The ‘gig’ economy – flexible working or not?

If you’re self-employed and paid by the hour or day or “gig”, instead of being a regular employee, it’s possible that you’re a worker for the “gig economy”.

Many self-employed contractors are well paid for their time, allowing them to factor in time off for holidays or sick days. But in the case of “gig” workers, they’re often low paid and work under difficult conditions. Jobs include couriers, ride-hailing drivers like Uber drivers and video producers.

Flexible workers – not flexible working

The gig economy gives workers the chance to have control over their hours – they can work flexibly to a degree.

Employers like flexible “gig” workers as they don’t cost anything when they’re not there. So no redundancy, holiday or sick pay and no right to receive national minimum wage. And that’s another reason we’re hearing about “gig” workers in the news more – recently Uber drivers won the right to be classed as workers rather than self-employed.

Ultimately it was felt that Uber couldn’t run as a company without their drivers. And we’re hearing about “gig” workers again in the case of Pimlico Plumbers.

Interestingly, the jobs market seems to rely on these workers, suggesting the jobs market is “skewed towards the buyer of labour rather than the worker”.  But not every contractor is unhappy with the way they work – it’s often the flexibility in their role that attracts them to the position in the first place.

Our flexible and part-time work agency finds employment for candidates seeking professional roles only – not low paid “gigs”. Although we do often place candidates in freelance or contract roles. These are usually well paid as our candidates are educated to a higher or degree level and have gained vast experience within their careers.

The job seekers who arrive at our flexible and part-time work agency know exactly what they’re looking for – even if that is a change of career in some cases. We work closely with employers to identify the skills gap they have so they know exactly which hires make the best business sense at the point of recruitment.

If you’d like to find out more, get in touch today. We’d love to hear from you.