MGT121 Human Capital Management

Mid Term Assignment - 2

Harsh Laddha

AU2110328

Section 3

Submitted to Faculty:- Professor Miti Randeri

Assignment 2
Gig workforce basically consists of workers/individuals who are not full time employees of an
organization but tend to work on a temporary or short term basis. They are people who find work
from various different platforms and are just bound to complete a specific task in a given time.
The difference between gig workers and traditional workers is given below :

Gig Workers Traditional Workers

1) Engage in short term,temporary work. 1) Full time employed workers

2) Flexible work arrangements 2) Fixed work arrangements

3) Income varies according to work done 3) Income is fixed

4) Rarely includes perks and other benefits 4) Includes perks and other benefits

5) Low Job security 5) High job security

The rise in gig workforce makes it necessary for the HR’s to make a few changes to their
traditional policies, some of it might be :
1) Standardizing contracts - Make contracts standardized for all gig workers and have the
rules and regulations properly stated about each and every aspect like legal compliances,
payment terms, work details, etc.
2) Specific Selection - Gig workers can be selected in a better and easier way by either
improving on the selection process or by using various platforms to get the work done
much faster.
3) Differentiating pay scale - HR’s can allocate tasks to gig workers and pay them
differently according to the efficiency and time taken to complete the task. This will
make them work in a more effective manner and lower the time of completion of the task.
4) Regular feedback and communication - In the case of gig workers it will be very
necessary for the HR to have constant communication with the gig workforce to make
sure that the work they are doing is aligned with the result that the firm wants from them.
5) Creating a gig workforce of their own - HR’s can also make a specific group of
effective employees who only work as gig workers and assign them work whenever
possible. This will help in reducing the time spent on finding new gig workers and will
also help the firm as the gig worker will be familiar with the working environment of the
company.

Gig workforce has been on a rise. It gives independence to the workers to decide the work they
want to do and also the time of the same. This type of workforce will thus be very effective in the
following mentioned sectors/ industries :
 1) Creative sector - Most creative jobs like that of music, art, photography, etc which
require more skilled workers but on an occasional basis can be the main industry for gig
workers. These are more event specific jobs and thus the workers are hired for specific
events and remunerated accordingly based on a pre-decided amount.
2) Content making - Tasks like writing, advertising, graphic design, etc, where the worker
is hired just for the time duration and completion of a specific task is another area where
gig workforce is on the rise. These tasks mainly require skilled workforce who are
informed about a specific situation and have to work around it to complete the task.
3) Transportation sector - Tasks like delivering goods, couriers, food, etc from one place
to another which does not require any specific skills can be done by gig workers. Riders
associated with Uber, Zomato, Big Basket, etc all come under gig workers, wherein they
don’t have any specific limit or target of deliveries but are compensated according to the
deliveries they complete.
4) Online customer service - With the increase in online interactions over the last few
years, the need for customer service has increased a lot. This demand is matched by
hiring gig workers for the job. In such cases, the workers can operate from anywhere with
flexible timing of their choice and thus match up to the needs of the company. This has
reduced the cost on a highly substantial basis for companies as setting up their own
customer services centers would have required high investments, time and resources.

On the other hand, some jobs or tasks are such that hiring gig workers won’t be suitable for a
firm. Some jobs require a specific amount of skill set on a regular and continuous basis. Some
such industries and jobs are mentioned below :

1) Manufacturing industries - Industries which require a high amount of physical work

and adherence to specific instructions and procedures might not be an area where gig
workers might excel. These industries require continuous work for almost the entire day
and will thus not allow gig workers the flexibility they want from the job.
2) Strictly regulated industries - Industries which have high regulations and have to
adhere to specific protocols like law, health care, etc might not be the best for a gig
worker. The level of independence that they can get from just jobs is almost negligible,
thus it might not be suited for them to work in such industries.
3) Higher authority/ responsibility jobs and position - The main decision making and
core functions of a company are to be made by full time employees or experts. Hiring gig
workers will not help in such cases as they won’t be thinking about the long term
betterment of the firm and thus will affect the working.

Overall, the gig workforce is one of the newer ways to work and will continue to grow in the
upcoming years as well. This not only grants the employee the freedom to work but also makes
them experience a lot of various tasks and reduces the monotonous aspect of full time jobs.