Gig economy platforms: firms that need freelancing graphic designers or copywriters when a period is especially busy or seasonal staff during peak seasons can use gig economy platforms to find cheaply skilled freelancers who are willing to scale up or down with ease.
But there are downsides for gig work as well: no benefits, and feeling unreliable.
Access to a Wide Range of Talent.
The gig economy is a way to hire people from thousands of candidates in a very short amount time, which is ideal for the small business that needs to fill a niche or seasonal demand with quick results.
Gig workers range across sectors and industries, from low-wage delivery and driving jobs to white collar jobs such as accounting or medicine. They are freelancers or contract workers, who make use of gig apps or websites and market to corporations or consumers.
The gig worker is under no illusion of not making the deadlines and working exactly because they don’t know if their career is on the line. Their project-based mindset maximizes productivity and helps your business meet its obligations. Furthermore, it’s important that gig workers get rewarded appropriately for what they contribute to your company; trusting and retaining talented employees within your organization is crucial. Give them access to full-time employees or executives in case anything gets problematic.
Flexibility
Flexibility in work has seen a surge of new possibilities that young employees (Millennials in particular) have. Flexible work helps young workers support their family or get ahead with studies or side hustles without harming work/life balance; giving them more freedom in managing time and money.
With the gig economy, small business can adapt rapidly to market changes and lower labor costs by hiring freelancers, maintaining transparent communication and managing projects effectively. But integrating freelancers in long-term business models can be a challenge, such as managing work load.
Businesses heavily rely on freelancers to perform their work, that is not or cannot be done by them alone (for example, custom-designed websites and logos). Having quality freelancers however requires you to conduct interviews and review their portfolios and client testimonials before making your final choice – this way you can trust your freelancers to deliver good quality work on time.
Cost-Effectiveness
Gig work also gives workers a way to supplement the income from their day jobs, meeting obligations while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. And, gig work offers employees an opportunity for self-discovery by working on things that they like.
As a gig economy allows you to start your own business, the other side hustles that you have, with no need to pay rent and insurance anymore.
Further, the gig economy is gaining traction in all demographics. Younger workers, especially, love it for its hours and the sense that they are a part of something; others have become reliant on gig jobs after cultural shifts such as the COVID-19 pandemic; excluded groups turn to it for extra source of income.
Scalability
The gig economy can make it easier for small companies to expand their capacity and resources, to react quickly and flex in response to a market change or an activity surge.
Writing, social media management and any other work that requires writing is perhaps available for freelancers. And in today hiring freelancers is also scalable because you hire one for one or many simultaneously.
Gig economies can also serve as business incubators; ride-hailing services have become an emerging example. But recently those services have faced attacks from activists who think drivers deserve paid holidays and a living wage, and these services are being sued.