Gig Economy — Is It the Future of Work?
By: Ing. Robert Michálek
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Gig Economy, Freelancers, Freelance, Busy

Gig Economy is a buzzword that has come up more and more in recent years. But what does this actually mean and how can fair working conditions be maintained within this concept?

The gig economy, still in beta version, has picked up speed over the past few years. A dream of many employees is to work independently from any location, according to their own rhythm or their personal “internal clock”. With gig working you can get one step closer to this dream.

A study by SAP Fieldglass and Oxford Economics recently determined how high the demand for gig workers is. The result:

38 percent of the managers surveyed have already recruited freelancers via the relevant platforms on the Internet.

In many companies, the need will increase even more in the future. The study predicts a significant increase in demand over the next few years.

Photo by Firos nv on Unsplash

Economic historian Louis Hyman saw a similar development in previous economic downturns. Since 1991, the number of freelancers has increased in every economic crisis. From his point of view, that doesn’t necessarily have to be a disadvantage. The prerequisite for this would be a minimum coverage for gig workers. Then the flexibility and autonomy gained could actually be worthwhile.

In the age of the new normal, classic employment relationship offers numerous advantages, for example, by securing sick leaves or vacation. The focus is primarily on the security that many people want. But with gig economy, the focus has shifted.

What is the gig economy?

The term gig economy refers to the placement of work that takes place largely via digital platforms. The jobs are performed by the self-employed or freelancers. This short-term type of employment is similar to the so-called “gigs”, i.e. performances by artists.

All employees who accept flexible work can be called flexworkers. This can take the form of:

Freelancers

Platform workers (such as UBER)

Temporary employees

Interim management via consulting

Online platforms have made it easier to access skilled workers, especially when it comes to highly qualified specialists who no longer want to be tied to a company on a permanent basis. These professionals are hardly available on the regular job market but you can book them for individual projects on these specialized platforms.

With this concept, a distinction is made between so-called on-demand platforms, where the service is provided relatively immediately (e.g. Uber, Deliveroo, or Lieferando), and so-called crowdworking platforms (e.g. Busy, MyHammer, or Upwork). A specialist or developer becomes part of a company’s team for a short time or for a project. It does not matter whether the specialist is based in Switzerland or is currently working as a work nomad in Bali. Neither where the company is domiciled. Collaboration, communication and work globally and over distances are part of everyday life.

Companies use the opportunity to bring the specialists into the team for a limited time from the pool of the best who are needed right now to get a project to its destination. This can be a blockchain project, the planned virtual reality environment, the security application, the development of the complex API or something completely different.

Photo by Daniel Thomas on Unsplash

Entire teams around the world can be put together via gig economy platforms or the specialists who are still missing can be selected to help make a project a success. The gig economy is becoming increasingly important for companies because the best, scattered all over the world, can often neither be permanently employed nor moved to move.

What does a typical gig worker do?

The list of activities is now almost infinitely long. The least known term is probably the “juicer”. These workers work as self-employed for rental companies from e-scooter companies. You have the task of collecting and recharging the scooters. In addition to this relatively unknown form of work, there are many other areas in which gig workers work. Rental, delivery services, and product Q&A tests are among the three most common types of work for gig workers. Editorial work, web design, passenger transport, or cleaning are among the ten most common activities.