The Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA), has released a co-authored report named ‘Leveraging the Power of the Gig Economy’. The report uncovers the key challenges, strategies and recommendations for leveraging the gig workforce while also capturing the real-world benefits and success stories.
This is an interesting study for a number of reasons. First, the TSIA is focused on business challenges and paths to growth. They don’t promote any one business strategy over another. They are just interested in what works. Second, TSIA represents a very broad group of different types of technology business, counting 80% of the Fortune 100 tech companies as members.
The report features some valuable insights into the modern gig economy. Most executives will have heard of the gig economy by now, but they may not appreciate just how large it really is.
Estimates now suggest that over 1.1 billion people are working on gig projects, with 55 million workers working in the gig economy in the USA alone. The researchers indicate that global uncertainty around the broader economy may push more people into the gig economy because it allows them to directly earn from the skills they have.
Attitudes to work are changing. More mature employees may still think of a job as “permanent”, but this is very different for younger generations who see the use of their skills on individual projects as a more effective use of their time. 64% of Baby Boomers said they have no plans to leave their present job – it can continue indefinitely. Only 18% of Gen Z gave the same reply. There is a very different generational attitude to job tenure, which for companies that are more frequently hiring and onboarding is a major cost to be absorbed.
The research also suggests that at least 50% of Gen Z and Millennial workers have considered going freelance because they see that it offers the flexibility to work anywhere at anytime. The traditional nine-to-five in the same office each day is seen as extremely dated.
In addition to all these observations about the size of the gig economy and how attitudes have changed, the research notes some very important reasons why strategies such as GigCX could be a powerful tool for technology companies that want to offer support services. Staffing and managing a support service is expensive. Costs are increasing, employee attrition is increasing, and employees are rapidly changing their expectations about work – those long contact center shifts are no longer attractive at all.
Smarter organizations will consider how they can offer tech support using a team of gig workers, for a number of reasons:
Access to more people. You can cast the net nationally, or even internationally, to find people with exactly the right skills for your support team. The skills are out there, but not necessarily living next to your contact center.
Ability to scale. Build your bench of talent so that it is easy to scale up and down as required – in complete contrast to the processes involved in hiring and onboarding full-time employees only to find they are idle or too busy. Just work with exactly the level of resource you need.
Meet the demands of the workers. This applies especially to younger workers who want to work flexibly from home. In a tough jobs market where skilled employees are footloose and happy to increase your attrition rate, why not deliver the flexible working environment that they want?
This report is an excellent resource that explores the opportunities available for the gig economy and in particular how services such as technical support appear to be perfect candidates for a gig solution.
To download the complete report please click here.
