Gig Economy And its HR Implications

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].