Is Gig Economy the Future of Work?

By: Elsie Low


The growth of the gig economy enables employees to work in the comfort of their homes.

“It’s no longer about legacy business; it’s about technological, mindset and cultural change.”

A quarter of the top 131 Korean companies are planning and have started to use AI for recruitment and hiring, according to Korean Economic Research Institute (KERI). These companies use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and bots to perform interview screening using voice and facial recognition technology to analyse candidates' capabilities. These AI algorithms will spot the candidate's facial expressions to determine the candidate's emotions, behaviour, nervousness, whether they are a quick thinker, and even their sincerity.

By 2030, we foresee the elimination of truck drivers' jobs due to self-driving, autonomous driving technology according to studies jointly done by several Automobile and Transport Workers' Federations in the UK and US.

These two scenarios, as what we refer to as a job we are familiar with today, may not exist anymore in the future. Hence, what will happen to these recruiters and truck drivers once their jobs are taken over by AI? Why are these happening? 


Why Gig Employment Will Drive the Future of Employment?

Businesses are transforming into a new business model. As a result, they start to digitalise and automate their businesses to gain more efficiency.


Businesses will start leveraging on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Hence, there will be more dependency on Human & Machine collaboration.


There will be more demand for niche skills; therefore, it provides workers from seeking full-time employment to independent or freelance work.


  • We cannot eliminate the Gen Z mindset as they are unique. While they are the digital natives, they too witnessed digital disruption from companies like Uber, Airbnb, Facebook, and many more. They even experienced machines taking over jobs from front-liners such as order-taking, which has been automated by machines. Therefore, they will seek full-time employment in entrepreneurship (David and Jonah Stillman, 2017).



Therefore, companies, organisations, and individuals have to change as the Future of Work will transform work, workers, and the workplace, as what had been explained by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). However, the Future of Work is predominantly supported by who does the work, when, where and how the job is done. So, who will perform those works?


The Inception of Gig Economy

Basically, the assigned work can be done by workers that are employed on a full-time, part-time, or even workers from crowdsourcing or gig workers. As you can see, the series of The Future of Work is nothing new. The gig was incepted many years ago since the early 1915s by a jazz musician. Then, over the years, the gig works had transformed. 

Grab started using gig in their business model in Malaysia in 2012. Elance, an American company and a freelance marketplace founded in 1988, currently known as Upwork, is one of the popular freelance marketplace platforms globally.


Delivery job is an example of gig work that the Malaysians have positively received throughout the pandemic surge.

Unfortunately, many people still have misinterpretations about the gig economy. Many still assume that gig works are for lower-income or lower-skilled workers. Gig workers can be anyone; skilled or non-skilled workers, knowledgeable or professional workers, and they may come from Gen X to Gen Z, the future generations, and even the ageing population.

How Does Gig Economy Work? 

Often, we hear how deliveries and riders use the gig platform to perform their task. There are also other marketplace platforms commonly used by employers and gig workers to market themselves with their credentials and availabilities.

We are not wrong in the above perspective, but what are the differences between the two models? 


The future of work in gig employment in Malaysia will bring a better outcome once it is included in the Employment Acts.

How to Start Gig Work and Platform?

Some may have a simple, straightforward model, but for some companies looking into transforming their business model, the Gig Economy is not as straightforward.

The fundamental in this gig economy is a free-market system that combines Gig Workers (the people) and the Gig Digital Platform (the technology). The organisation's business model will determine what the organisation would like to achieve.

To start the gig business model, companies need to prepare themselves with the proper framework and anticipate any fine prints and potential consequences. In addition, the company needs to ensure the gig framework, solution, and design include the understanding of the current business ecosystem and not forget the existing business process, the policies, the potential risk, and the organisation culture.

At the end of the day, we must remember that Malaysia has yet to govern this gig economy, and they are not protected under the current Employment Acts. Therefore, the companies need to re-examine their internal policies and controls as to how to mitigate any potential risk. Similarly, individuals need to prepare themselves, and they should think like entrepreneurs to help themselves minimise any consequences.


LEAD Digital, THINK Digital and GOVERN Digital

 About the Author

 

Elsie is an IT Services Business Process-oriented hands-on practitioner and an advocator of Digital Transformation and Gig Economy (DXGIG). She believes that the future is no longer about legacy business; it’s about technological, mindset and cultural change. Hence, organisations should set the right pace with the right fundamentals when starting their Digital Transformation and Gig Economy journey.