The tech world leads in new work environments due to the speed of new services and products. The future gig economy business will have several different types of workers:
- Permanent employees
- Long-term contract workers
- Short-term freelance workers
- Part-time workers
Any company that does not include all of these types of works may be missing out on some incredible talent. Not everyone wants to move to Cupertino, California (Apple), Mountain View, California (Google), or Redmond, Washington (Microsoft). Allowing them to work from wherever they live is a great step forward for both the workers and businesses.
However, a large majority of businesses are stuck on the full-time employee model. There is a huge need for permanent employees but the other types are also needed for temporary project activities. For example, Apple designing a new phone may require hiring contract and freelance workers for a few months until the bulk of the work is completed.
Benefits for companies:
- Worldwide talent availability
- No long-term commitment to workers
- Quick spin up of projects
- Experienced workers can be brought on quickly
This is an ideal environment for a company as they can bulk up on workers when needed but they are not committed to them permanently. These temporary workers may be scattered across the country or the world. Due to Internet communications, these workers can participate literally from anywhere so the world’s best talent can be tapped. A top-notch graphic designer in Nebraska can be used for a project without moving them to California.
The daily cash cost for these workers will be higher than employees but that cost is easy to control as the business can cut them anytime. Due to government red-tape, letting employees go is much harder so having flexibility with some of your workers will help tremendously.
There are huge benefits for workers that want to be a part of the gig economy but there are some landmines waiting for these workers. I will discuss the problems in the next blog post.