JULY 2019 l ENTREPRENEUR l 53A
re you
coming
across more
people with
job titles
like ‘self-
employed’, ‘freelancer’ and
‘entrepreneur’? There’s a
good reason for this: self-
employment is becoming
common; thanks to the
growing gig economy. A recent
global Deloitte survey of over
13,000 millennials found
almost half of respondents
believe gig workers earn as
much as those in full-time
jobs, and the same number
think gig workers have a better
work-life balance (see ‘Future
of Work’).
Eight in 10 talent managers
in the Asia Pacific (APAC)
region hire or use gig workers,
says a 2018 report from
KellyOCG, the outsourcing and
consulting group of US-based
Kelly Services. International
accounting firm Deloitte’s
2019 Global Human Capital
Trends report states that
gig employment has become
mainstream. Essentially, a
gig worker is anyone engaged
in independent work in any
capacity—online or offline,
with regular or occasional
participation, and for primary
or supplemental earnings.
This includes diversified
workers with many sources
of incomes, contract workers
or freelancers, small business
owners, temporary workers or
moonlighters.
THE WAY FORWARD
Advocates of gig economy
bill them as a way to trade
unemployment, burnout, or
hating one’s job for freedom,
flexibility, and financial gains.
Critics, meanwhile, point to
the costly trade-offs: unstable
earnings, few or no benefits,
reduced job security and
stalled career advancement.
In the book, Gigged author
Sarah Kessler argues that
for people with desirable
skills, the gig economy often
permits a more engaging,
entrepreneurial lifestyle; but
for the unskilled who turn to
such work out of necessity,
it’s merely “the best of bad
options.” Sydney-based Juliet
Andrews, Partner (people
Advisory Services), EY, agrees.
“The rise of gig economy (in
Asia Pacific) draws heavily on
the US experience, overlooking
fundamental structural
and cultural differences
in the region’s industrial
relations laws, attitude
towards entrepreneurship,
and exposure to the global
financial crisis which forced
US citizens to adopt more
innovative ways of working,”
she says.
Another reason for the
growing popularity of gig
economy is increasing access
to the internet, with people
being able to promote their
skill sets and connect with
varied audiences. In some
cases, this allows people to
turn side hustles into full
businesses.
“Companies can harness
the full value that these
workers bring if they are
successfully embedded into
the organisations they work
for,” says Pete Hamilton,
Vice President and Regional
Director—APAC, KellyOCG.
The report shows majority of
hiring managers (79 per cent)
say that a flexible workforce is
the way forward.WHY AGILE WORKS
Principal of global architecture
firm Woods Bagot, Amanda
Stanaway, says about 60
per cent of their Australian
clientele and about 40 per
cent of clients in South East
Asia, are agile, free address or
ABW (activity-based working).
“The evolution towards
more agile workplaces means
that a big driver for modern
workplace design is the
facilitation of collaboration
across teams, locations
and even countries. Clients
also prioritize ease ofSource: EY40-50%
of the workforce could be in
non-permanent employment by 2020.communication between gig
workers and integration with
technology, asking designers
to find ways to prompt
workers to engage with
spaces intuitively as well as
providing multiple settings for
teamwork,” she says.
Wiktor Schmidt, Chief
Executive, Netguru, one of
the world’s leading software
development companies that
has a strong presence in Asia-
Pacific, believes that agile
working is the way forward.
“Effective and empathetic
leadership combined with
systems in place for efficient
communication across teamscan have more of an impact on
productivity than a physical
layout of an office,” he says.
Netguru’s remote team
works with over 200 clients in
more than 30 countries.
Michael Risse, Vice
President and Chief Marketing
Officer of leading US-based
software company Seeq, says
when a work environment is
all virtual, it’s a lot easier to
keep everything organized.
“Workspace technology
has also made logarithmic
leaps from where it was 10
years ago – just compare a
traditional phone call to a
Zoom conference meeting,” he
confesses, adding, “A remote
work environment enables
employers to recruit and
employ people from anywhere,
and gives those employees the
flexibility to work from where
they already are.”CHALLENGES INVOLVED
Working with gig workers
too comes with its set ofobstacles. How do you, for
instance, ensure employees
are being productive? Trust is
the main factor, says Schmidt.
“You need to be transparent,
open, and there should be
constant to ensure that such a
set-up works. Having a strong,
values-focused foundation
can positively impact all
aspects of a business, even
relationships with external
clients. If anything, we try
to over-communicate, both
internally and externally. We
do this by constantly updating
each other and making use
of the latest communication
technologies such as Slackand Jira.”
Control is rarely 100
per cent in the company’s
hands, adds Risse. “It’s
never been easier to track
employee activity and
progress: developers write
code, sales people generate
revenue, marketing creates
PR & MQL and website
visits, and executives spend
money... all of these are
numbers that can be tracked
in any number of online tools
(Salesforce account touches,
Trello board actions, GitHub
check-ins, web metrics budget
tracking). Another thing is
with developer-model daily
stand-ups and sprints (two or
three-week bursts) that mean
deliverables are due sooner
and performance is easier to
track,” he explains. Schmidt
suggests the best tactic is
to set clear expectations of
how you should work and
communicate with a gig
worker. “Hire mature, self-
starting people.”