Time To Build Healthy Ecosystem! Despite Growth, Know What Challenges Gig Workers Face

Gig workers earn their part of income from outside the traditional employer-employee relationship. They enter into formal agreements with on-demand businesses to provide services for the company or its clients. Taking advantage, gig workers have the flexibility to complete the assigned project according to their terms.

The gig economy includes all the gig discovery platforms that hire independent workers across sectors like e-commerce, technology, food and beverages, and home services, among others. Accordingly, the gig economy implies the employment of temporary or part-time professionals instead of conventional employees by the organisation. Several reports claim that India always had a large reserve of informal gig workers.

According to a report, India will likely have 350 million gig jobs by 2025, presenting a huge opportunity for job seekers to capitalise and adapt to the changing work dynamics. As per an Aon survey - 'Decoding the Gig Economy', 49 per cent of the 145 companies have already employed gig workers, and many plans to increase this number over the next two to five years.

Hence, the gig economy has a vast potential for job seekers in blue, white, and grey collars. Even after this vast growth by leaps and bounds, they are facing some significant challenges which have to be addressed. The challenges pose an obstacle that stops them from being productive and creative in the field.

Know The Challenges

While sharing the data with The Logical Indian, Taskmo, a tech-driven gig discovery platform, mentioned that almost 40 per cent of the gig workers have no insurance, 36 per cent have purchased the insurance by themselves, and only 24 per cent of workers have employer-provided insurance coverage.

The data shows that the majority of the workers are not insured, and this is considered to be a critical challenge in the industry. Many gig discovery platforms have started addressing these challenges, but there is a long way to go.

Most workers employed in the gig economy are daily earners, and irregular payment from the companies is another major challenge. Most gig workers claim that an irregular or late payout system is an obstacle that stops them from being productive at work.

To tackle the issue, gig workers suggest that companies should implement a daily payout method for their taskers from which they can withdraw their payment daily in their bank account.

Upskilling & Meeting Market Demand

In today's era, upskilling is another challenge for gig workers as the market is seeing a continuous change in demand for skills. To meet the requirements, gig workers must upgrade their skills according to their need. However, it's a time-consuming process that also affects the consistent work performance of a tasker.

While talking with The Logical Indian, Pratik Lodha, a gig worker for the last three years in the IT sector, said, "We are assigned projects suited to our skills. Being gig workers, we also work as an employee of the company as we complete the projects accurately and within the deadline."

He added, "But we're not treated the same as full-time workers. Many companies don't give us timely payments, and some deny providing safety (insurance). It demotivates us as a tasker." Gig workers, who are the major players in the economy's future, should be provided with accessible solutions as it will lead them to be as productive and creative as possible.

Also Read: 'Be Internet Awesome': Google Teams Up With Assam Govt To Drive Digital-Led Learning Among Youth