Gig Economy To Form Vital Cog Of Indian Workforce

The gig economy is the upcoming trend of businesses hiring independent contractors and short-term workers, and the increased availability of the latter for such an arrangement. Anywhere between 10 percent to 40 percent of the Indian workforce will be from the gig economy, reveals a white paper titled The Future of Work is Anywhere - Gig Workforce by Noble House, an HR talent marketplace. The survey covers consultants who are augmenting management bandwidth and not assignments which cover odd jobs and areas like design. 

The white paper explains the roles, backgrounds, age, gender and experiences of gig work differ and yet present a compelling outlook. It also helps breaks some myths and provides new insights around the way the gig economy is becoming a key constituent in the hunt for talent.

The survey found that men and women have an almost 50:50 split in the gig economy as against the traditional workforce where the ratio is about 70:30. Nearly 45 percent of the HR heads want to hire a gig worker so that they can supplement skills of the existing workforce, 39 percent would do this to reduce the cost, and 10 percent for filling temporary vacancies in their teams. 

Sanjay Lakhotia, Co-Founder, Noble House Consulting Pte comments, “In our survey, we found that a large segment (81%) has joined the gig bandwagon in the last 5 years. The data from the consultants suggest that the organized segment is seeing more interest across the metro cities. The gig economy has allowed organizations to engage the best talent including skilled individuals in the mid-to-senior level positions, for specific value-add tasks in a cost-effective manner.” 

Among the surveyed independent consultants, 73 percent indicated they would prefer to continue working as independent consultants any day over a regular 9-5 job. Only 21 percent wished to go back to a full-time position.

As revealed by the study, businesses have trusted gig workers in the talent acquisition and training and development functions of the HR domain the most. These are also traditionally the easier to outsource activities. The encouraging trend is that companies are finding value in hiring gig workers for talent management, compensation, and benefits, HR analytics and technology support increasingly.

Rajguru Tandon

BW Reporters The author is a correspondent with BW Businessworld with keen interest in HR and employee welfare.