Preparing For Dejobbing In A Gig Economy

COVID-19 has made us realize how technology can reshape economy. Driven by massive digitization, flexible jobs woven around independent workers are becoming quintessential of the new work model. What apparently started in the technology sector has transcended across industries and verticals. Work arrangements are getting metamorphosed to give rise to a gig economy.

Business prognosticators have predicted gig economy to be the future of workforce. Statistics from around the globe give even more startling revelations. McKinsey reports that 30% of the workforce in the West is already involved in the gig economy. According to Forbes, the gig economy is expanding three times faster than the workforce as a whole. According to FICCI-KPMG, approximately 20 million individuals could be engaged in gig working in India by 2025.

Gig economy broadly refers to a free market system where organizations hire independent workers for short-term assignments. Borrowed from musicians, the term ‘gig’ is loosely used for jobs of temporary nature. The gig ecosystem is a loose amalgam of organizations, freelancers, independent contractors, project-based workers and part-time employees.

Gig economy is not a new concept. Recent developments have however, sparked heightened interest in gig dynamics. Technological changes demanding more alacrity and faster response times have necessitated creating flexible workplaces. Businesses are required to become more agile and nimble. Networked and boundaryless organizations with interlinked partners or associates are replacing traditional monolithic corporations. The entry of millennials into the labour market has engendered unprecedented work trends. Workforce has become more mobile and remote working has become increasingly common. IT has enabled real-time connect. This signifies that job-seekers can opt for temporary freelancing assignments while employers can select from a wider geographically dispersed talent pool.

In the gig economy, the traditional concept of job is getting redefined. Over years we’ve assumed that a steady pay packet, structured duties and daily reporting to a workplace are the constituents of a ‘real job’. The so called job security and fixed-term employment, as we knew it, is slowly but surely disappearing. ‘Jobs’ as we understand it are best suited for stable environments. The need for responsiveness and agility has blurred the conventional meaning

of job. We are now in a dejobbed world- one where jobs that are broad and change fast. In such a situation, people no longer take cues from banal job descriptions. Work is adapted to meet the mutating demands and imperatives of the environment. Employees have to see themselves as providing answers to problems, rather than as ‘doing my job’. People are not hired for working a fixed number of hours but rather for providing solutions.

The workplace of the future will be organized not around jobs but around projects. These projects will be the new way to package work in the gig economy. It will allow firms the flexibility and speed to meet the needs of the hyper-competitive global marketplace. Projects will extend unparalleled flexibility and opportunities for professional growth. This would require tremendous shifts in skill development and employability. Individuals will be required to focus not on skill set but on skill trajectory. The focus is on evolution in skills to remain employable in an ever-changing work topography. To be employable in a gig economy, one must prepare not for today’s jobs but for tomorrow’s roles. Dejobbing warrants redesigning of career maps- one where moves are cross-functional in nature. This can be particularly rewarding for those who can position themselves as a brand and provide demand-driven services.

To a certain extent the gig economy will make it easier for people to take charge of their careers, giving them the autonomy and flexibility to work the way they want to. This can be particularly interesting for creative professionals such as freelance writers, content creators, software professionals, web developers, graphic designers etc. A recent survey by McKinsey showed that 78% of gig workers were happier than those in traditional jobs, while 68% said they’re healthier.

But not everyone will acclimatize well to the gig economy. With jobs becoming more fluid and organizations moving towards configurations more flexible, individuals will be required to be multiskilled and adaptable. Handling increased demands of flexibility in an uncertain environment will be stressful. Anxieties due to social and economic insecurities are natural. Since survival in a gig economy is contingent on performance, psychological distress in inevitable.

In their 2018 article “Thriving in the Gig Economy” in Harvard Business Review, Petriglieri, Ashford and Wrzesniewski highlighted that success in the gig economy comes from a balance between viability (the promise of continued work) and vitality (feeling alive in one’s work). People need to endure their anxieties and turn it into a source of creativity and growth.

In the gig era, companies can no longer bank on the flywheel of momentum created by a superior product or service to sustain their success. Even perennially successful companies are finding it difficult to deliver consistent results. Success in the gig economy will require innovation and resource shifts on a massive scale. This will mandate reinventing new ways of working on a continuous basis. Though connected in etymology, playing a gig will not always be music to one’s ears.

Dr Feza Tabassum Azmi

Guest Author The author is Professor, Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Studies & Research, Aligarh Muslim University