GD Topic | Will Gig Economy Drive The Future Of Employment?

The gig economy can be described as a system where on one hand, there is a service seeker, who is a customer with a demand for a specific task, and on the other hand, there is a service provider or a gig worker who can perform that particular task. Tech-enabled platforms in this economy connect customers to the gig workers to hire services on a short-term basis. Self-employed, freelancers, individual contributors, and part-time staff comprise gig workers.

If you are looking for an important GD topic, the gig economy can be one of them since it illuminates the interest of many. You can prepare this topic for discussion during your admission or placement interviews. So, to help you get a good understanding, let’s critically analyze the GD topic - "Will the gig economy drive the future of employment"?

We know that the conventional economy consists mostly of long-term workers who work for one employer, generally, within the driving distance of where they live. The gig economy consists of short-term freelancers in close proximity to those who hire them with no regional boundaries.

As a result of need and convenience, the conventional job market was born. The only way to be employed before the internet, and even before (reliable) mass transportation, was to find a business that would offer you steady, long-term employment, located close to where you lived. This was not because it was the best option, but because it was the only choice available and so, it later became the norm. That has and will continue to change technology.

Factors affecting the traditional job system

The Internet: Now that most first-world countries have access to high-speed internet, work opportunities are opening up beyond the immediate geographic area. Today, even if the candidate is not in the same city where a company exists, a person can apply for the job, give interviews, and online recruitment tests, and get hired. In addition, gig workers can also get training to specialize in just about any field of business they choose, from anywhere in the world.

Competition: The pressure of rising demand is continually felt by businesses. This causes corporations to have to squeeze every rupee to boost earnings. It is simpler and cheaper for businesses to recruit freelancers to work remotely without the extra cost of recruiting an employee and onboarding them. Freelancers do not need office space, insurance, reimbursements for expenditures, or any of the other variables needed by employees.

Trends in the gig economy in India

Almost 70% of companies in India have already used gig employees for at least one assignment since 2018.

• After the US, China, Brazil, and Japan, India has emerged as the 5th largest Flexi-staffing nation. Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Telangana have the most possibilities for Flexi-workers in terms of growth. In the absence of middlemen, digital networks have emerged as enablers for work development with the ability to quickly discover job seekers and job providers.
• Because of the rapid advances in technology, the operational costs of exporting non-core operations are reducing which is promoting an increase in the number of tasks that can be done by each worker. Companies are thus declining in size and we are experiencing an increase in start-ups that contractually outsource many activities to expert service providers.
• While the gig economy is common among India's blue-collar workers - Uber/Ola drivers, there is also an enormous potential for white-collar workers now, due to an increase in the industry’s demand for project-specific consultants, logo/content design, web design, etc. (Tapchief in India, for instance).

Effect on work culture

Factors such as independence, technology upgrade, capability concentration, additional income and human resources are driving an inclination towards flexible work. The gig economy enables ownership, comfort and versatility of tasks. You will decide the number and type of projects you work on the sum of your earnings, and hence the work-life balance, based on tastes and preferences is maintained.

For instance, in one month, you might want to take up five projects to increase earnings, but in another month, only three projects will be enough for you. Similarly, if you do not believe in the underlying cause of the mission, you have the right to not provide your services for a task, a choice you do not have in the typical work environment.

Potential risks involved in gig economy

• While the gig economy provides flexibility and autonomy over the job schedules, customers and projects of one's work, it has some risks and uncertainties associated with it. There is concern regarding the safety of workers. In the short term, because the emphasis is on on-demand projects, the revenue received by the gig staff is volatile.
• Since digital gig platforms allow independent employees to perform tasks on a temporary basis, due to the absence of traditional employer-employee relationships, gig workers may attach a certain degree of casualization to their work. This could lead to a lack of sustainable operations, particularly as competition increases and multiple opportunities are made available. There is therefore a need to strike a balance between stability and versatility.

The gig economy has a transformative model for almost all kinds of skills and services to bind vendors and purchasers. Although the scale of the gig economy may seem marginal when compared to that of the conventional economy, with the desire of employees, particularly millennials, to have a flexible work schedule and the increase in on-demand consumer services, it is recognized for its enormous potential.

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