Discovery call last month. SaaS startup, 12 people, looking to hire a freelance ux designer.

“We need someone 15-20 hours a week. Flexible schedule. Remote. Rate is $85/hour.”

Sounds reasonable. I asked about the work.

“We’re redesigning the onboarding flow. Should take 4-6 weeks. Then ongoing UX improvements as needed.”

Still fine. Then came the expectations.

“You’ll join our daily standups at 9am. We use Slack for all communication – expect to be responsive during business hours. Weekly sprint planning on Mondays. Design reviews every Thursday. Oh, and we might need you to jump on calls with stakeholders sometimes. Usually short notice.”

I stopped them.

“So you want a freelance ux designer who’s available like an employee?”

“Well, not exactly an employee. Just… available when we need you.”

That’s an employee. You’re describing an employee.

(They hired someone else. That person is Open for Work in LK after just two weeks.)

Why Companies Hire Freelance UX Designers (Then Treat Them Like Employees)

Companies want to hire a freelance ux designer because:

• Cheaper than full-time salary + benefits + taxes
• No commitment to 40 hours/week when work is slow
• Flexibility to scale up or down based on roadmap
• “Try before you buy” hiring model (they hope)

Then they want that freelance ux designer to:

• Attend daily standups (9am sharp, every weekday)
• Be available on Slack during business hours (8am-6pm, timezones negotiable – downward only)
• Join sprint planning, retros, design reviews, retrospectives
• Jump on stakeholder calls with 30 minutes notice (or less)
• Respond to “quick questions” evenings and weekends (“just saw your message!”)
• Prioritize their project over all other clients (but remain “independent contractor” for tax purposes)

Pick one. You can’t have both.

When you hire a freelance ux designer, you’re buying their expertise and output. Not their schedule, not their availability, not their exclusive attention.

If you need someone at 9am standups every day, you need an employee. Not a freelance ux designer contract.

(This is also why your last three freelance designers quit after 6-9 weeks. They weren’t “flaky.” You were exhausting.)

What “Flexible Freelance UX Designer” Actually Means (Translation Guide)

Here’s what “flexible freelance ux designer” means when translated:

“Join our daily standups” = Be available 9am every weekday, regardless of your other clients (or timezone)

“Responsive on Slack during business hours” = Interrupt your other work whenever we ping you. Yes, even for “just a quick question.”

“Weekly sprint planning” = Block Mondays for us, every week, indefinitely. We know it’s unpaid time but we need you there.

“Jump on stakeholder calls sometimes” = Drop everything when our CEO wants to “quickly discuss” the button color (meeting will run 90 minutes)

“Flexible schedule” = We’re flexible about which 20 hours you work, as long as it’s 9-5 Monday-Friday

“Fast-paced environment” = We don’t plan ahead. Expect “urgent” requests Thursday at 4pm that need to be done by Monday morning.

This isn’t freelance UX work. This is part-time employment without the benefits, PTO, or job security.

(But hey, you get to write “contractor” on your taxes. Worth it, right?)

The Real Math: Why Hiring a Freelance UX Designer This Way Costs More

Let’s do the actual math on what you’re asking.

You want to hire a freelance ux designer for 20 hours/week at $90/hour. (Let’s be realistic about rates.)

But you also want them at:

Daily standups: 30 min × 5 days = 2.5 hours

Sprint planning: 2 hours/week

Design review: 1.5 hours/week

Slack "quick questions": Conservatively, 4 hours/week of context switching and partial responses

Stakeholder calls: 2 hours/week (you say 30 minutes, it always becomes 2 hours)

"Emergency" check-ins: 1 hour/week average
_
That's 13 hours of meetings, communication overhead, and context switching.

Leaving 7 hours for actual design work.

But design work requires uninterrupted time. 
You can't design a coherent user flow in 30-minute chunks between Slack pings about whether the button should be "Get Started" or "Start Now."

So really, you're paying for 20 hours but getting maybe 4-5 hours of productive design output.

At $90/hour × 20 hours = $1,800/week.

For 4-5 hours of actual output.
_
You're paying $360-450/hour for design work, plus $90/hour for someone to sit in your meetings and answer Slack messages.

Just hire an employee at that point. At least they get health insurance and won’t quit in 2-6 weeks, or whatever. They’ll quit in 8 months instead. Progress.

What Employee Availability Actually Costs a Freelance UX Designer

When you hire a freelance ux designer and expect employee availability, here’s what you’re actually asking them to sacrifice:

Other clients (and their rent money)
Freelancers have 3-4 clients simultaneously. That’s how freelancing works. When you demand 9am standups and same-day availability, you’re making it impossible for them to take other work.

Which means you need to pay enough to compensate for the clients they’re turning down.

You’re not. You’re paying freelance rates but demanding employee exclusivity.

Productive work time (the thing you’re actually paying for)
The best work happens in 3-4 hour uninterrupted blocks. When you require Slack responsiveness and random calls, you’re fragmenting their day into 30-minute chunks.

They can’t do deep work. They can only do shallow work between interruptions.

You’re paying for a senior freelance ux designer but getting junior-level output because you won’t let them think for more than 20 minutes at a time.

The ability to say no (the entire point of freelancing)
Employees can’t say no to Friday evening calls or weekend “emergencies.”

Freelancers can. That’s the trade-off. You pay more per hour, but you don’t own their schedule.

When you expect them to act like employees, you’ve removed the only benefit of hiring a freelance ux designer: their independence and focused expertise.

Their portfolio (and future income)
When 65% of their paid hours go to meetings and Slack, they’re not building portfolio work. They’re building resentment.

Good designers leave. You’re left explaining to the next freelance ux designer why the last three quit.

Red Flags When Companies Try to Hire Freelance UX Designers

Here’s how you know a company wants an employee disguised as a freelance ux designer:

“Must be available during business hours (9-5 EST)”
That’s not freelance. That’s part-time employment with worse benefits.

“Join our daily team meetings”
Daily anything = employee commitment. Freelancers join meetings when there’s a decision to make, not because it’s Tuesday and Tuesdays have meetings.

“Fast-paced environment, need quick turnarounds”
Translation: We don’t plan ahead. You’ll get “urgent” requests Thursday afternoon that need to be done by Monday. Every week. Forever.

“Strong communication skills, highly responsive”
Translation: We expect Slack responses within 10 minutes, any time between 8am-7pm. Maybe later if it’s “urgent.”

“Become part of the team”
You don’t want a freelance ux designer. You want a team member without the cost of a team member.

(Also, “team” means attending the holiday party andSecret Santa. Participation mandatory. Gift budget: $20.)

“Long-term contract opportunity”
This is fine IF it means “ongoing project work.” Usually means “we’ll keep you dangling for 9 months instead of just hiring you.”

“Potential to convert to full-time”
Also fine IF you’re genuinely evaluating. Usually means “work like an employee, we’ll decide later if you’re worth benefits. Probably not though.”

I’ve turned down dozens of projects that looked like flexible freelance work until I read the actual expectations buried in the third email.

Questions to Ask Before Accepting a Freelance UX Designer Contract

If someone wants to hire a freelance ux designer, I ask:

“What meetings do you expect me to attend?”
If the answer includes “daily,” I know they want an employee.

Good answer: “Weekly check-in, design reviews when we have decisions to make.”
Bad answer: “Daily standups, sprint planning, retros, and ad-hoc stakeholder calls.” (Translation: 12+ hours of meetings for a 20-hour contract)

“What’s your communication expectation?”
If they say “responsive on Slack during business hours,” they want employee availability.

Good answer: “Async-first. We’ll schedule calls when needed.”
Bad answer: “We’re a fast-paced team, need quick responses.” (Translation: You’ll get pinged at 9pm about button colors)

“How do you handle urgent requests?”
Everyone says nothing is urgent. Then everything becomes urgent. Usually Thursday afternoon.

Good answer: “We plan sprints two weeks ahead. Rarely have true emergencies.”
Bad answer: “Sometimes things come up. Need flexibility.” (Translation: Every week something “comes up”)

“What happens if I’m unavailable for a day?”
Freelancers have other clients. Sometimes those clients have urgent work. If this company panics when you’re unavailable, they need an employee.

Good answer: “No problem, we work async mostly.”
Bad answer: “Well, we’d need advance notice…” (Translation: You can’t have other priorities. Ever.)

“What does a typical week look like?”
This reveals the meeting load and communication overhead.

If they list 8+ hours of meetings for a 20-hour contract, I decline.

This is the same vetting process I use for avoiding committee-driven projects. More than 4 stakeholders = employee-level coordination. Not freelance work.

What Actually Works

I’ve worked on dozens of successful freelance ux designer engagements. Here’s what makes them work:

Async-first communication
We use Slack or email. I respond when I’m working on their project (usually same-day, sometimes next day if I’m deep in work for another client). They don’t expect immediate responses.

No one panics if I don’t reply in 30 minutes. Revolutionary concept.

Meeting budget (and they actually respect it)
One weekly check-in (45-60 min). Design reviews when there are decisions to make. That’s it.

If they need more meetings than that, they’re not ready for freelance product design work. They need an employee to sit in all their meetings.

Clear deliverables (not vague availability)
“Design the onboarding flow for new users” not “be available for whatever comes up.”

I know what I’m delivering. They know when to expect it. No “quick favors” that derail the actual work and never get billed.

Advance notice for calls (not “can you jump on in 5 minutes?”)
Need me on a call? Book it 2-3 days ahead. I’ll make time. Block my calendar. Prepare context.

Need me on a call in 30 minutes? I’m probably working for someone else right now. Or focusing. Or living my life. Try again with actual notice.

Trust (the thing that makes everything else possible)
They trust me to do the work without checking in constantly. I trust them to give clear feedback without making me guess what they actually want.

This is the foundation of how professional design partnerships actually function. Respect, boundaries, deliverables.

(Not daily standups to prove you’re working. Adults don’t need that.)

What Breaks When You Misclassify Freelance UX Design Work

When you hire a freelance ux designer but treat them like an employee, here’s what breaks:

Quality drops (then you blame the designer)
They can’t do deep work because you’re interrupting them constantly. You get shallow output because you won’t give them uninterrupted time to actually think.

Then you write a review saying they “didn’t meet expectations.” The expectations were impossible.

They quit (then you start this cycle over)
Good freelancers have options. When one client demands too much availability for too little respect, they drop that client and take better work.

You’re left hiring another freelance ux designer, explaining the same context, starting over. Again.

You pay more (and get less)
You’re paying freelance rates ($90-150/hour) for what should be employee rates ($65-85/hour + benefits + taxes).

Because you want employee availability without employee commitment or costs.

Your team resents them (and you)
Your full-time team sees someone making $95/hour, working 20 hours/week, not attending every meeting. They wonder why they’re salaried at $75K doing the same work.

Creates tension that didn’t need to exist. Morale issue you created by misclassifying the engagement.

You never learn how to work with freelancers (so this repeats)
You keep hiring designers the way you hire employees. It keeps not working. You blame freelancers for being “unreliable” instead of examining your model.

Turns out the problem is you. (Sorry. Had to say it.)

When You Actually Need an Employee (Not a Freelance UX Designer)

Sometimes the answer is: just hire an employee. Nothing wrong with that.

You need an employee if:

• Daily coordination is genuinely necessary (rarely true, but sometimes is)
• The work is open-ended with no clear deliverables or end date
• You need someone embedded in your team culture and attending every meeting
• The role requires 40 hours of availability even if productive work is 20 hours
• You have no system for async collaboration and no plans to build one
• You want someone who can’t say no to Friday 4pm “emergencies”

Nothing wrong with any of that. Employees are great. Just pay them like employees and give them employee benefits.

Don’t try to get employee availability at freelance rates. It’s expensive for everyone and makes both parties miserable.

(Also, “contractor” doesn’t mean “employee without benefits.” Your accountant knows this. The IRS definitely knows this.)

So, What Now?

I stopped taking ux designer contracts that require employee availability around year 4.

Not because I’m inflexible. Because the projects that demand employee availability always end badly. Every single one.

Now I only work with companies who understand: when you hire a freelance ux designer, you’re buying expertise and deliverables. Not availability and attendance.

If they need someone at 9am standups, in every Slack thread, on every stakeholder call, I recommend they hire an employee.

Usually they do. And they’re happier. Because they got what they actually needed instead of trying to Frankenstein a freelancer into an employee shape.

(And I’m happier. Because I’m working with people who respect boundaries and understand how freelancing actually works.)

The Bottom Line

You can hire a freelance ux designer for flexibility and expertise.

Well, you can. But the good ones will decline. And the ones who accept will either quit in 6 weeks or deliver mediocre work because you won’t let them focus.

Or you can hire an employee for availability and integration.

You can’t hire a freelance ux designer and expect them to work like an employee.

If your job post says “freelance” but describes employee expectations, you’re not hiring a freelance ux designer.

You’re hiring an employee without committing to it.

Which means neither of you is getting what you need.

Your call.