[4th Freelance Consultant Survey] Motivations for Independence Polarize into 'Own Business' and 'Quality of Life'; Full-time Freelancers' '100% Utilization' Reaches Record High

Groovement (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Masashi Yokuno), which supports professionals in new challenges, conducted the "4th Survey on Freelance Consulting Activities" targeting registered users of its freelance consultant matching services, "Strategy Consultant Bank / IT Consultant Bank."

This survey revealed that while "wanting to start my own business" remains the most common motivation for independence (32%), the proportion of those working as side jobs has decreased, and there is a clear trend towards increasing the utilization rate as a main profession (freelance). Furthermore, life satisfaction remains at a high level exceeding 90%, indicating that autonomous career development is steadily taking root.

4th Freelance Consultant Survey (April 2026)

Purpose of the Freelance Consultant Survey Against the backdrop of diversifying work styles and the advancement of DX, an increasing number of highly specialized consultants are becoming independent as freelancers. However, there are still aspects of freelance consulting work that are not fully understood.

This survey aims to quantitatively grasp the "motivations for independence" and "actual working conditions" of leading freelance consultants. In this 4th survey in April 2026, we specifically conducted a fixed-point observation of individual proactiveness, such as "starting one's own business," and the trend towards specialization seen in the increase in utilization rates.

The "2nd Consulting Utilization Survey" announced recently revealed that the key to project success is the indispensable shift to "company-led initiatives that anticipate in-house development." Focusing on the "proactiveness" of consultants who partner in this, we explore "new forms of collaboration" for both parties to achieve high performance.

*Data download here

*Regarding citation and reproduction of data If you use the survey results and images from this press release, please include links to "Strategy Consultant Bank" (https://strategyconsultant-bank.com/) and "IT Consultant Bank" (https://itconsultant-bank.com/) as the source.

About "Strategy Consultant Bank (SCB) / IT Consultant Bank (ICB)"

Our "Strategy Consultant Bank (SCB)" is a matching service that connects carefully selected freelance management consultants who have passed strict screening with companies that wish to utilize management consultants.

While primarily invitation-based, we mainly register individuals with experience at foreign-affiliated consulting firms.

In addition, our sister service, "IT Consultant Bank (ICB)," is a matching service that connects freelance IT and SAP consultants with companies.

Many excellent consultants from major IT consulting firms and SIs are registered, and we provide support in a wide range of areas, including IT strategy formulation, design, DX accompaniment, implementation, and operation support.

4th Freelance Consultant Survey Executive Summary

This survey was conducted targeting freelance consultants from major consulting firms such as MBB, BIG4, and Accenture. The results revealed a shift from the traditional image centered on "high remuneration" to an autonomous career that emphasizes "self-realization" and "improving quality of work-life" in terms of motivations for independence, actual working conditions, and market evaluation.

1. Motivations for Independence: "Self-realization" and "Quality of Life" are the two major trends

The most common reason for independence was "because I wanted to start my own business" at 32%. This was followed by "work-life balance" at 25%, with these two accounting for more than half of the total.

2. Working Status: Shift from side jobs to "full-time / full utilization"

Compared to the previous survey, the proportion of those with a total utilization rate of "80% or more" increased. In particular, "100% utilization" reached 25%, indicating an increase in professionals who are settling into freelance consulting as their main profession.

3. Income: While polarization is progressing, some achieve significant increases

58% of respondents reported an income increase of "3 million yen or more per year," a significant increase from the previous 47%. On the other hand, in terms of unit price, the distribution widened to both extremes of "less than 1.2 million yen per month" and "2 million yen or more per month," indicating progressing polarization of projects.

4. Satisfaction: 93% responded that "life satisfaction increased"

93% of respondents said "life satisfaction increased," and 93% also said "time flexibility increased," maintaining an extremely high level.

5. Generative AI Keywords: