You spend most of your day doing exactly what you wanna do when you wanna do it.
Alana has a craving that she wants to fill real time but she can’t leave the house. She gets on her Uber Eats App, orders ice-cream. 20 Minutes later a delivery person shows up with a bag that she’s able to indulge and satisfy her craving.
Going to the airport and can’t be bothered with the parking headache? Enter Uber. You call a cab on your App and within minutes a driver shows up. You get to the airport and what’s more you do the reverse on your return.
A full-time employee messes up, they’re fired at will and an immediate skilled replacement is contracted until the employer chooses to fill the position long term. Alas often it seems workers in the Gig economy are ‘hired‘ to work on demand for a revolving period, then exchanged for a replacement for yet another short term. The perceived benefit —no payment of fixed benefits costs.
Gig Economy Defined
In a Gig economy, temporary, flexible jobs are commonplace and companies tend toward hiring independent contractors and freelancers instead of full-time employees. ~Investopedia.
We could go on and on. Convenience is the order of the day. We want it done and right away. In our microwave society everything is almost immediate. If that need is not met, we scream in complaint, throw a fit, become enraged, cancel orders and more.
Autonomy
A young millennial smiled in response to a news-reporter’s question. She spends most of her day doing what she wants… when she wants. She commutes around town charging scooters. This is a common comment from this generation. Autonomy is the order of the day. Gone are the days when they leave school and get a life-time job. They want autonomy. They want to work when they want to work because they enjoy tremendous flexibility, independence and rid themselves of monotony.
Susan Milligan in a Society for Human Resource(SHRM) article asserts that there are two types of gig workers. Those who have no desire to work full-time and those who are in the midst of a job search for full-time opportunities but will work to get an influx of cash while they search. I dare say there are still those who work full-time but need to increase their income to save for a specific goal, as an Uber cab driver shared with me in New Orleans. Her daughter needed to travel for a school event so she was driving at nights to give her the opportunity to attend.
As this phenomenon becomes more widespread, the downsides of a lack of sustained income, benefits, responsibility for their own taxes sometimes attracts stress. But it seems the supplemental income drives the benefits for temporary or long term gain. The ideal getaway can be had by doing some gigs on the side or on a sustained basis. No need to be turned down due to scheduling issues. They go when they want and where they want.
The Change. The Times.
Signs of the times. Caution to employers or older generations who want to hold on to tradition. A career that lasts a lifetime – work for years with the same company then move on when retired or sadly these days, are replaced by the rapid changes in technology and innovation.
As I have always cautioned, to stand still is to be left behind. Embrace the changes, do what you must and survive the long haul. Thoughts? Do share. We would love to hear.
Cheers!
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