G U E S T EDITORIAL What’s the Dig on The Gig? A Crash Course for Business Owners on the Gig Economy Workforce Many of your potential new employees entering into the workforce have heard from their older siblings and parents what it felt like to be trapped in a cubicle, annoyed by a micromanaging boss or fed up with office politics. Many in the current workforce have dreamed of leaving it all behind and going it alone. Well, some have stopped dreaming and started walking. The intensifying demands of the workplace are making the gig economy more appealing for millions of workers around the world. Simply put, the current economy has evolved from when many in the current workforce attended college, and looks nothing like the economy of business owners who would be their employers. While your potential new hires were partying in college, business owners were transforming the workplace to keep pace with external supply and demand pressures. And, in doing so, business owners who diligently kept up with the pace of change created an alterative to the traditional work model. Today’s workforce is searching for a workplace where they can be well paid and, yet, still be given (not necessarily earned) maximum freedom and flexible work environments. Welcome to the gig economy! In case you aren’t familiar, the gig economy is a term that refers to the increased tendency for businesses of all areas of focus to hire independent contractors and short-term workers. At the same time, this creates an increased availability of workers to choose these short-term arrangements. Due in part to the popularity of being able to work virtually or remotely and, in part, due to the nature of social media, which give more power to independent contractors and open up new opportunities for contract work, the gig economy has flourished in recent years. Some gigs are a type of short- term job, and some workers pursue them as a self-employment option. Those concepts are not new, but they are now more appealing as the nature of work has changed. The Department of Labor and Training estimates that by 2025, one third of the U.S. workforce will be contract, or gig workers. That will be a huge shift in the way the workforce, and the work- place, will operate. The traditional ideas of Dr. Curtis L. Odom Managing Partner Prescient Strategists hiring are no longer the only option for today’s business owner. Why would a business owner hire one full-time em- ployee, pay benefits, and worry about workers compensation claims when they could hire three gig workers for the same amount of money, and none of the headache? Hiring three gig workers for a project for the same price as one full-timer sounds like a great way to fast track the workload. In fact, many contract employees, or gig workers, are enjoying a level of autonomy that was once considered too good to be true. Many would tell you that working for a single employer is outdated. Instead, there are many top-notch employees leveraging the advantages of making or earning money while being more relaxed and enjoying it more. But, there are some other consider- ations to weigh. Gig workers are spread among diverse occupation groups and are not easily identified in surveys of employment and earnings. However, they are similar in the way they earn money. Some gigs may be very brief, such as answering a five-minute survey. Others are much longer in duration, such as an 18-month construction manage- ment project. And, when one gig is over, “The Department of Labor and Training estimates that by 2025, one third of the U.S. workforce will be contract, or gig workers. That will be a huge shift in the way the workforce, and the workplace, will operate.” workers who earn a steady income this way must find another. So, this sometimes means juggling multiple gigs and employers at once. Employers are befit- ting in that they are now viewing gig workers as a way to have talent on demand. In a thriving economy, these companies are investing in their future workforce by providing opportunities for young emerging professionals to learn about their industry and professions. However, when times get tough, many employers want to simply stay alive long enough to get through the recession. Many new graduates are already adjusted to this new gig mindset and approach when applying for a first job out of college. Instead of approaching the first job search and feeling the need to join a company for the long haul as they enter into a profession or industry, many pursue the start to their career with the goal of contri- buting their skills in a way that generates value and substance for the employer on arrival. In this way, a having a few gigs can fast track a younger worker to contributing now, instead of waiting years to be offered the chance to contribute in a traditional job. For the seasoned gig worker, it can easily be a dozen of new jobs each year. For them, their career experience could become a patchwork quilt of a series of exciting projects that mark milestones of demonstrating the experience gained in their career, rather than start over and give DEEP FOUNDATIONS • MAR/APR 2019 • 105
