Carl Camden Founder/President of iPSE-U.S. discusses independent contractors and the lack of representation and benefits they have at Converge2Xcelerate Conference (Boston, MA)

HIGHLIGHTS

• iPSE-U.S. is the first not-for-profit to provide access to benefits, advocacy, & education to the independent workforce
• Independent workers contribute ~$1.56 trillion to US economy
• Carl is the former President/CEO of Kelly Services & a recognized thought leader on talent management

(ESG News) – Independent workers are discriminated against in the United States. 

That’s the view of Carl Camden, Founder and President of iPSE-U.S., an association of independent workers. Camden shared his thoughts with Ed Kim, host of the Traders Network Show, at the Converge2Xcelerate Conference in Boston. 

“Independent workers face discrimination in access to benefits and in access to workplace safety,” Camden said. “In the rest of the world, they believe that access to benefits and workplace protection is a fundamental right of citizenship, not a fundamental tie to employment. So they provide access to benefits because you’re a citizen, they pay for it through transaction taxes, and everybody who lives in that country has access to those benefits.”

Camden said the slighting of independent workers has long been baked into the ethos of working life, where people of past generations were told that the path to prosperity was finding a good job that would take care of you for decades. 

“When you say that now to college students, they burst out laughing.”

Camden said the U.S. system of attaching benefits to employment is a big part of the problem, but he sees signs of change. “We have built this gerrymandered house of cards, which is now beginning to collapse around itself.”

Amazingly, there could be political will to implement changes on this front because it is a nonpartisan issue, Camden noted. Democrats are fans of creating social safety nets, and Republicans like the notion of buoying small businesses.   

“So we don’t have any problem finding advocates inside both parties, but we do find those who are tied to the old world of work haven’t understood the new dynamics, and it’s very important that they don’t find a place in Congress, regardless of which party they are in,” Camden said.