The New Trend of Work- Gig Economy. Is it the
Future and Challenges that come with it
Source:
The gig
economy and worker safety | November 2017 | Safety+Health
(safetyandhealthmagazine.com)
Let us first define what is the Gig
Economy before we go into our analysis. According to the UK government it is
the exchange of labour for money between individuals or companies through
digital platforms that actively facilitate matching between providers and
customers on a short-term and payment-by-task basis (Charlton, 2021). Examples
of the gig workers include short-term contracts, freelance work and independent
projects. Companies such as TaskRabbit, Fiverr and Handy are famous in the Gig
Industry (Lavri, 2023).This blog will focus on discussing its advantages,
drawbacks, its effect on traditional businesses, its future and and its challenges.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of
the Gig Economy
Arguments For
1. The Flexibility its brings in a very globalized fast
paced business environment. This helps to adapt to their permanent work
schedules, balancing personal lives and pursue other interests such as
education or other projects. This enhances job satisfaction and contributing to
a healthy work-life balance.
2. Opens up opportunities for those who have struggled to
find traditional employment due to various barriers such as geographical
constraints or health issues (Johanputra, 2023).
Arguments Against
1. Lack of job security and employee benefits that
traditional full-time jobs offer.Lack of access to health insurance, retirement
plans and other essential perks.
2. Inconsistent nature of gig work can lead to income
volatility, making financial planning and stability a constant concern. This
can make it difficult to manage expenses such as rent, groceries and healthcare
(Johanputra, 2023).
The Effect on Traditional
Businesses
Traditional employment structures
are long-term commitments while the gig economy focuses on short-term,
project-based engagement. This has led companies to change their hiring
strategies. These traditional organizations can benefit from cost savings because
of innovative new employment models. There is cost reductions in recruitment,
hiring and interviews enables them to be competitive in the market place
(Johanputra, 2023). There is wide access to a wide range of talent (Lavri,
2023). On the other hand, there has been employee rights being eroded. Workers
are treated as disposable resources stripped of protection and stability of
formal employment. Thus, the benefits with fair treatment and compensation is a
continuing challenge that businesses and policymakers have to address
(Jobanputra, 2023).
Current and the Future Norm
Already there has been very
advanced applications in use in the gig industry. Technologies such as cloud
and mobile connectivity have made internalization. White-collar employees can
work anywhere outside the office and enabling to set-up of cloud based e-commerce
services or even the remote operation of equipment and faculties over a secure
connection. These technologies are creating new paradigm shift in how work is
organized in the future. White collar employees can select among temporary jobs
and projects around the world and employers can select the best individuals for
specific projects from a larger pool. The future is therefore more temporary
jobs that are focused more on task-based rather than today’s job-based
structure (Hedlund, 2022).
Practical Challenges to the New Norm
Enterprises see less loyal
workforce. In the future many employees
think they will be replacing long-term positions with short-term assignments
and project-based employment make life more difficult. Majority of workers will
juggle multiple jobs to maintain a decent income. The lack of financial stability
and uncertainty about availability of paid work tasks are key challenges as
they will have significant commitments in the form mortgages and loans.
International labor organization states that research reveals that more women
will engage in task-based jobs then men do due to urgent need of income to care
of their families (Hedlund, 2022).
Regulatory challenges include they
are not unionized, represented and lack benefits that traditional employees
have such as unemployment insurance, pensions and healthcare. Therefore,
technology has been used to shape the new labor market based on more temporary
international jobs by enabling new ways to get workers organized and cooperated
for better working conditions. For instance, a group of gig workers have
developed third-party platform called Turkoptican which allow workers to give
feedback on their employers by allowing other workers to avoid potentially
unfavorable jobs and to recommend employers. Some gig workers also collected
funds anonymously by using a service called Dynamo to organize campaigns to
strive for a better work environment (Hedlund, 2022). All these were done by
aide of using technology.
Conclusion
This blog discussed on the Gig
Workers, that is short-term contractors, freelance workers and independent
project workers who perform small tasks with the aide of technology. Next it
focused on the advantages, disadvantages, its impact on traditional businesses,
its future and the challenges that come with it.
References:
Charlton,
E. (2021) ‘What is the gig economy and what’s the deal for gig workers?’, World
Economic Forum, 26 May. Available at: What is the
gig economy and what's the deal for gig workers? | World Economic Forum
(weforum.org) (Accessed: 12 December 2023).
Drake
D. (2020) ‘How the Gig Economy Fits into the Future of Work’, Wharton Global
Youth Program’, 16 January. Available at: How the Gig
Economy Fits into the Future of Work - Wharton Global Youth Program (upenn.edu)
(Accessed: 12 December 2023).
Hedlund,
P. (2022) ‘What is the gig economy and how will it change the future of work?’,
Ericsson Blog,01 February. Available at: What is the
gig economy? A new era of work - Ericsson (Accessed: 12 December
2023).
Jobanputra, K. (2023) ‘Is the 9-5
Lifestyle Over? How the Gig Economy Will Impact the Future of Work’, Entrepreneur,
21 September. Available at: How the Gig
Economy Will Impact the Future of Work | Entrepreneur (Accessed: 12
December 2023).
Lavri,
O. (2023) ‘How does the gig economy shape the future of work?’, HRForecast, 10
March. Available at: Gig economy
and its impact on the future of work | HRForecast (Accessed: 12
December 2023).
McKinsey
& Company (2023) ‘What is the gig economy?’, McKinsey & Company,02
August 2023. Available at: What is the
gig economy? | McKinsey (Accessed: 12 December 2023).
Koble,
N. (2018) ‘What is the gig economy and why is it so controversial?’, Wired, 14
September. Available at: What is the
gig economy? The meaning and issues explained | WIRED UK (Accessed:
12 December 2023).
Rivera,
M. (2023) ‘The Future of the Gig Economy: 2024 and Beyond’, Clearvoice,08
November. Available at: Gig Economy:
The Future into 2024 & Beyond | ClearVoice (Accessed: 12
December 2023).
Zgola,
M (2021) ‘Will the Gig Economy Become the New Working- Class Norm?’, Forbes,
12 August. Available at: Will The Gig
Economy Become The New Working-Class Norm? (forbes.com) (Accessed:
12 December 2023).
The gig economy is becoming an increasingly important force in the national and global labor markets. The gig category involves independent workers and freelancers performing temporary, part-time, and contract work rather than the full-time work done by permanent employees such as graphic designers and software developers. This type of work arrangement suits many different organizations and the temporary workers offering their specialized services, such as Uber.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. That is what my blog focused on. It can be new trend, especially in our country due to the new and rapid advancement of technology in artificial intelligence and machine learning. While there are advantages in terms of convenience and independence, businesses low cost, scalability and there is an immense supply of talent pool. But the negative part is there is no equitable monetary remuneration and other intrinsic benefits since these are not permanent employment (De Silva, 2020). Some things to ponder.
DeleteReference:
De Silva, T. (2020) 'The Gig Economy', LMD, 26 November. Available at: https://lmd.lk/the-gig-economy/ (Accessed: 17 December 2023).
Yes i agree, this is the most efficient way of earning an extra income, with all the weariness and been busy all the time, you could have more time for your self and have a peace full mind so that you can make the work environment feel much more workable
ReplyDeleteThis comprehensive analysis provides readers with a well-rounded understanding of the gig economy and its implications for workers, businesses, and the broader labor market.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, definitely a great add-on income to most and allows people to be able to have their regular life but work at the pace possible. It's project based so allows individuals the ability to manage tasks better.
ReplyDeleteWell written article! The gig economy is a growing trend, offering flexibility but posing challenges such as job insecurity and lack of benefits. Balancing flexibility with worker protection is crucial for its sustainable future.
ReplyDeleteGig economy+, in contrast to its conventional definition, implies that high-value occupations, or gigs, will also be possible but also calls for a particular set of abilities, most notably digital literacy and the capacity to operate in geographically dispersed virtual teams (Malik, Visvizi, and Skrzek-Lubasińska, 2021). This article perfectly highlights the important of the new trends in Gig-economy.
ReplyDeleteMalik, R., Visvizi, A. and Skrzek-Lubasińska, M., 2021. The gig economy: Current issues, the debate, and the new avenues of research. Sustainability, 13(9), p.5023.
To answer all your questions in a nutshell it is going to be a new trend due to the technological advancement that is happening. It definitely benefits many people who are unemployed and if the person is employed, it is a supplementary income, which is an added benefit. Different companies from large scale to small will have access to the wider talent pool. However, the drawbacks are income earned is very minimal and there are no benefits like medical and social security as such. So is it actually worth the time and effort? Well, some change initiatives need to be done from the government side to bring a standard norm so that individuals who are solely dependent on this income will benefit.
ReplyDelete