E-PLOYMENT® combines the benefits of self-employment with the advantages of working as part of a close team in a single organisation. Our aim is to get the best of both worlds. UP THERE, EVERYWHERE pioneered this new model, wrote a book about it and even created our own software and admin platform, SUPER System, that supports our business model and members globally. But why did we create this new business model?
Creative and service industry agencies are struggling globally
Look at the major costs of running a creative or strategic services agency. It comes down to two big items: people and offices. When times get tough, as they do in increasingly regular cycles, adjusting these two items is difficult and expensive. Most agencies are incredibly inflexible and traditional. Imagine a structure where those two costs are vastly minimized.
Consider the most important element that our clients really value: the people they work with. But people working in a structured and co-ordinated way together, with common systems, tools and standards.
AT UP THERE EVERYWHERE, we decided not to have any traditional employees – we have instead UP Members contracted as E-PLOYEES.
We have encouraged remote working since day one in 2010, and want our people to work where they work best. We also provide a number of Global Creative Hubs, in place of offices, where our members can work, meet each other or clients as they want and need to. A list of our global hubs can be found here.
We have a central Leadership Team that meets weekly online, consisting of twelve people from four countries and two continents, who take the key decisions.
How to join UP
We are also highly selective over who can join us.
Over the past several years we have developed strict recruitment routines, systems and contracts that work for our model of E-PLOYMENT. All prospective members have to be recommended by an existing member and then go through a series of interviews to asses candidates. We are also extremely clear that UP is not just a jobbing centre for freelancers - we do not want to create a network of freelancers. That's been done - and that mostly fails and does not meet our goals for the UP Organisation.
We’re also not interested in crowdsourcing either – a long way from it. Crowd sourcing is closer to outsourcing and, in our opinion, just a short sighted way of shedding costs that does not add long term value to the creative industries or even the clients. did the idea come about?
How did the idea come about?
Julian Stubbs, one of the founders of UP, explains:
"In early 2010 I’d been working for a large global brand agency on the development of a new corporate identity for the Hollywood movie brand, Technicolor. It was a really cool project to work on and I was lucky enough to spend a fair bit of time in Burbank, California, where Technicolor was headquartered. I got a tour one day of the vast sound stages at the studios, they were filming the US version of The Office while I was there, and the guy giving me the tour pointed out that all productions were made with a crew of independent creatives, which gave both the creatives and the studios much more flexibility in their work. The studio delivered the structure and support to make the whole thing gel. That idea struck me as really powerful, an idea that I felt could be developed much further. I had a young son at the time, and I was keen to pick him up from day school in the afternoon, play a bit of football with him and then go back to work later in the evening. No traditional agency would give me that flexibility. If I couldn't find a company that would give me that work-life balance, I decided to help create one.
These ideas and goals eventually became E-PLOYMENT® and UP THERE, EVERYWHERE® was born."
