India currently accounts for 15 million freelancers with its gig economy workers gaining contracts independently in various industries. Gig economy is a concept based on part- time workers working independently as opposed to traditional economy of full time contract based workers. In current situation, where is suffering from a ongoing pandemic, gig economy is expanding at a rapid rate.
The meteoric growth of gig economy has lot of people debating over the impacts it might have on the workers and society. Working on a job-to-job basis provides a lot of flexibility and freedom. However, these workers do not enjoy the same incentives as other nine to five goers do. Many countries are trying to provide more job security and mind peace to gig economy workers. Government of India in September 2020, brought a new labor code – ‘The Code on Social Security 2020‘, which aimed at providing social security to the unorganized sector workers including gig workers to give them benefits such as health insurance, pensions etc .
While working on your own time and desire is a dream come true, there are many challenges that are foreseen with this kind of economy that need to be understood and taken care about.
Pros:
If you are the one that is not looking for career development, a student trying to make some cash, retired or someone with no previous experience, gig economy is a dream come true. It provides autonomy for workers. Working at your own pace, earning your own wage and your own terms has never been better. The gig economy can benefit employees, organisations, and consumers by making work more adaptable to the need of the hour.
Gig economy can also prove to be a winning situation for companies as they can save costs by not hiring employees on a fixed salary, saving on office safe and regular employee benefits. Companies also get to experience the working style of different workers depending on the project. The ongoing pandemic has changed the way businesses are operated not only in India but all across the globe. Many companies have remodeled their work as per business continuity plan and prefer to hire gig economy workers under the given market conditions.
Gig economy is on the surge and is helping smaller business to compete with multi national co-operations with the same technology and work force that helped these big cooperation’s to grow in the first place.
The ability for a small companies to hire freelancers to fulfill demand, and make do with a skeleton staff can be of huge benefit when running business against huge companies, but this system could have wider negative effects on employment and the economy overall.
Cons:
Temporary work and unpredictable schedules may be a boon for those looking to earn some extra cash on the side, but for people who belong to middle class and are dependent on day-to-day basis jobs cannot afford the instability. Many gig workers receive way less payment for their hard work, and are also denied basic incentives such as insurance, retirement benefits and pension.
Another big challenge faced by the workers is exploitation in terms of working hours and delays in payment leading to stress and insecurity. Some gig workers complain of burnout without decent payment, others have stories of companies forcing them to work overtime to earn a suitable amount of cash. Some companies are encourage workers to work in the gig economy in their spare time. This leads to a lack personal time, affecting relationships and health.
The rise of the gig economy is a danger to some full-time employment opportunities. Some companies are firing their full-time employees to replace with gig workers. Google now employs more freelancers than full-time employees, and this leads a class of workers that despite working for one of the best companies in the world, do not enjoy any benefits and incentives.
Gig economy is the new future?
For those who love the concept of gig economy and are participants it is a dream come true since the fair employment rights first came into effect proving all the freedom they desire. On the other hand those who struggle everyday to find a new job or receive minimum pay for a job well done, gig economy is their worst nightmare.
Gig economy continues to rise at a rapid rate, while some argue that rather than replacing full time employment we should make it more flexible. There is no doubt that gig economy can help battle the large scale unemployment issue in India. It’s a brilliant step into the future that the gig workers are now officially recognized and brought under the protection of social security schemes. Working on the challenges of the gig economy to improve the overall working conditions of gig workers is the need of the hour.
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