The
gig economy means different things to different people. For some, it is the
ever-growing number of individuals who make use of the emergent online
platforms for service brokering as witnessed in Uber, Upwork and Airbnb among
others. For others, the economy refers to individuals who work within the
contingent, diversified, temporary capacity or on a freelance basis. Put
simpler, it could mean those without full time or part-time employment.
How big is the gig economy?
It
is no doubt that insufficient clarity that surrounds the gig economy points to,
unsurprisingly, to the ambiguity that defines how big the gig economy actually
is- that is, the percentage of the workforce it commands, though available
literature points to an estimated 35%. If we look at the smaller end of the
scale, that is, people who earn a living through the internet, then it
certainly is on the upward trajectory.
According
to Time Study on virtually all contingent workforce that
includes online platform workforce, 44% of the US populace of the working age
are individuals engaged in non-traditional forms of employment.
So, does this Trend mean a Thing?
From
the available literature, it is obvious that most people have taken advantage
of the emergent online platforms for their hustle to make supplement their
income. But is that all?
The
dominant belief points to the fact that most people will definitely turn to
online gigs in the coming years. 32% of the millennials believe that the online
gig is the best thing of their time and that they will be embracing the
flexible work hours in the future. PWC holds that 46% of the
human resource professionals are prepared to the inevitable mass exodus with a
projection of about 20% of them falling under the temporary and contract
workforce by 2020.
What’s the Implication on HR?
As
expected, there are variants when it comes to the impacts the freelance gigs
would have on human resources. Nonetheless, when combined coupled with such
factors as increased workforce flexibility, distributed workforce, cognitive
technologies, globalization and advances in the application of robotics-which
is largely associated to the future revolution of the workforce, there are a range
of considerations that the HR needs to account for in term of the future work
prospects in terms of strategies.
A
study conducted by Deloitte notes that most of the
HR executives believe that their organizations can manage the contingent
workers with the key challenges being:
· The regulatory or legal
uncertainty
· The culture being
unreceptive
· And lack of
understanding among some leaders
The
same study points to the fact that real problems could possibly arise if the
contingent workforce is recruited through the procurement department other than
through the human resources department.
The
HR will, therefore, have to change a few things which include recruitment where
people must be able to complete their gigs on time, change the HR systems to
include automation, and streamline the non-disclosure agreements as the gig
workers may as well be working for competitors.
References
Axiomatic Consultants.
(2019). GIG ECONOMY AND THE IMPACT ON HR | Axiomatic Consultants.
[online] Available at: http://www.axiomatic.co.za/news/gig-economy-impact-hr-2/
[Accessed 15 May 2019].
Deloitte Australia.
(2019). Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends 2019 | Deloitte Australia
| Human Capital, Consulting. [online] Available at:
https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/human-capital/articles/human-capital-trends.html
[Accessed 15 May 2019].
Pwc.com. (2019).
[online] Available at:
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/people-organisation/workforce-of-the-future/workforce-of-the-future-the-competing-forces-shaping-2030-pwc.pdf
[Accessed 15 May 2019].