Everything you need to know about the Gig Economy.

With the fresh wave of 'Digitization' and 'work-life balance', the whole attention is drawing to Gig Economy. We are experiencing a gradual shift from the traditional '9 to 5 job culture' to a whole different arena. It’s new, it’s exciting but is it beneficial for the Generation Z?

Relax, this may seem huge technical jargon for someone who is just a newbie for this vast economic genre. But it’s worth to know, to be aware if you’re the upcoming future.

Before we dig deep with shooting all the facts, let’s understand what actually is Gig economy. To be precise,

Gig economy basically "is a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organizations hire independent workers for short-term commitments"

You must have come across the term ’Gig’ many times. The slang is in trend nowadays but originally it was/is used by musicians. The only reason this concept is gaining popularity is because the majority of Americans who are in the phase of starting a career or even have a vague idea about it are aiming to be independent. The world is moving fast and so should we. But hold on, this notion of the gig economy is not just for those who are moving to freelance manners of employment. Even within organizations, we are seeing networked structures: small, clusters, or closely-knit teams that form naturally, around solving problems. Eventually, cutting down the basic hierarchy structure for career and no fixed roles or departments. So bye-bye to that.

Let’s Dig Deep Into The Term Gig

Using slang for economic matters might not be very professional but that’s how the youth roll nowadays. The word “gig” is a colloquial word implying “a job for a predefined time frame” and is used in reference to musicians as stated earlier. Instance of gig employees comprises freelancers or riggers, contractors, project-based workers, and temporary or part-time hiring. In short, freelancers are the new millionaires. They can choose jobs and tasks as per their comfort and availability. Boss culture, who?

Too-good-to-be-true For Freelancers?

We’ve fact-checked and grasped every needed information required to understand this concept Now, let’s jot down some benefits. Freelancers are gonna clutch from this notion, to understand it more accurately and have a logical and practical view about it. Freelancing is the future and freelancers are the new upcoming icons. These advantages would motivate the young minds to work hard as well as do smart work for a successful future.

• Flexibility To Its Maximum

Honestly, to work according to your convenience and need is a dream come true in any and every profession. No one likes pressure and work bullet getting fired 5 days a week for 8 hours straight. You can work on weekends if you want, work at midnight when your creativity hormones are at its peak, work lying on your favorite sofa. Your comfort is a priority which eventually brings the best from you and gets impacted in your work.

• Good and Expected Pay

Pay eventually changes from company to company and job to job. The platform is best when it comes to making more money. As indicated by different data collected by CNBC,

the average monthly earnings on this platforms are $924 on Airbnb, $377 on Lyft, $504 on Wonolo, $380 on TaskRabbit, $364 on Uber, and $364 on Doordash.

• Ample Independence

Keeping in mind the deadline, you could work as per you want and complete the project or assignment as you like. There would be no boss figure pressuring you every hour and asking for updates. Your recruiter would respect your personal space. This would impact largely on your work and also increases self-confidence.

The change is officially here. Though Gig economy may come as a bed of roses and cakewalk but that isn’t true. Everything comes at a price. This concept is new and ideal but has some loopholes as well. In the beginning, professionals and wannabe freelancers maybe under confident and face some challenges. Let’s take a look at them as well.

• FOMO From Basic Office Culture

Freelancing may be comfortable and accessible but it could lead to isolation, giving the workers minimal or no social interaction and hence leading to loneliness and lack of experience of the typical office environment. While this adds flexibility, it can also cause isolation from the other workers and the feeling of being removed or left out.

• Increase Stress Levels

Gig economy in the long term lead to a lack of job security. Freelancers need to be on the look for new opportunities and jobs continuously. There is also stress in being eliminated from other employees and if there are questions or issues with a project, that can be difficult to communicate.

Is It Going To Be The Future Of Work?

It’s pretty obvious that Gig economy comes with quite a lot of benefits for the workers. The list of pros is long enough but the cons section has a heavy impact. This might satisfy some people and might trigger others but most of us are left with never-ending questions and concerns. Answering the question, I don’t think this is the future worth looking forward. This notion will eventually lack discipline and work ethic one usually learns in a normal office set up.

The no-job-security feature is the biggest concern. In short, it will make the youth more lazy which they already are enough. But the future is uncertain and can’t make any solid predictions.

Looking 10 tears from now, Gig economy may be the future or it’s just a flop concept. But on a brighter side regardless of the degree to which the gig economy fits into the future of work, it will impact your earning potential – and that opens up opportunities for tomorrow’s workers. It sounds good, but will it look good in execution as well? That is the question and only time will tell.