The Gig Economy has emerged as a topic of
discussion and I understand that Intuit has posited that 40% of US workers will
be independent contractors by 2020. That
is 3 years away!
What is a gig employee? Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb all utilize gig
employees as the delivery mechanism for their apps. While they are all clear that they are just
an App and don’t employ the gig employees, governments and employer bodies are
analyzing the risks and reports are indicating that they are significant.
As a contract worker, which is how Uber
defines their drivers, there is not an employer/employee contract in place. While Uber, and other similar companies,
create the mechanism for people to deliver a service, they consider themselves
brokers, for want of a better word, and not employers.
The UK is looking into the situation and
considering legal structures . The
concerns are particularly when people have a single source of income, although
they are not formally employed. This
leaves them in a situation where they have none of the protection and benefits
that a full time employee has, while effectively working for a single entity.
Matthew Taylor, head of the Royal Society
of the Arts, (see link below) told the BBC that the key criterion for deciding
whether somebody is an employee is whether the company controls and supervises
the employee.
The situation is that these people are not
employed so they typically do not contribute to UIF (Unemployment Insurance
Fund) or the equivalent in other places in the world.
There are no benefits, so no pension or
provident funds, no paid leave of any kind.
The benefit is flexibility and income producing work with a fair amount
of independence in the ability to choose where and when you work.
Is it a good or bad thing for the world
economy and the workforce? Either way,
it is our new reality.
Entrepreneurs, as always, are finding ways
to create parallel businesses feeding off the disruptive business models. Many Uber drivers have two “bosses” – Uber
and the vehicle owner and Airbnb is the same.
I have started to use Airbnb regularly and, in most cases, am dealing
with a letting agent who has a number of Airbnb places in her portfolio.
There are conversations happening in
traditional staff hiring businesses where the business managers are trying to
find ways to change their current model to work off the gig economy. They see it as reducing risk and creating a
more flexible environment where former employees become agile owners of their
own small business. This can be very
effective in the personal services industry eg hairdressers and beauticians who
will come to your home or office using an Uber style app.
Interestingly, while the perception is that
it is the millennials who are engaging in this economy, it is also enabling
older workers to extend their work lives, utilizing their deep experience while
retaining flexibility and control over their time.
While the App Developers have branded themselves
as an app enabling connection between the supplier/service deliverer and user,
it increasingly seems that the market perception is that the owner of the App
is responsible for much more than acting as a conduit.
The conversation becomes interesting from the
HR as well as the statutory angle.
Human Resource practitioners are voluble around the issues facing them
in terms of time spent in support of employees who have many challenges both in
the workplace and at home. This lack is
strongly felt by the contract workers I have spoken to.
It is also important to note that gig
workers /agile workers / portfolio careerists have to accept greater
responsibility for their own career paths than the formally employed.
·
Training tends to be specific to
the task and very little is given
·
Performance management and
enhancement is not offered in most cases
·
There are typically no
recognition or reward programs for great performance although if you look at
companies like Tupperware or Avon they have those in place
Flexible, contract work has always been
around and the wish to work flexibly at the higher end of the skill scale has
been very successful in many different industries.
The disruption is with us. How we handle it is up for discussion. Legislators everywhere are looking at the
impact very seriously.
Interesting times ahead!
Links, References and Notes
Accsys provides people management solutions ie Payroll, Human Resources (HR), Time and Attendance as well as Access Control/Visitor Management.
The company develops, implements,
trains and services our solutions. We
provide readers, turnstiles, booms and CCTV.
We run both on premise and in the
cloud, as well as mobile options for ESS.
Recruitment, online education and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) are
part of our offering, too.
“Unions cannot collectively bargain with an algorithm, they
can’t appeal to a platform, and they can’t negotiate with an equation.”
Dawn
Gearhart from Teamsters Local 117
http://www.accsys.co.za/accsys-peopleplace-talent-management
email:
tschroenn@accsys.co.za
twitter:
@TerylSchroenn
Note:
Thank you for reading Teryl@Work.
Should you wish to use any of the material, please acknowledge this blog
as the source.
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