GIG ECONOMY - THE FUTURE OF WORK

The Gig Economy is Empowerment. It Empowers Individuals to Better Shape Their Own Destiny. The gig economy is the talk of the town right now. As alien as the word might seem to most of us, it's actually not that alien. It's something we all know and have always secretly wished to be a part of. Today's young generation does not want to be confined to the rules and regulations of a so-called company. They wish to explore and experiment. The young generation has a different curiosity that is more visual. Coming back to the discussion of the gig economy, as I said it’s not an alien word. The gig economy is none other than freelancing which aims at dissolving the age-old 9 to 5 job concept where the full-time workers rarely change positions and instead focus on a lifetime career. In the gig economy companies tend to hire independent contractors and freelancers instead of full-time employees. There is no more long tenure and no more gold watches today. Today what you need is speed, agility, flexibility, and adaptability. What I believe is every role whether you like it or not is a gig and we are all part of this gig economy. Why am I saying this is because according to the Labor Statistics the median tenure today is 4.2 years. Disruption is speeding up exponentially. Due to large numbers of people willing to work as independent workers in part-time jobs or in temporary positions the gig economy is becoming cheaper with temporary services such as Uber or Airbnb for those willing to use them. Let's take up an example which might help us understand this entire concept of the gig economy better. Netflix disrupted blockbuster which had around 25,000 employees when it had filed for bankruptcy in 2010 but it had been founded in 1985 so it had managed to survive for 25 years without any disruption but in this short term that Netflix has been on the scene, they have had to disrupt themselves twice in order to remain relevant. They started by putting the DVD in your mailbox. Then they disrupted themselves the 1st time when they started to stream media and they disrupted themselves and the entertainment industry again as they have produced original content for movies and television and now they are in the lead with 100 million hours of television and movies daily being consumed.

Many people today are breaking away from the shackles of a 9-5 economy and favoring independent jobs for multiple employers at once. Surveys now reveal that between one in five people in the US and one in three people in the Europe are engaged in some type of independent job. They are giggers of some sort. This movement is filled by high demand because today 50% of organizations report an increase in their use of giggers over the past 5 years and the giggers themselves to seem to be pretty much happy with their work. 70% of the giggers say that they enjoy the gig lifestyle and two-thirds of the giggers say that the positive aspects of the gig lifestyle are bigger than the possible drawbacks. So these giggers around the world are exchanging the 9 to 5 jobs where they are locked into a 40-hour workweek with little or no flexibility with being a gigger.

I believe the gig economy is here to stay because it is filled with three underlying mega forces. These mega forces are urbanization, digitization, and millionization. Urbanization is a mega force to be reckoned with more people today living in cities than never before. Now urbanization is really a driving force for the gig economy because gigs thrive in dense environments. Just think about it. It is only in cities where you see giggers delivering foods on bikes because it is only in cities where it's possible for giggers to deliver dumplings from a restaurant to the consumer in time before the dumplings get cold and saggy.

The 2nd mega force is digitization is, of course, disrupting businesses and markets everywhere. Mobile penetration has soared almost throughout the world and yeah digitization will for sure disrupt the labor markets as well. Previously there was this concept of the either-or type of job. Either you were a nurse or you were not. There was nothing in between to be precise but digitization is changing this way of looking at things and through our smartphones, we can easily we can now synchronize different types of jobs.

The 3rd mega force is millionization. I am talking about of course the generational shift coming about as the new generation, the Millenials now between the ages of 19 and 36 are increasingly making their mark. The Millenials will change the way we look at work and perform work. They are much more open to the flexible, independent type of jobs. So in that sense they are both increasing the supply and demand of gigs and I predict that the much more Millenials will become on existing organizations as well they will make organizations more gig friendly and gig compatible.

These 3 reinforcing megatrends are stirring a revolution which is the gig revolution which will have some formative impacts. I am talking about the way we identify ourselves. People of the older generations often identify themselves through their jobs. I think the gig revolution will reinforce the new way we identify ourselves. We will no longer be saying I am my job. So in that way, the gig revolution will push us away, liberate us from an I am state of mind to an I do state of mind. We will no longer say I am a diplomat; I am a taxi driver; I am a doctor. Some of these examples sound weird especially in combination with each other.

So the gig revolution is changing the way we see ourselves. We will no longer say I am my job but simply if someone asks, we might as well just say that I am a gigger. On the economic effects, I think the gig economy and the revolution will liberate us from a static type of labor model and move us into a new type of dynamic labor model like in the old world it was very difficult to try out new things as it was attached to humungous risks and costs. Perhaps one had to quit his/her job altogether just to try out a new thing. The gig revolution is meant to change this. It will make it possible for people to try out new things and match different types of jobs together and in this sense the gig revolution will also push us into a new phase of work. I mean just give it a thought. This revolution will kick off a new phase of work the centipede era where people will have 1000 feet doing multiple things at once, trying out new things at the same time.

But the gig revolution comes with its pros and cons. It will create winners as well as losers. Despite the tremendous number of positive benefits and impacts there are obvious threats. One threat as I see is to do with the job security. Though we have heard giggers saying how much they love the flexibility I am not quite sure if they love not knowing exactly where their next paycheck will come from. The next threat as I see it has to do with the social aspects of work because when you are freelancing and not doing the traditional 9-5 job you are missing out on coworkers. Now since we are social creatures we would rather bear the day-to-day bickering of office work than to be isolated because the giggers say that although the gig economy offers you the much-needed freedom and flexibility to experiment it is sometimes quite a lonely place. Now the question is how can these risks and threats be mitigated. Well, what I think is we all need to focus on reinventing the traditional labor model and this needs to be done by organizations together with the businesses and the labor unions and the giggers themselves. So if flexibility is what giggers want and security is what they need then we need to reinvent the model based on more flexicurity. The gig revolution is a disruptive force and it comes with its own challenges but you can make it into an opportunity for all but to succeed we need determination, creativity, the right focus, and the right mindset. Only then we can maximize the benefits of the gig revolution while maximizing the potential threats. After having read this whether you want to be a gigger or you want to continue with your 9-5 job is totally up to you. In order to succeed your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.