Employees vs Freelancers: Making the Right Choice for Your Creative Business

The workshop is designed to help Creative business owners and those working in businesses feel confident to explore the opportunities and pitfalls of building your team through employees, freelancers, or a mix of both.

Our speaker, Kirsty Gaunt,  has expertise from HR, legal, and the creative industries. Kirsty is a Senior Associate for Barrow & Parker HR Consultancy - who offer a broad range of specialist HR and L&OD services including Employment Law & Relations, Learning, Development & Training, Change Management & TUPE Transfers and Executive Coaching & Mentoring.  Kirsty has worked a mixture of employed and self-employed roles since 2016 and can bring a wealth of pros and cons for both types of employment.

Topics will include:
• The tests for employment status: when is someone an employee, a worker, or genuinely self-employed?
• How to tell if your colleague is an employee, a worker, or a self-employed practitioner.
• The legal and financial consequences of misclassifying employment status.
• Rights and protections for employees, workers, and self-employed practitioners.
• The strategic pros and cons of building a business with employees versus relying on freelancers.
• What to consider when designing your creative business model around different types of contracts.

What you'll learn
By the end of this session, you’ll:
• Be able to identify the key differences between employees, workers, and self-employed practitioners.
• Understand the risks and liabilities if you get employment status wrong.
• Gain clarity on the legal rights and protections each category is entitled to.
• Learn how to design your business model to suit your creative needs, balancing flexibility, compliance, and sustainability.
• Walk away with practical HR knowledge to make informed decisions about recruitment and freelancer engagement.

There will also be the opportunity to ask questions during the event.

Once you have registered, joining instructions will be sent separately.