Dilemma
“I work as a self-employed person for various companies and send a gift to my clients every year at Christmas. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way the other way around: some clients only organize a Christmas gift for their permanent employees, others make a selection from their freelancer base. As a result, I have been skipped several times.
This is also the case this year, after working on a major job for months. I am consciously self-employed and understand that this involves a different working relationship, but this always stings. Can I speak to a client about this?” (Woman, 60, name known to editors).
False independence
For Sylvia Huydecoper, lawyer and chairman of Platform Independent Entrepreneurship, the answer is very simple. “I think it’s crazy to beg for a gift, I would never ask for it myself.” And it is also not legally wise, says Huydecoper. “A Christmas package is typically something an employer does for his employees. Especially in the current situation, where bogus self-employment is more strictly enforced, it is not convenient to join the ranks of employees as a self-employed person. By asking for a Christmas package, you indicate: I also want to be an employee. But you cannot ask to be treated the same as a self-employed person.”
It may seem small, says Huydecoper, but it is precisely these types of small signals that are taken into account when determining false self-employment. “It’s one of the many boxes you can check to say: maybe someone is actually some kind of employee.” According to Huydecoper, the same discussion takes place around the Christmas drinks: are you invited to it as a self-employed person, and if so, do you go there? “There are many different opinions about that. I have not yet come across it in case law, but it is a discussion that is part of the question of whether you are treated as an employee if you receive an invitation.”
According to work psychologist Tosca Gort, expecting a Christmas package as a self-employed person is a mistake that many people make. “If you are an entrepreneur, you should not expect employee benefits. Otherwise you should just become employed.” She therefore advises not to discuss the subject and not to ask a client for a gift. “You have to understand what your working relationship is and be at peace with that.”
That does not alter the fact that it is nice if clients also think of a Christmas present for their freelancers. Gort: “That should not be the same as for employees, that is not legally wise. But a personally written note with a chocolate bar is always possible.”
Find the cause of the frustration
“I can understand that frustration very well,” says Erik Bijleveld. He is an associate professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Radboud University. “After all, a relationship with an employer or client consists of give and take. In that sense, the relationship with your employer or client is not that different from the relationship with your partner, friend, or neighbor. If you have already given a lot – attention, time, effort, and in this case also a Christmas gift – it is not surprising that the expectation arises that you will also receive something in return, on top of the timely payment of your invoice.”
In addition, according to Bijleveld, it is very human to experience frustration when others in a similar situation receive a Christmas present and you do not. But the key question is what to do with this frustration. It is good to note that clients do not necessarily exceed a norm by not handing out a Christmas gift to freelancers, says Bijleveld, because norms about gifts are very fluid and culture-dependent in any case. “In some cultures it is not done to give money as a gift; in other cultures this is very normal. Some organizations attach importance to traditional Christmas packages – with a bottle of wine, snacks and items that you will never use – while other organizations stopped doing this years ago. In short, every client applies his own standards, and you see the result here.”
According to Bijleveld, an important question in this situation is whether the frustration is not a symptom of a broader lack of perceived appreciation from the client. “If you feel like you work hard and give a lot, but your client doesn’t see that – or sees it, but doesn’t appreciate it enough – I would definitely bring that up,” he advises. According to him, this is best done in a calm and non-accusatory manner, because there is a good chance that the client is not aware of any wrongdoing. “The conversation that comes from this can be very valuable, but I don’t think it helps if not getting a Christmas present is very prominent.”
So
Addressing a client about the failure to deliver a Christmas package is not a good idea, not from a legal point of view, and probably not with a view to the mutual relationship. There is a good chance that the client is not aware of any harm and has simply not thought about a Christmas gift for freelancers.
It is good to consider whether the frustration about missing out on a Christmas gift is not a symptom of a lack of appreciation. That feeling is worth bringing up.