Freelance platforms don’t recognise credentials built up over decades by skilled workers
Many skilled older workers seek to transition from full-time stressful jobs to more flexible work, but freelance employment platforms don’t adequately recognise their credentials so there is a mismatch, finds a new study published in the journal Administrative Science Quarterly.
Internet technology and the advent of the gig economy have given hope to many highly skilled workers that their reputations built up over many years can help them transition from a traditional office-based job (with associated pressures) to freelancing work in which they provide clients with similar services but gain more control over their lives.
Yet when it comes to such transition by older workers late in their careers, there is “reputation system misalignment” between the historic system they relied upon to evaluate their value and the way that online platforms operate based on the work actually arranged on that platform, finds the study by academics at Cambridge Judge Business School and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
“We call this a ‘cold start’ problem and it’s especially acute for late-career workers seeking to change their working pattern,” said study co-author Sienna Helena Parker of Cambridge Judge Business School. “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.”
The misalignment particularly affects late-career workers for a key reason: people at an early stage in their career are more likely to accept a temporary loss of status through a freelance portfolio because they see it as leading to future rewards, whereas late-career workers often make the change to freelance work in the expectation that this will enable work and career to become less central to their lives – “placing greater value on finding immediate satisfaction in what they do rather than striving for professional advancement”, says the study.
These findings matter, given the changing demographics of the labour market, including longer life expectancy and overstretched, less-generous pension systems. Workers aged 55 and older are the fastest-growing workforces in many countries, so it’s important to understand how such older workers can effectively transition – or not – into platform work. The US Labor Department says the share of workers age 55 or older is expected to climb to 23.8% by 2033, compared to 15.1% in 2003.
A longer version of this piece is available on the Cambridge Judge Business School website.
Reference:
Sienna Helena Parker-Waldern and Paul M. Leonardi. 'Cold Starts and Burning Desires: Reputation System Misalignment and Late-Career Transitions to Platform Work.' Administrative Science Quarterly (2026). DOI: 10.1177/00018392261464889
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