The future of Gig economy.

The word ‘gig’ is a slang word for a job that lasts a specified period of time. Traditionally the word gig was used to define a one-time musical performance which once finished, the band has to look for a new performance. But it has found its way to mainstream business vocabularies as more and more communities’ trend towards a gig economy. It is a free market system in which temporary working positions are common. Freelancers, independent contractors, project based workers and temporary hires all fall under the title gig workers. They could be writers, ride share drivers, photographers, accountants, handy man, programmers, tutors, artists, dog walkers or anyone who agrees to provide services to another individual without being on a fulltime payroll.

With digitization, the work force is increasingly mobile. So workers can choose temporary jobs from all over the world and employers can find the best individuals for each job without a geographic constraint. The gig economy also saves businesses resources like social benefits, office space and training. While this flexibility comes at a cost for the gig workers since they have no pension benefits, little or no medical benefits, complicated tax declarations and out of pocket equipment expenses.

A lot of the people today have chosen to freelance because of the freedom and flexibility of working. The whole notion of working nine to five, with some company where someone is watching and keeping a track of how much you work, is a concept which is slowly becoming unattractive for more and more people. Even companies value skills, training, education and experience working in that particular field before hiring a freelancer to do a specific job. There are several online platforms and agencies who try to bridge this gap between freelancers and companies looking for talents with expertise to complete a desired task. So it is often a win – win situation for both the freelancers and the companies, since the freelancers get paid more depending on the amount and quality of work, rather than working hours calculated at the end of the month. And the companies are not liable to bear the cost of the employee and pay for their insurances and social benefits.