A special survey-based report on the evolving gig workforce, based on responses from company owners, senior managers, and people who have been a part of the gig workforce.
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
2019
The Future of Work is Anywhere
GIG WORKFORCEA special survey-based report on the evolving gig workforce, based on responses from
company owners, senior managers, and people who have been a part of the gig workforce
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
Gig Economy may solve the biggest problem for
both freelancers and organizations
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
The last few years have brought the gig economy
to the fore-front and is driving what is currently
trending world over as a significant disrupter
facilitating the New Code of Work. This job
sector has long been considered as informal and
fragmented due to lack of data and common
language.
However, with the rise of start-ups like Uber,
TaskRabbit, Upwork and Fiverr, this informal
space started getting recognition across the globe
and emerged as the gig economy where workers
come, gig and leave. This economy constitutes a
large segment of workers, such as self-employed,
freelancers, independent contributors and part-time
workers and is yet very much fragmented.
This report by Noble House aims to fulfil the data
gaps surrounding the gig economy in India and tap
this ever-emerging space. We carried out a survey
on gig workers and their recruiters across India.
This report presents the findings from research and
survey conducted into the gig economy.
The research had three key goals –
n To understand the gig economy and the
requirements better
n To take the perspective of both gig workers and
the recruiters
n To collect detailed information on the functioning
of the gig economy
There is no single agreed definition and set norms
for the gig economy in the country. Though the gig
economy is not new and has been in existence for
long, due to its fragmented nature, its impact was
not completely realised. This survey is an attempt
to dig deep down into the gig space and come out
with facts that would help us understand this space
comprehensively.
From gig professionals, we understood their work
profile, why do they do it and how satisfied they
are. We asked the recruiters, which functions and
roles may go to the gig professionals in the future
and what are their advice for hiring and managing
gig workers. We even got insights from the industry
leaders on the development and the future of the gig
economy.
Noble House would like to thank all the participants
for their contribution to the survey.
FOREWORD
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
N
OBLE HOUSE is an HR talent
marketplace that helps independent
consultants find short- and long-term
assignments as per their skill sets. By making
the entire continuum of finding work and hiring
independent consultants more approachable
and lucrative for freelancers and businesses,
respectively, the venture is transforming how
HR works – thus aligning itself with the idea of a
“gig economy” well.
With over 30 skill categories, consultants
can choose what is best suited for them.
Organizations, in turn, get access to the
large database of best professionals for their
innumerable HR needs and Noble House’s
intelligent algorithm helps in matching them
with suitable candidates as per the requirement.
The platform boasts of over 800+ quality
experts across India and Asia for skills like
business transformation, HR technology,
talent acquisition, employee compensation
and rewards, assessments and more. All this is
supplemented by Noble House’s admin support
and professional tools.
Noble House is founded by Sumer Datta and
Sanjay Lakhotia who have decades of experience
in working across all areas of HR consulting
including HR Transformation, Leadership
development, HR technology deployment,
Performance culture, Rewards etc.
ABOUT NOBLE HOUSE
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
The questionnaire-based research methodology is
aimed at proving insight into the gig economy and
the experiences and perceptions around it. The online
survey was used to provide a prevalence estimate
about the number of people involved in the gig
economy. The survey aims to focus on gig workforce
in managerial roles rather than the widely understood
scope of gig workforce being people carrying out odd
jobs.
There are three primary constituents to the research:
• Analysis of Noble House internal database of
consultants
• Questionnaire to gig workers
• Questionnaire to HR professionals working in
corporates
In our survey, we drew data from HR professionals
and consultant (gig workers) around:
• Kind of roles and work being offered
• Work experience
• Frequency of gigs
• Sectors in which the gig workers are predominantly
present
• Working patterns, motivation and satisfaction
levels.
We also connected with key HR influencers to get
opinion around the following areas of focus for the
success of the gig economy :
• Predictions on companies that may use gig workers
in managerial roles in the coming few years
• Roles, sectors, type of work that will have the
maximum advantage
• Advice to gig workers and corporate hiring and
managing them, to better prepare for the new way of
working
We asked the Corporate HR professionals about:
• The frequency of hiring gig workers
• Reasons for hiring gig workers
• Challenges in hiring
• The three-year outlook of the gig economy
• The nature of work
• HR department specific gigs
Finally, the report was backed by the Noble House
HR marketplace platform, which supplemented with
useful data around current demographics, spread and
experience in the gig space.
The survey results reveal how diverse the gig
economy in India is and how the roles, backgrounds,
age, gender and experiences of gig work differ and yet
present a compelling outlook.
SURVEY METHODOLOGY
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
T
HE research helps breaks some myths
and provide new insights around the
way the gig economy is becoming a key
constituent in the hunt for talent.
The general opinion that emerges is that the gig
workforce is becoming entrenched in a large
number of organizations and is going to be a key
contributor to the workforce of future. It also is
evident that the gig worker is getting into the
flexible work culture by choice and not just due
to circumstances.
The gig economy is widely accepted by
organizations that have identified various roles
in the organization that can be performed by gig
workers. Most importantly, they are hiring gig
workers irrespective of their gender and location
as long as they find the right skill. This is a good
sign for the corporate world which has always
faced criticism over gender inequality.
On the other hand, the gig workers are
leveraging their domain experience and helping
organizations fill in the missing skills and
experiences, for organizations the cost is not the
primary driver as a decision for hiring flexible
workers. They are happy joining, performing
and moving on to the next assignment as long
as they get challenging assignments and new
experiences. The assignments range from short
term to long term and have specific objectives,
making it efficient from an organization’s
perspective.
Contrary to early apprehensions, gig workers
have shown remarkable resilience to adjust
and make the most of, even showing a marked
preference to continue once they have tried it.
It appears that it’s a win-win scenario for both
the recruiters and the workers, gig economy
is flourishing and is emerging as a big game-
changer in the world of work.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
T
HE TERM “gig economy” is not a new concept
anymore. It has long been used to describe the
changing attitudes, standards and preferences
in the way people work in the digital age. The
dictionary defines the gig economy as “a labour market
characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or
freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs”. It is already
causing significant and permanent changes in the way work
is done, or supervised.
MAKE WAY FOR GIG ECONOMY
From being driven by shortage of specialised workers
at times, or even an unwillingness of younger workers
to commit to full time jobs in places like Japan, the gig
economy has quickly found a place for itself across sectors,
economies and more, to become an integral part of the
corporate work culture today. Also, popularly known as the
mobile economy, it is breaking the stereotype of working 9
to 5 out of cubicles.
With the driving goal of maximising flexibility and
minimising fixed costs, businesses are looking for gig
workers more than ever. On the other hand, the work-for-
myself approach and the work-from-anywhere culture are
driving the millennial workforce to be more independent
while getting employed.
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
The rise of on-demand services through players like Upwork,
Fiverr have certainly made it more visible in recent times. The
traditional model of gigs focussed around quick turnaround
of odd jobs. While it’s still early days, even managerial roles
are coming up for some serious changes as the gig workforce
entrenches itself.
WHO ARE THESE GIG WORKERS?
This is where India’s ‘demographic dividend’ seems to have
had unexpected results. While young millennials would seem
to be the least likely to take the option of a full-time job, Gen
Xers would clearly be the most amenable to the attractions
of a full-time role over a gig, perhaps a reflection of their life
stage in terms of family.
Boomers, or those over 50, seem the most reconciled to
being gig workers, and making the most of it. Their focus is
simply to earn more money, preferably on their own terms.
Thus, even as the younger millennials and older Gen Xers, the
largest cohort among the gig workers have their own reasons
for not wanting to be a permanent worker or wanting it on
their own terms, the end result is a market that is expanding
all the time with new entrants.
RESEARCH FINDINGS: GIG ECONOMY
Noble House conducted a survey on the gig economy to
understand the gig space across its length and breadth
and received some intriguing responses from the various
stakeholders of the system. Let’s take a look.
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
WHAT CORPORATE HR
PROFESSIONALS ARE SAYING?
International workforce trends point out that 50% of
us will be a part of the gig economy by 2020, either as
providers or as consumers. But is the growth of the gig
economy helpful for the independent HR consultants
and the corporates?
To answer and understand this better for India and
more for the managerial workforce, we surveyed HR
professionals working in corporates to collect their
thoughts and suggestions. Before the survey, we did our
share of research about the concerns consultants and
corporates have about the gig economy space.
Thus, while not everyone is going freelance yet, the
pressure to follow the rules of the new ‘gig’ economy was
felt practically by everyone, in some way or the other.
People have spoken about the pressure of being measured,
a key hallmark of the gig economy, with the time taken
to complete tasks being the most common evaluation
method.
We asked the HR professionals about how often they
chose to use gig workers in the year 2018. Interestingly,
70% people responded that they have used gig workers at
least once or twice at their organisation followed by about
13% people who used it 3-5 times, and finally, the heavy
users who leaned on gig workers more than 5 times in the
year, at 17%.
How often have you used Gig workers in 2018?
70% 13% 17%
1-2 times 3-5 times More than 5 times
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
What is the main reason for hiring gig workers?
REASONS TO HIRE A GIG WORKER?
45% 39% 10%
To supplement
skills of existing
workforce
To reduce cost
compared to full
time hire
To fill
temporary
vacancies
6%
Others
It has been a long standing belief that gig workers were hired with the primary intention of reducing cost. Our survey
demolishes this belief as supplementing skills of existing workforce has emerged as the primary motivator for hiring gig
workers with 45% HR professionals choosing this as the primary driver, 39% are looking at the gig workforce as a cost
reduction measure.
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
NATURE OF WORK
A large number (43%) of HR professionals agree that a gig
worker contributes significantly towards advisory support
to functional teams in an organisation and 26% use gig
workers for design of policies and programs. Both these are
traditionally considered difficult to hand over to outside
consultants. Only 31% feel gig workers are mostly utilized
for repetitive and transactional nature of work.
This is simply borne out of the acknowledgement that
along with the variety of specific tasks that can be
outsourced, the quality of workers available to execute
these tasks has also gone up appreciably, frequently
throwing up options that are at par with, or even better
than in-house talent.
What kind of work can gig workers contribute towards in an
organisation?
26%31%43%
Design of policies
& programs
Carry out repetitive
activities
Advisory support to
functional teams
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
Which department in Human Resources can benefit the
most from hiring gig workers?
GIGS IN HR FUNCTIONS
Apart from technology, product, design, marketing and
sales domain, we wanted to know if gig is permeating the
HR functions. According to the responses, businesses have
trusted gig workers in the Talent Acquisition and Training &
Development functions of the HR domain, the most. These
are also traditionally the easier to outsource activities. The
encouraging trend is that companies are finding value in
hiring gig workers for Talent Management, Compensation
and Benefits, HR Analytics and HR technology support
increasingly.
Performance Management 2%
Talent Acquisition 33%
Other 2%
Talent Management
17%
Training and Development 36%
Compensation & benefits 10%
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
What challenges are likely to make you disinterested
in hiring a gig worker
12%24% 15%49%
Ease of
search
Information
security
On-boarding and
transferring of
company knowledge
Quality of the
resource
CHALLENGES OF HIRING A GIG WORKER?
Gig economy is a lucrative offering but comes with a flip side too, according to some HR experts. The major reason
for not hiring gig workers is the quality of the resource being hired as per the responses (49%). Information security
concerns at 24 % is the second reason companies tend to not hire gig workers.
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
FUTURE OF THE GIG ECONOMY
As per the findings, the gig economy is here and is
expanding. HR professionals in corporates are confident
that a large population of the new workforce will be
employed through the gig networks in the coming 3 years.
33% believe that the %age of workforce employed through
gig will be 10% - 20% and another 28% believe it will be
between 20% - 40%.
What is your take on the percentage of workforce over
gig economy in the next 3 years?
25% 33% 28% 8% 6%
Less than
10% rise in
gig workers
10% - 20%
rise in gig
workers
20% - 40%
rise in gig
workers
40% - 60%
rise in gig
workers
More than
60% rise in
gig workers
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
THE GIG WORKFORCE
SPEAKS UP
Following these results, we reached out
to the other side, our gig workers, to find
out what they have to say about the gig
economy taking over the professional
space.
From the survey it appears that a large
population has joined the gig bandwagon
in the last 5 years (81%) with 31% joining
in the last 1 year and 27% in the last
2 years. This corroborates the opinion
that HR professionals have about the
rising trend of using gig workers in the
corporates making it a viable and attractive
proposition to work at their own pace and
terms.
How long have you been working
as a freelancer?
<1year
1-2 years
3-5 years
5-10 years
>10 years
31%
27%
23%
8%
10%
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
How many times a year are you hired
for your services as a freelancer?
1-2 times 34%
3-5 times 38%
6-10 times
6%
>10 times 21%
38% of the gig workers report that they manage to generate
between 3-5 assignments in a year and another 34% claim that
they manage to get between 1 and 2 assignments.
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
DURATION OF THE PROJECT
Gig workers seem to be getting hired for both short stints
of 2-4 weeks (34%) as well as long stints of 3 months or
more (46%).
It was long believed that people become freelancers more
out of circumstances than by choice and everybody would
prefer to be in a full time job. Our survey indicates that
more and more people are in the space by choice (73%)
vis-à-vis people who would want to go back to the 9 to
5 routine (21%). It is driven by more availability of gig
assignments and the advent of market places like Noble
House, which is helping them find work on a regular basis
to meet their financial objectives.
On an average, what is the duration of each project
you are hired for?
6%
1-2
weeks
34%
2-4
weeks
18%
3
months
14%
Less than
1 week
28%
More than
3 months
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
Given a chance, would you continue to work as a freelancer
or prefer a full-time assignment?
73% 21% 6%
Freelance Full-time employment Other
REASONS FOR ENTERING
THE GIG ECONOMY
It is evident that more and more people are
looking for a balance between flexibility and
income and opting for the gig space to meet
both these objectives. People are looking for
greater work-life balance, more challenging
work assignments and new learnings which
the gig economy is able to provide in recent
times.
A desire to control one’s time, to work at
their own pace and be their own boss are
some of the perks of being a gig worker.
What were the motivators to move
to the gig space?
Both of the above
48%
Flexibilty
41%
Income
7%
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
GENDER EQUALITY
As you might imagine in an open, independent marketplace,
gender inequality is far lesser in the HR gig economy than
in a typical corporate environment. The database currently
has 56% men to 44% women and we hope that this will
start tending to an equilibrium as more women, who have
opted out of work, will take the plunge and rejoin the
workforce through the Gig model.
The interesting fact is that when it comes to looking at the
gender information on HR assignments that have been
closed, the figures are exactly the opposite.
55% assignments on the Noble House platform have been
bagged by women and only 45% assignments have gone to
men.
NOBLE HOUSE STATISTICS
The gender profile of HR gig workers
44%56%
Male consultantsFemale consultants
We did an analysis of the gig workers who are part of the Noble House platform and have found some
interesting insights. The database comprises of only HR professionals in the gig space.
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
Gig work, especially when it comes to managerial
workforce seems to be best suited temperamentally for
people who have reached the mid-management level.
On profiling the people registered on the platform we
found that 40% of the people have more than 20 years of
experience and another 38% of people have between 11
and 20 years of experience. The younger workforce would
prefer to be in permanent employment till such time that
they meet some of their life objectives.
10% 13% 38% 40%
<5 Years 5-10 Years 11-20 Years >20 Years
How many years of corporate work experience do you have?
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
The current set of workers who have registered on the
platform seem to be more spread across the metro cities,
with Delhi NCR at 43% emerging as the biggest hub
followed by Mumbai at 19% and Bangalore at 18%. It could
be driven by the fact that information about availability of
these new-age marketplaces has reached the metro cities
faster than other cities. As more information dissemination
happens we may see a more equitable spread of the gig
workers across different geographies including smaller
cities in the country.
City spread of gig workers
Delhi NCR
43%
Mumbai
19%
Bangalore
18%
Others
19%
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
Over the last year what
we have learned is that
Indian corporate houses
are more amenable to
hiring gig workers at a
massive 85% compared
to MNCs who are
currently employing
only 15% of the total
assignments on offer in
the last year.
Type of companies that are hiring gig workers
MNCsIndian Corporate
houses
88% 12%
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
All agile companies will start to leverage the
gig economy. Companies who are looking to
diversify will use gig workers initially to keep
fixed cost low with more expertise getting
deployed. Roles and sectors which lend themselves to this
are those who understand the concept of JIT, lean, agile.
Harlina Sodhi, Co-founder, Believe in Yourself
For managerial roles, I don’t see gig
candidates. However, for more commoditised
and replaceable skills, gig workers will replace
full-time employees especially IT engineers,
specialised skills, media, social and digital roles.
Ruchi Bhalla, VP HR, Me.com
People usually look for experts who can
bring insights to college from different
sectors in different geographies but adapted
to the context of the organisation they are
consulting with.
Abhijit Bhaduri, Founder, Abhijit Bhaduri & Associates
Gig economy is already disrupting
specialist roles, and managerial roles are
overemphasised in current scenarios. I believe
leadership roles will morph into managerial
ones and teams will become agile. Hence, knowledge
sectors will start to gain with the gig economy trends and
those that require short term staffing.
Tarandeep Singh, Partner and Regional MD, AON
India is still nascent in using gig economy
workers as of now till the quality of people
available to do gigs improves drastically.
Companies are also willing to pay 2X or 3X of
what full-time employees get paid similar to what is done
internationally in developed economies.
Deepak Shetty, Senior Director, Philips
WHAT HR INFLUENCERS SAY:
In order to create an opinion about what the future holds for the gig economy and also how the corporates and
freelancers can prepare to gain the maximum from this significant change in the way work is getting performed, we
approached key influencers and thinkers around this subject. We are outlining the response we received from them
to the questions asked, to help people plan their next course of action around the emerging gig economy and benefit
significantly from it.
What is your prediction about companies using gig workers in
managerial roles in the coming few years? Where do you see the
maximum advantage (sectors, roles, type of work etc.)?
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
I think most companies will not go for it.
Only a small handful of innovators might
try it out. There are two main reasons. The
decision to do that rests with people who
oversee these managers. The second is that managers have
tacit knowledge that would be lost by going over a certain
percentage for gig workers.
Gautam Ghosh, Digital HR Consultant
Functional experts - Finance, Compliance,
Legal, Recruitment etc. Can be done by gig
workers. For more strategic work like Talent
and Marketing, Strategy etc. It will probably
not work
Soma Pandey, CHRO, First Source
The large majority of gig workers will be an
individual contributor and expertise/project
roles. Managerial roles are less likely to have
gig workers given the inherent nature of this
role that requires continuity.
Animesh Kumar, Chief People Office, Essel Group
It is a great development and I see it being
used more in driving quick win projects and
when we need skills for short period in all
sectors and type of work.
Amita Maheshwari, President and Head HR,
Star TV
The gig economy today has already moved
beyond just Uber, Fiverr, TaskRabbit and is
entering mainstream industries quickly as an
efficient and extremely lucrative and cost-
effective alternative. The initial movement and adoption
of the gig economy first happened in industries that have
an extremely collaborative work ethic and environment.
While today its a lot of early-stage startups, product
organisations and largely across the technology and high
tech industry, we’re seeing trends of the gig workforce
being embraced almost across industries and sectors soon.
The one massive change the gig economy will bring to the
managerial role is the manager’s ability to get stuff done
via building relationships not with people in person - but
with virtual teams across the cloud. The manager’s ability
to build and maintain these relationships will become
critical as you’ll need him/her to have the ability to plug-in
and plug-out freelancers and members of the gig-economy
on a per project/gig/assignment basis. The manager’s
collaboration skills and work ethic will be put to the test
as he/she will have to wear multiple functional hats and
adapt to global time zones to manage and ensure seamless
delivery and expectations.
Aadil, Chief Evangelist, Belong.Co
Don’t see managerial roles moving to
gig workers. Work requiring individual
contribution which is more content based is
likely to go to gig workers.
Ritesh, VP-HR, Britannia
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Gig workers need to either build or deploy
related skills such as the ability to create
a compelling proposition, write out sales
proposal, make a social persona, get active in
communities and be flexible.
Harlina Sodhi, Co-founder, Believe in Yourself
Niche skills, specialised skill should be built
upon. Workers will be responsible for their
own development as no corporate would
spend “learning” dollars on keeping the skills
of gig workers current and relevant.
Ruchi Bhalla, VP HR, Me.com
Understand the organization’s business
context as well as its purpose. Join for good
work and passion to excel, not for money
alone.
Tarandeep Singh, Partner and Regional MD, AON
Deep domain experience which is
demonstrable.
Deepak Shetty, Senior Director, Philips
Keep reskilling and “working out loud” to
share the kind of work you are doing.
Gautam Ghosh,
Digital HR Consultant
Mention specifics of activity and results. No
jargon. Don’t send mass emails, use contacts
or marketplaces.
Soma Pandey, CHRO, First Source
Build expertise and talk about specific
outcomes that will be delivered during
the gig.
Animesh Kumar, Chief People Office,
Essel Group
Build niche skills and expertise. General
management may not create so much
demand. Be known for one area, where you
can go in and create a tremendous impact in
a short period. Be open to immerse in very diverse culture
and also be ready to completely unlearn and quickly learn
the business of a new company.
Amita Maheshwari, President and Head HR, Star TV
What is your advice to gig workers to become more marketable to
corporate?
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
Integrate them quickly into your context
and culture so they hit the ground running.
Empower them and let them operate free of
all encumbrances that normally employee
is tied to, listen, engage, explore, learn and experiment
various gigs.
Harlina Sodhi, Co-founder, Believe in Yourself
It’s a trend that will need to be embraced. The
value proposition for gig workers will have
to be very complex and competitive-that
can help employers attract good talent. Legal
nuances and labour laws will also need to evolve to protect
the interests of both gig workers and employers.
Ruchi Bhalla, VP HR, Me.com
Build gig workers as an essential part of your
talent strategy for the future.
Abhijit Bhaduri, Founder,
Abhijit Bhaduri & Associates
Strengthen policies and technologies that
support remote working. Key is to imbibe gig
workers in your culture and align “projects”
with their learning aspirations.
Tarandeep Singh, Partner and Regional MD, AON
Be willing to pay extra for hotshot gig
employees, if you pay peanuts, you get
monkeys.
Deepak Shetty, Senior Director, Philips
What is your advice to corporates in hiring and managing
gig workers?
Extremely important for members of the gig
economy to build their personal brands and
showcase their work ethic, portfolio, depth
of work and potential. Workers will have to
ensure that their profiles shine across digital and social
communities where their corporate counterparts hang out
/ look to find gig workers. They should make the life of
corporate 10X easier to discover them by optimising their
profiles and content to be found and approached.
Aadil, Chief Evangelist, Belong.Co
There needs to be a rating system for
corporate to understand which gig worker to
use. Gig workers may have to be very aware
of market practices.
Ritesh, VP-HR, Britannia
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
Offer them value in addition to just the fees
that you pay. Refer great work to those
in your network. Involve them in learning
initiatives and decision making to build a
connection.
Gautam Ghosh, Digital HR Consultant
Clarity of what is expected, managing
resource availability for the gig workers and
clear boundary management.
Animesh Kumar, Chief People Office,
Essel Group
Create an environment for them to quickly
adjust and learn your business and deliver.
Ensure that projects are defined well for them
to deliver.
Amita Maheshwari, President and Head HR, Star TV
It is important that the corporate that’s
looking to hire gig workers understand the
modus operandi of how gig workers operate
and create a plan with a failsafe to ensure
that in case there are a couple of hurdles, they’re able to
overcome it quickly and effectively - but more importantly,
in time. Secondly, critical that corporate creates an
environment for its gig workers to have a line of sight in
terms of projects and opportunities that they can expect
in the near term so that they are engaged and also so that
corporate can count on them as and when need be.
Aadil, Chief Evangelist, Belong.Co
The same people processes might not apply.
Each process needs to be reviewed for
applicability to gig workers.
Shefali.mohapatra,
Chief People officer, ACT Fibernet
We need to solve three issues - a. How do we
select gig workers b. What is the back up in
case delivery does not come through in case
of gig workers c. Confidentiality of the work. -
Ritesh, VP-HR, Britannia
Use a platform and treat them like your full-
time employees.
Pankaj, CEO,
People Strong
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POINTS TO PONDER
Regular workflow challenge: The only challenge for these
workers is - a way to ensure a constant stream of work,
or gigs, to justify the risk and effort they have taken in by
opting out of a full-time job.
Tracking performance: For corporate HR professionals,
there is a need to track the performance and quality of
their gig workers even better, so that the quality workers
can be called on, again and again.
This will help both sides, as the costs of hiring gig workers
cannot drop below a point, ensuring that cost arbitrage for
hiring mistakes is lower now.
Internal support: With the onus of financial planning and
insurance etc. falling on their own shoulders, a key option
to make the efficient gig workers more loyal towards the
organisation could be to consider providing in-house
support on issues like taxation, medical insurance and
financial planning, always a key issue for independent
workers outside the formal organised employment
network.
CONCLUSION
The gig economy, for all its hype, is still catching on in
terms of popularity and spread. The big years are yet to
come, perhaps as early as this year onwards.
Contrary to early apprehensions, gig workers have shown
remarkable resilience to adjust and make the most of it,
even showing a marked preference to continue as gig work-
ers once they have tried it.
But with all indications pointing to increased acceptability
and usage, HR professionals can no longer afford to ignore
it.
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The Future of Work is Anywhere: Gig Workforce - 2019
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