The time is ripe: we need a freelancer legal form.

The world of work is currently undergoing an unprecedented change. More and more people want to work flexibly, manage their own time and decide for themselves how they contribute. This is a great opportunity for everyone in the business world – if you can break away from the framework conditions that have applied up to now. We are heading towards a world of freelancers.

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Design it yourself

I often hear this: “I want to be my own boss. I want to decide for myself when to take an afternoon off”. More and more young people want to be involved or not, depending on their current situation. Sometimes they work a lot, sometimes a little, adapting to family circumstances. Playing life across the entire spectrum.

Well trained – moderately economically efficient

This always works relatively well if the man or woman is well educated and does not have high material requirements. If you have a Master’s degree in Switzerland today and have already taken one or two professional steps, you can usually get by with a 60-70% workload. You won’t make any great leaps with this, but it’s possible. If you can share your costs with a life partner, these “rationals” improve even further.

A social and economic achievement in equal measure

I am always quite frustrated when I speak to excellent candidates for a job with us who only want to do a reduced workload, as we can offer almost no such opportunities in our start-ups. But if you look at this development from a holistic perspective, you have to admit that it is a great social and economic achievement.

After all, people aren’t sitting on the sofa watching Netflix in their non-working hours, they are actively shaping their lives, taking more care of their children and providing subliminal or very obvious social services. The fact that we can and want to afford this and that it actually happens shows that we manage to benefit from efficiency gains and convert them into free time in the system.

It is regrettable that this is only possible for a privileged class. However, positive social developments often start with the wealthier social class and establish themselves towards the bottom of the income ladder, so to speak. It will be no different here over time.

Being independent

Working a reduced workload for a company is one thing. However, many people in Switzerland seek real economic freedom in self-employment.

Anyone who really wants to be self-employed in the true sense of the word can generally only do so with the legal form of a sole trader. However, this has fundamental disadvantages for precisely such a situation. Accounting for social security contributions is time-consuming and prone to errors, and in the event of a loss of earnings, the self-employed person is at risk.

And right now, during the Covid-19 crisis, we have once again seen that the expectations of self-employed people with regard to this legal form are completely wrong. People are wondering why they can’t apply for short-time work and why there is so little support.

Self-employed persons are not entrepreneurs

The reason for this is simple: the legislator differentiates between entrepreneurs and employees. Entrepreneurs enjoy tax privileges, but on the other hand take greater risks in order to obtain these privileges. This includes the fact that anyone who has an employer-like status in a company cannot apply for unemployment benefit or short-time working. This is completely logical and only fair.

Self-employed people are not entrepreneurs, even if they use the legal form of a sole proprietorship or, as often happens, set up a limited company in which they work as the only employee. That is not entrepreneurship – that is self-employment.

The sole proprietorship should be abolished

There is no suitable legal form for these self-employed people – who in the vast majority of cases do not benefit from the tax privileges because they do not (want to) generate much profit.

In my opinion, the sole proprietorship is a relic from a bygone era and should be abolished. Anyone who sets up a company with employees today establishes a corporation, if only for liability reasons. The wealthy, personally liable patron and owner of the industrial company is almost nowhere to be found today.

A world full of freelancers and the self-employed

I believe that freelancers and the self-employed should be encouraged. The social benefits are immense and economic diversity and personal responsibility are also increased.

Instead of providing sole proprietorships and one-person limited liability companies with social packages, the legislator should create a new legal form for freelancers and the self-employed. There is no need for tax privileges – but of course the corresponding social security.

To the detriment of entrepreneurs and the self-employed

The current system is not only harmful for the self-employed, but also for entrepreneurs. I am happy to admit that I am therefore also against social benefits for one-person companies and sole proprietorships. Because these social benefits go hand in hand with the reduction of tax privileges for entrepreneurs. For me as an entrepreneur, this is not just a little annoying, but a serious problem. If I can’t earn decent money with our companies without it being taxed to the same extent as paid employment, I simply won’t do any more business. The risk of creating jobs and financing them accordingly, if necessary, is too high for me as an entrepreneur at some point and I either move away or simply leave it alone. Entrepreneurship is not ONLY about money. But we must not think that it is not ALSO about money.

The current development only produces losers; the conditions for entrepreneurs are getting worse and worse, but the conditions for freelancers and the self-employed are still not really good.

It is time for the legislator to create a special legal form for the self-employed and freelancers. One with social security that addresses the new needs of these workers. Perhaps this will also ensure that more people manage their working hours and energy independently, with more motivation and in a way that suits them better. Ultimately, this will benefit everyone. The self-employed and freelancers themselves, the entrepreneurs and the state.