What is Freelancer HR?

At Freelancer HR we believe a grassroots approach is the most effective way to make change happen.

Freelancer HR is a way for any freelancer to feedback in confidence about their experiences of working with production companies and the individuals employed by them. In our many decades of combined experience, we have observed that bringing difficult or inappropriate behaviour to the attention of production companies usually gets the person bringing up the issue painted as a troublemaker. In an insecure freelance industry, the risk of this means no one dares complain or report things, often for many years (Gregg Wallace is only the most recent example of this issue – we all know there are others).

Our system of anonymising and – crucially – aggregating feedback from exit-interview questionnaires means there is no comeback to the people reporting issues, but it also protects the system from being abused. One person's complaint against someone in an exit interview would not be enough to trigger any approach to the production company involved, hence our suggestion that as many crew members as possible take the time to do an exit questionnaire.

For more serious allegations, however, we have a Report Something to HR service, which can be triggered by a single person's complaint, though this is a far more involved process, potentially involving the broadcaster, union representatives, industry bodies, solicitors or even law enforcement.

But HR is not all about inappropriate behaviour. Gold-standard HR is also about career advice, access to training and mentoring and understanding your own strengths and weaknesses and identifying and achieving your goals. These are services we will be signposting or offering in partnership with specialists in these fields.

In these ways we hope to effect long-awaited change in the way freelancers are treated while working in our industry. As a workforce, we are incredibly passionate and often so dedicated to making the best possible films that we endanger our own psychological wellbeing. We have all had toxic bosses at some point in our careers, and have endured those contracts living on our nerves, hanging on until it's over. This is not how work is meant to be, and it scares off many important new voices long before they have the opportunity to shine.

We are here to listen, and to hold abusers and bullies accountable.