Workspaces are betting big on the Gig jobs as the Future of Work.

The gig economy or the contingent economy has led to the growth of on-demand services impacting the global workforce. These “Gig” workers are those who work temporarily with the company as per their requirements which means as consults, freelance workers or temporary payrolls. In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, their numbers have risen dramatically, and now these gig workers represent a third of the workforce in the USA alone!

Many factors attribute to the growth of the Gig, rapidly expanding economy, dynamic workspaces that are choosing to work with workers on a contingent basis. Benefits of the gig economy for corporations range from far and wide they can hire experts for services which are not needed regularly. Gig jobs offer the highest agility in scaling the workforce up and down quickly to meet business demand. The cost reductions are visible as the Gig economy offers a visibly reduced cost of providing healthcare and other benefits besides lower space costs.

Gig Jobs on the PayScale

Gig jobs run over the entire spectrum of pay scales. Right from senior executive types to the lowest rung on the organisation ladder many organisations are hiring Gig or temporary workers to meet their business continuity plans.

Gig Job Segments-

• Knowledge-based gigs like- independent management consultants or machine learning data scientists.
• Service-based gigs for instance tradespeople and delivery drivers.

The changing nature of work and the gig economy may prove to be tricky for the corporates which are hiring them, especially into planning and managing corporate resources. That’s because today organisations are expected to provide much more than a mere desk and maintain the space. They must create an environment that supports and contributes to meeting company goals and worker’s well-being.

Retaining worker engagement

The question that organisations need to ask themselves is how can they build and retain corporate culture when 30 to 50 per cent of their workforce are not employees? Working on a temporary engagement may impact worker attitudes, especially relating to their commitment to the long-term organisational mission.

Addressing this concern starts with demonstrating a whole-hearty commitment to all workers, whether they are employees or gig workers. The organisations need to realize that in the gig economy, people who move on to work elsewhere may return in new roles later on. Organisations can go a long way toward supporting this mindset and facilitate environments that would encourage all workers in the gig economy to feel like an integral part of the team.

Supporting worker wellbeing

Corporate employees are increasingly mobile and thus organisations need to take care of their wellbeing to make them loyal to the company. They can support the gig economy workers by offering the latest tools and technology that helps them stay connected and efficient. Even better, moving them toward shared, agile workspaces can make them a part of the company with shared responsibilities, instigating a loyalty to spend more time in the office. These agile workspaces also serve to accommodate a greater range of daily fluctuation in worker attendance, without spending more on space, which saves operational costs for the enterprise.

In a crux, the gig economy is here to stay and flourish. One of the advantages of the gig economy for corporations is to scale the workforce, assemble a new team to meet business needs and scale-up for rapid business gains.