Ethical Freelancing: Would You Turn Down A Client?
There are certain types of clients I just flat out won’t work with. For these categories of projects, it’s not a question of whether the client will be easy to work with or whether they’ll pay on time. Instead, it’s a question of what I feel comfortable working on — which projects seem ethical to me. If something feels wrong to me, I’m willing to walk away from the money.
Deciding which projects are ethical to take on, though, can be very subjective. What seems perfectly okay to one freelancer is a big problem for another. Most freelancers don’t have a list of projects they consider unethical, or anything like that. I used to fall into that category, but after an uncomfortable situation where I wound up working for a client who used some pretty unethical techniques (by my standards), I’ve come to believe that it’s very important for freelancers to have an idea of what they will and won’t work on going in.
Content Problems
Many freelancers have some types of content they don’t want to work with. A web designer might refuse to put together an adult website, for instance — although where the line is drawn is purely a personal decision. I know a website designer who turned down designing a site for a political candidate because he planned to vote for the other guy and I know a videographer who has worked with a lot of churches but won’t work with any groups that could even slightly be construed as hate groups.
It’s a question of your comfort level — if you aren’t comfortable working on a project, you’re certainly not going to be able to turn out your best work. It’s reasonable to tell a prospective client that you aren’t able to take on a certain project at this time and you don’t even have to explain why.
Questionable Methods
It’s not always the content of a project that bothers a freelancer. Sometimes, it’s the methods a client uses in the course of doing business. One of the projects I most regret working on was something that, on the surface, seemed reasonable: writing about who handled sales at a specific category of company. But the client’s methods made me want to run in the opposite direction: he instructed researchers to lie if necessary to get the type of details he wanted in the write-ups. That was enough for me to end my involvement.
In any field, there are a few techniques that make people a little uncomfortable. A writer might want to avoid putting together content that will be sent out in spam emails. An SEO consultant may be uncomfortable with black hat techniques. It’s reasonable to simply avoid those projects that employ techniques that you aren’t comfortable with. It’s not necessary to explain why to the client, unless you actually want to.
Drawing the Line
I’ve been tempted to take on projects that I had ethical questions about in the past. I’ll admit that I’ve even taken on some projects that I was uneasy with when I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to pay my bills otherwise. But I didn’t even feel comfortable with having my name on those projects — I wouldn’t include them in my portfolio. Simply avoiding those projects that I don’t feel comfortable working on hasn’t made a dent in my income, so I feel it’s a legitimate choice to make.
Even if you’re walking away from the money, turning down a project on ethical grounds can be a good business decision. A freelancer who takes on enough projects that other people see as even borderline unethical can earn a reputation for working with questionable techniques or with certain types of content, leading in turn to offers for more of the work that isn’t a freelancer’s first choice.
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This is the reason I don’t have a Paypal button on my freelancing site that would allow anybody to hire me just like that. Obviously, I refuse to work with businesses that violate my personal morality – I’m a Mom of 3 children, after all!
Aside from the obviously objectionable projects, there are clients I refuse to work with because of ethics and working style. For example, I stopped working with somebody who thought there was something wrong with me being unable to write a sales page for a product I had never seen.
I dropped another client because she was always giving me last-minute assignments, negotiating down my rates and then paying me late.
No freelancer should have to lose his or her integrity in order to make money.
totally agree!
Putting legality aside, I think that turning down business for this reason, is one of the most admirable reasons to do so.
Several times, I’ve retired from projects because what needs to be done I was morally objected to doing. Unfortunately, this more often happens after you’ve accepted a project and dig deeper into what needs to be done, or how the client wants it done, or some “minor” change down the road. On more than one of those occasions, I was offered 2 or 3 times or more than the initial price to continue, which is just another sign that you probably shouldn’t be doing it.
I think that morals and ethics are individual to each person. Again putting legality aside, only you can decide where the line is, and only you will face yourself at the end of the day. It’s easy to forgive someone else, but very difficult to forgive yourself.
there are definitely certain types of businesses or business owners that I would not take work from for ethical reasons. I make decisions about the businesses I support in my day to day life – so why would that NOT apply to my business life as well? This is one of the benefits of being a freelancer and having say in what you do and what you won’t do – whereas when you’re at a firm – you get what is assigned to you, like it or not.
Great article. I think it’s a sign of confidence in one’s business when they are able to turn down clients on moral/ethical grounds.
I’m a freelancer for more reasons than just money, and being able to decide who I work with is one of those perks.
I also think it’s important to be honest, yet respectable when turning down work (i.e. don’t just say “I don’t have time right now”). I recently turned down work for religious reasons, and was completely honest. I was surprised how appreciative the potential client was.
In fact this is the main reason why I left working for a company and going freelance – I needed the freedom to choose who I worked for and what I worked on.
Liz made a good point, if you hold ethical values in your own life, why would that not carry over into your work life?
I follow Muslim values, which help me make sure I never work on projects that are adult orientated, promote sex, or use sex as a selling tool, gambling, alcohol and tobacco etc. It allows me to pic and choose those who I work for, keeping a clear conscience and making sure I am not part of a cog that will help deteriate society as a whole. It goes without saying that lying, deception, under-handed or illegal procedures are just outright unacceptable. I cant believe there are people out there who would build and promote racist, fascist and other-phobic sites for politicians, fringe groups, terrorists and the like.
Keep your ethics and morals, its a form of charity.
I have some info about project I will not work on straight on my web site in ‘company policy’…..
HomerunDesign does not discriminate against race, sexual orientation, gender, number of tattoos or length and quality of client’s hair. In fact, HomerunDesign does not discriminate. Period. Well….. as always in life, there are a few exceptions. HomerunDesign has NOT , does NOT and will NOT work on your project if the project, or the organization or company behind the project:
* promotes child abuse, child exploitation, child labor, child pornography, pedophilia, or any other despicable activities against children
* promotes exploitation of workers, domestic or foreign
* promotes racism or hatred against other nations
* promotes weapon trade with third world, or unstable countries
* promotes illegal drug use
* promotes any illegal activity, including copyright infringement
* promotes pornography – I don’t need my two kids to be looking over my shoulder on such material. However, artistic nudity is perfectly fine.
* …and maybe some others
So, if you have no intention to do the above, let’s talk about your project today!
Thats what makes some one a Professional Ive worked with clients involved in drug cartels and mafia, strip clubs and other joints.
if the client wants it, pays it, you design.
Not only did the client buy the design, they bought you. How sad.
Shoot, I’ve turned down projects that didn’t care about semantic html, or best practices. That’ my name on that code. I refuse to write tables for layout. Go find some Dreamweaver using, college kid to do your site.
It can be very hard to draw the line… obviously increased fees can be an attraction if you simply feel that a client may take a lot more time and effort than the usual.
We should all have morals and stick by them – that goes for business too in my opinion.
A few months ago I found myself in this exact situation. The details are rather irrelevant. In the end even though aspects of the project really appealed to me I would have had to violate a few of my core beliefs to do so. In the end I respectfully turned the job down and I’m glad I did in the end.
Though there’s one other reason besides personal feelings to turn down a project. If you’re not really into a project you won’t give it your best. Just because you don’t feel right with a project doesn’t mean it’s not a good project and stepping aside to give another designer a chance to take a crack at it gives it the chance to really succeed, a chance you would have denied it.
“Thats what makes some one a Professional Ive worked with clients involved in drug cartels and mafia, strip clubs and other joints.
if the client wants it, pays it, you design.”
That doesn’t make you a professional—that makes you a whore. Where is your morality?
Actually Gus, for me the opposite is the case.
What makes a professional is someone who allows no contradiction between her/his personal values and her/his work values.
I do not consider it professional of me if I act in a hypocritical way, or if I can risk tarnishing my professional image through guilt by association.
However, as has been pointed out above, it’s a question of values. If we have different values, we will inevitably see things differently. Trouble starts when one person imposes her/his values on another!
It’s our right to turn down work, whether the reason is ethical or simply that current workload won’t allow a new client. I’ve found that people really appreciate honesty. Just tell them your reason for turning it down and they’ll respect it. If they don’t and want to argue, they’ve just revealed another great reason for having said “Thanks, but no thanks!”
This is an excellent article, Thursday. I believe that a freelance designer has the possibility to choose whom to work for. Since he does, he most certainly should!
As freelance designers, we are more than just tools for clients. To simply be a tool would give the power to completely control the way we design to a client. In reality, the more a web designer is in sync with the project, the client and the web sites’ purpose, the more successful the design will be. When we wish to offer the best work possible, we must refuse to work on a project or for a client we feel is going against our principles. It becomes a matter of respect for the project, the client and ourselves.
As an employee, sometimes I feel like strangling my boss because his ethics and mine aren’t exactly the same, and there’s only so many times you can hear “I want to use this picture I grabbed on the internet on this project, please get rid of the artist’s signature” before going insane, especially when no amount of “but look, there’s nearly the same image on this stock photography website” and others options can change his mind. Quitting isn’t an option for me, so I’m hoping he’ll end up firing me over my constant arguing on copyrights, preferably before my tablet hand withers from the shame.
If I were a freelancer (my long term plan), a client coming to me with this kind of request would be promptly directed towards the door. My personal ethics are way more important to me than losing a few contracts, even if it means I end up in the red for a few weeks. As a last resort, the “freed” time can always be used to work on some projects that generate passive income and that I won’t find morally objectionable.
So great to see people who are not prepared to just do anything clients require of them, in order for us to create a better world we need to be careful which endeavours we promote, support and facilitate.
I like Omar also have very specific religious reasons I wouldn’t work for specific clients based on my belief. Outside of the religious reasons there are also certain clients who just simply are not worth the bother. People who by their very nature are unethical in heir business lives are generally those I try to spot and avoid.
I try to subscribe to the “No Harm” standard, that if a product or service does harm to people or society in some way, I’ll avoid promoting them or facilitating them in any way. This includes even recommending others to take on their projects.
So far it’s been a good way to keep the amount of projects to a manageable amount, but also adds something called barakah (arabic for blessing) to the work I do. When you’re prepared to do anything for a buck, the value of that buck diminishes drastically, but wen you earn you way in a manner which helps, nurtures and protects you’ll find a new level of blessing in your wealth.
I feel sorry for people who feel they have to professionally help any tom dick and harry push their negativity onto society. You have a role to play and if you support degradation of society you’re part of the problem. It’s like a lawyer who defends a murderer just because it’s “professional”. Yuck
Not to sound like a jackass, but (most) defense attorneys don’t “defend” murderers to be professional, they do so to uphold their constitutional rights to due process, a fair and speedy trial, etc.
Do you feel the same way about public defenders as you do about private defense attorneys? Not all lawyers are ambulance chasers, like not all designers “borrow” from photos.com and templatemonster.
/end-rant
Timely! I just had to tell a long-term client that I can’t work on the planned re-vamping of their site because they’re planning to change the focus to something I find harmful and don’t want to support.
I had a prospective client recently who wanted a banner/poster created with a photo of a model. I notated the cost of purchasing an appropriate stock photo in my quote. The client responded with ‘we don’t pay for photos;’ – they wanted me to just grab something off the net to use. I turned down the project, and have not heard from that client since, which I consider a good thing.
RE: Amanda Cobb’s experience- this is one type of client that you can walk away from with no regrets. Anyone who is unwilling to pay for a photographer’s work is unlikely to place value in your work, or anyone else’s for that matter. Not only can you keep your head held high, you probably saved yourself a ton of hassle billing a cheap/deadbeat client.
Amanda, your comment brings up another good point – that sometimes by operating unethically, we do harm to the businesses of others and ourselves. Cheating people out of royalties for images is one example of this. The more designers that are willing to break the law, or bend the rules, the more we create an environment where we ourselves become potential targets – our own images and designs being used without our consent. And cutting corners to cut costs only downgrades our profession and makes it easier for clients to demand lower costs and free access to copyrighted materials.
I wish more people did turn down clients, on the basis of ethical practices, pricing, or any other ethical issue that just bothers you. One of the perks of being a freelancer is the ability to turn down work, and we should feel free to exercise that right at any time, for any reason. Unfortunately I think there are many many freelancers who subscribe to the beliefs that you never turn down work as long as the price is reasonable, and it gives clients the wrong idea about us; that we’ll do anything they ask as long as they wave a check in front of us.
In my experiences, taking on a project that give you an uneasy feeling for whatever reason always ends up disappointing. Taking on work just because it’s work is not a good enough reason to do so.
Worse yet, I personally know of agencies that operate like this, taking on projects that they get that uneasy feeling about, only to then struggle all the way to the finish line just to complete and bill the job. It’s not worth the headaches, the hassle, and especially the feeling of regret you face after it’s all said and done and the money just wasn’t worth it.
I almost took on a freelance job making a website for a ‘massage parlour’ (brothel). It was offered out after an enquiry came through to the agency I work for. I got cold feet after I went to see them, it was scary stuff.
I’ve recently had a great deal of requests for Twitter API based work. But I actively turn down any work which sounds like another ’spam’ bot, or applications that refuse to use the oAuth standard.
I just don’t like the idea of applications storing people’s passwords, and won’t be responsible in anyway for facilitating that.
I’m not a mercenary or gun-for-hire, so I reserve the right to refuse any job. This would include the obvious (adult sites, hate literature, etc) but also ones that might appear to be awkward, politically or socially. The grey area is always the one that challenges ones ethics. I might try to price myself out of a the market of causes that I simply disagree with but wouldn’t affect my brand negatively. Politics don’t fall into this realm as I may get many clients with any political persuasion.
Other than ethical conflicts, I turn down jobs that demand a discount (for no reason), involve plagiarism or breaching copyright or are outside of my realm of expertise.
You know the Latin phrase that is on the MGM roaring lion logo?
“Ars longa, vita brevis”: art lasts, life is short. Both of these are good reasons for being careful, very careful, about who you work with. Money, as my husband says, can be very expensive.
Here is another article I wrote sometime back http://www.simplyfreelanced.blogspot.com/ which reflect the same concern. Freelancer needs to be wise, must have diginity while accepting and bidding on work.
I would definitely turn down a client for ethical reasons. If you’re a cancer in society, forget it.
The article’s dead on: if you do decide to work with a questionable client , do you really want that kind of attention and more of the same coming your way? I wouldn’t.
I haven’t had many experiences with clientwork that involved moral and ethical issues — usually you can see those a mile away. It really pays to Google first.
However, as someone earlier said that life is short. I turn down much more work than I take, and I think clients appreciate that openness up front. Often, for me, it’s about the process. Will I work with someone other than the decision maker? Will they have their resources in time for the project — content, budget, an outline? Is the timeline reasonable for my current workload? Does it play to my strengths, or weaknesses? Are they comfortable with my work or respect my process?
Nurture a clients and expectations like your portfolio. Bad fits or poor clients yield worse than no referrals — they beget referrals to other bad fits (i.e., this person was really cheap, was willing to work around the clock, etc.). Hungry designers who go for everything tend to stay hungry.
As a new freelancer aiming to work with non-profits, I’m definitely intending to turn down jobs if I’m unhappy about the values of the organisation which has contacted me.
I’m wondering if I need to put a statement about that on my website, e.g. “I reserve the right not to work with organisations whose values I don’t agree with”, or whether I just quietly turn them down by saying I’m too busy. Would there be any legal implications to the former? (I’m in the UK btw).
I have had to turn down a number of ghostwriting projects in which clients would clearly be masquerading as experts or misrepresenting their own “due diligence,” and while this often leaves me financially poorer, I feel all the richer for not having compromised my own values.
I’ve turned down several clients in the past, advertisers too. If they go against what I believe to be right, I won’t work for them. We’re only as good as our reputations.
“We’re only as good as our reputations.”
Well said.
Joshua Mauldin
MayBe !
Great comments here! I was asked to do ‘as needed’ work and I found out it was all pornographic material. I kindly said “thank you for the offer but I have to decline it” and they were fine with it and moved on.
Call me prude but I don’t want my work associated with pay-for-porn websites.
That’s right. Porn should be free
Find All The sites on The Internet Porn
Why ?
Because Everyone Ignorance
If the client is asking you to make them sound like an expert they may be violating the country’s or state’s Consumer Protection laws. Those typically state that misleading information is illegal. I would suggest reporting them.
I know some would say “well it’s not my business, I just won’t work for them” but you would still be allowing other consumers, other citizens, to fall for their tricks.
Being freelance I rely on every invoice to pay my way, however I would not work on projects which harm. I believe any good client would take a poor eye to freelancers working with questionable industries.
Imagine how a socially focused client, such as a youth organisation, would feel if they became aware that that their designer also produced work for the tobacco or sex industry.
When I look at my portfolio I feel positive, and believe my work has provided a positive influence within our community. This is an important element of being a good designer.
I will turn down any web design jobs I’m offered that involve religion of any kind, anything to do with fanatical political agendas (greenpeace and PETA are well known examples of these but I’m referring to more local stuff), dieting or homeopathic remedies, fortune tellers and psychics and so on. Basically anything I think is silly or harmful.
There are also a few clients I have that I will charge well below my normal rates because I believe in what they are doing (animal shelters and kids charities for example). If people ask me for work and I respect what they are doing I will often offer free logo designs, SEO or whatever else I think will help them that they normally would not be able to afford.
I also won’t help someone if they turn down my quote due to it being too expensive then trying to hire me to fix the catastrophe they get from hiring someone cheap and nasty.
None of this has ever affected my income. In fact it has helped on occasion as people will tlak about it and I’ll get a lead here and there based on mutual beliefs.
All of these things are personal choices obviously and I respect people who are prepared to draw a line in the sand and say ‘no further’.
I’ve drawn the line at copyright infringement mainly (rip off competitor’s website, steal images from Google etc); never been asked to do anything else ‘morally objectionable’ but I’m sure I would have a hard time designing hate sites or working for political parties I wouldn’t vote for.
I will also tend to turn down requests for ‘old’ code, WYSIWYG projects etc.
The anguish of having a highly profitable client I could increasingly not stand—one I just cut loose, and with the usual, initial ambivalence & pain, caused me to Google the issue, and I came upon this site.
I am a counselor partnering with a large site. I have real gifts (earned Real Deal) and real integrity.
My responses to individuals are never arbitrary. My work centers around understanding each unique being and on every level. So when someone emerges as phony, toxic, ignoble….. you can take that they are those… to the bank.
Were I a physician, my oath would compel me to deal with anyone who came my way. But I am not, thank God, a physician.
We are human. Who enjoys loosing income? But trying to please or go on working with any client for any significant interval at the expense of truth or your core values, is never the right thing to do. It COSTS TOO MUCH!
There are many kinds of currencies in life and dead presidents are only one.
It’s the FAUST phenomenon, guys. Avoid it at all costs!