Land A Deal As A Freelancer During Tough Times? How to Hire a Shopify DeveloperThe Ultimate Guide on How to Hire a Shopify Developer? how-to-collect-money-from-clients-who-dont-payHow To Collect Money From Clients Who Won’t Pay? handle-tax-in-indiaHow To Receive International Payments As A Freelancer – A Tax Guide BEST-PRACTICE-FOR-SENDING-INVOICESBest Practices For Creating And Sending Invoices To Clients reasons-why-clients-don't-pay-on-time6 Reasons Why Clients Don’t Pay On Time And How To Deal With It Handling late payments & disputed invoices14 Proven Strategies For Handling Late Payments & Disputed Invoices how-to-receive-international-paymentsHow To Receive International Payments in India? upskilling_as_A_freelancerWhy Is Continuous Upskilling Important For A Freelancer Default Thumbnail5 Advises For The Survival Of Your Business Post COVID19 international-clients-as-a-freelancerHow To Get International Clients As A Freelancer the-real-burnoutHere’s How To Deal With The Real Freelance Burnout! create-cost-estimateCreate An Estimate: Everything You Need To Know Before Creating a Cost Estimate (2021)