Yahoo Finance The number of gig workers is going to skyrocket by 2020: Deloitte
In the month of July, the U.S. economy added 164,000 jobs — but how does the alternative workforce, better known as the gig economy, size up?
Erica Volini, Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Leader, says “the number of gig workers is going to grow very dramatically over the next few years.”
According to a new report from Deloitte, self employment in the U.S. is expected to triple to 42 million people by 2020 with millennials as the leaders.
And despite the fact that controversy continues to stir over whether gig workers should be considered employees or contractors, these workers are undoubtedly becoming a larger portion of companies like Uber (UBER), Lyft (LYFT), TaskRabbit and Fiverr (FVRR).
“What that’s telling us, at least organizationally, is that we have to change the processes, the policies and the programs to be able to manage this gig workforce,” Volini tells Yahoo Finance’s YFi AM. “It’s not workers that are on the side anymore, this is a huge portion of your workforce, they have the same ability to talk about your organization whether they like it or not, influence your corporate brand, your employment brand and ultimately they play a big role in the productivity.”
Specifically, she believes companies need to “provide a sense of meaning” to gig workers and beyond in order for them to stay connected to the brand.
‘The way in which work is done is changing’
Only 6% of organizations believe they are excellent at moving people from role to role, according to the 2019 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report. This contradicts employees’ desire for mobility that they may receive within a self-employment position in the gig economy.
“The way in which work is done is changing, it’s not the traditional 9 to 5 or that you belong to one organization, that doesn’t exist anymore, this is a new way of embracing work, leveraging your skills and making as much money as you possibly can,” Volini says.
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