Freelancers are Knocking. Are You Ready to Answer the Door?

Freelancers are Knocking. Are You Ready to Answer the Door?

Gig Economy: Defined

Oxford defines the gig economy as a labor market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs. The concept itself goes by many names; Freelancing, Workforce 2.0, Gig Economy, On-Demand Economy and likely many others. It’s no surprise that this category is growing fast. This trend holds especially true among the labor force in India.

               India constitutes about 40% of the freelance jobs offered globally – LinkedIn

After all, flex work benefits parties on both sides of the table. Organizations that engage with on-demand workers can meet deadlines quickly with workers that need little to no on-boarding. And gig workers can get experience from multiple roles, organizations and projects as much or as little as they want. This megatrend has caused waves in the labor market when first introduced a few years ago and is now in full swing, gaining endorsement from startups, small and big companies in India. As strong interest in freelancers continues to grow and the population of gig workers climbs, it is important to stay updated to date on how this model is evolving.

15 million skilled professionals in India are fueling the ever-so-increasing demand of contract-based jobs or the freelance industry – LinkedIn

How Do You Incorporate Flex Workers?

Let’s start with what are the right questions to think about and how to get started? We must first look at our overall talent strategy and identify where these resources can be impactful, when we need them, for how long and at what cost. Once we have identified our needs, then comes tapping into this talent source. We ask ourselves, how do we engage with them? While most companies think that is all about setting time restrictions and expecting flex workers to schedule a slot within that time restrictions, it is far from that expectation! It is not just about setting a time slot, but there are other questions we need to ask. For example, what do we engage them for? Some employers think the flex workforce can only be employed in certain areas like web design, administrative or limited-project tasks but this is far from true. In India, for example, “information technology and software industry were the most targeted in terms of a gig economy”. Supporters of flex workforce movement, and those that have already integrated it, think otherwise. In fact, this is a bone of contention for many whose jobs or skillset is not seen applicable to flex workforce.

In India, for example, “information technology and software industry were the most targeted in terms of a gig economy”.

What Constitutes a Good, Flex Workforce?

As we move further, we must ask ourselves questions to plan for an optimal outcome: does this solution align with the company’s goals? Or, does it make sense to align it to what flex workforces’ native capabilities? Another way to look at it is – possibly – the flex workforce is as good as what is allowed by technology, security, and privacy boundaries. Finding a balanced mix between these options is key to optimizing all the potential benefits of a flex workforce.

Get Ready or Be Left Behind

Freelancers will continue to become an integral part of talent strategies for companies of all sizes.

Over 1/3 of India companies estimate up to 50% reliance on flexible talent in the next five years – FlexingIt

If you haven’t begun to ask yourself these questions on freelancers in your talent strategies, the time to start thinking about it is now. By incorporating gig workers into your workforce, you will open a vast source of skilled talent to help accomplish your short- and long-term objective.

For more on the solutions Pontoon offers, visit our website here.

Sources:

https://www.mondaq.com/india/Employment-and-HR/832012/India-And-The-Gig-Economy

https://qz.com/india/1738251/a-realistic-guide-to-navigating-indias-gig-economy/




Rajshi Vallabhi

Analyst at MFR | Sattva Consulting

4y

Please fill this form to help in my research which is in line with the article you have written. https://forms.gle/Rc7JvCumPTFvHvVX9

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Matt Lauro

Head of Global Marketing

4y

Nice perspective Shyam Nadig on this as an expert in the Indian market. I think a lot of this can also be leveraged and learned around the world as "gig" continues to become more and more commonplace

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Prabhat Mishra (he/him)

Global Director @ The Adecco Group | Automation, Technological Advancement

4y

Very interesting and unfolding how India can embrace for Gig Economy in changing times.

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