Job crafting is increasingly seen as valuable in helping people to find fulfillment in their professional life. Recent research from the Deakin Business School in Melbourne suggests that it can also help freelancers operating via gig platforms, such as Upwork.

The researchers set out to understand what distinguishes such workers from their salaried peers, and they found that the ability to job craft was crucial as this allowed them to adapt their work, and indeed how they work, to their personal preferences.

Engaged at work

The researchers analyzed around 700 workers who were active in online forums. They found that these communities were often invaluable in terms of the emotional support they provided while also providing the support to advance professionally.

“It’s not only about virtual shoulder pats. Freelancers use the forums to actively seek out challenges in a bid to develop their professional skills,” the researchers explain.

Job crafting was also found to be hugely important as this allowed workers to better align their unique skills with the tasks they were performing. This allowed them to align their personal working conditions with their work requirements to help drive their professional development.

“It was fascinating to see how the freelancers organized themselves and created their own structures so as to help one another,” the researchers explain.

A new approach

Interestingly, however, the freelancers spoken to for the research did deploy a unique approach to job crafting because they felt that existing methods weren’t suitable for them and their circumstances.

This approach was often referred to as integrated crafting, which was crucial for them to better manage the unique working environment that freelancing entails.

“That’s a remarkable achievement. Not only does the study contribute to scientific literature, it also shows companies and platform operators the potential that online communities have for improving their collaboration with crowdworkers,” the researchers conclude.