Did you know that India has been a regular contributor to
the gig economy since long?
You must be wondering what, how and when?
Well, for that I will first explain - what is the meaning
of the gig (economy) in a layman’s term.
Gig (Economy) is nothing but hiring the expertise of an
individual for a certain amount of time, based on a pre-defined scope and payment
terms.
Apart from the commonly known white-collar gig workers
(like designers, content-writers, translators, software developers, bloggers,
guest lecturers etc.), the blue-collar gig workers (like plumbers, carpenters,
electricians, appliance repair guy, etc.), are the true pioneers in
establishing the gig economy way before the term ‘Gig’ was even coined for
freelance, contract work during the early millennium.
In India, due to the very nature of the work requiring contract
labourers like construction workers, repair mechanics, part-time drivers etc. gig-economy became synonymous to blue-collared gig workers. Come 2010’s, post the
financial meltdown, when white-collared employees were forced to look for
alternate career options discovered the advantages of joining the gig economy, thereby
making it a cool hangout for the working class.
There have been many pivots to the gig economy, it started from freelancing of one expert labour-intensive job like that of a
carpenter, electrician or designing of a website, to becoming a systematic
engagement platform of these experts on apps like Urban Company, House Joy,
Topcoder, etc.
The Pros
of a gig economy
Whatever said and done, the pros of the gig economy far
outweigh its cons. There are some very tangible positives that the gig work brings
to the table for the worker and the corporate/startup:
- Gig
Worker
- You can work at your own time
- You select your work
- You work at your own pace keeping the delivery
date in your mind
- Your compensation is generally higher compared
to an employee
- You work from your own home’s comfort, be it in
the city or a village (avoiding high rents)
- Commuting time gets saved
- Corporates/Startups
- Access to niche skills which can be hired
project-wise
- Cheaper for companies to contract & pay for
the duration they want the work to be delivered
- They can cut the cost of employee benefits, transportation,
real estate space in the office, other perks of being in office
The Cons
of a gig economy
- Gig
worker
- Regular work is not a guarantee and hence your
income is also not
- You don’t get employee benefits
- You need to establish yourself as an authority
- Larger companies don’t trust your work, they
need testimonials
- Disruption in the work-life balance due to no
boundaries on personal time
- Corporate/Startups
- The gig workers don’t understand the company’s
culture
- Companies generally can’t outsource managerial or
senior roles as the gig worker don’t understand company dynamics or
hierarchies
- Companies don’t get well-qualified freelancers
and the higher they go in seniority, the more expensive the gig gets
- Change Management related activities need to
remain in-house
- Confidentiality of data becomes a challenge
What
kinds of jobs go into a gig?
- The kind of jobs that have non-repeatable roles
- Those which require a certain level of niche
skills, which will not be found in the existing set of employees
- To gain a fresh perspective
- To leverage best practices in the market
Difference
between consulting & gig
- Consulting can be a longer project, say for a year or so; Gig generally is short term and assignments based
- Consulting is more strategy-based work; Gig is
more tactical in nature
- Consulting is a complete project in itself; Gig
is mostly a part of a bigger project
Trust is a factor of high importance in remote work and gig
work which requires your supervisor or reporting manager to have faith in you
to turn in a high-quality deliverable without delays. In India traditionally it
has been more of ‘seeing is believing’ work-culture, which translates into the
supervisor being able to see his subordinate come to the office, work from their
cubicles, attend some face to face meetings and deliver their projects. Due to COVID-19,
work-from-home has become a necessity than a privilege, hence forcing the
managers to trust their subordinates. This will eventually lead to companies
and their managers to utilize gig workers more freely and with trust and thus contribute in their
own way to the renewed society that we are transitioning towards.
The gig economy is here to stay, even larger organizations like
Infosys, Wipro, TCS, are saying that they will leverage the gig workers in a
big way.
(Read more at https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/gig-coders-to-become-a-mainstream-phenomenon-in-indian-it/articleshow/76304822.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
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