Gig Economy: Value Comparison Against Noncontingent Income and Corporate Employment Benefits

The free-market approach of work has risen for the past few years. The on-demand workforce has a preference to stay in nontraditional employment and are generally satisfied with their income and the elasticity of employment that contingent work offers. Independent workers are also less likely to grow their careers in the same manner as a traditional job ensues, and market prevalence influences their wages comparatively more. This paper analyzes the influence which gig economy has posed on the growth of the employee and examines the benefits and deficits of contingent pay and noncontingent pay. In the assessment of conventional employment, corporate compensations such as retirement plans and health insurance add significant value to organizational service. The uncertainty of payment, as well as variable timelines of compensation, disallow a contingent worker to privately retain insurances and savings plans, whereas an employer in a firm typically offers such allowances as standard. This comparison suggests that the value lost in the gig economy is, in fact, the corporate occupational benefits and not the steady noncontingent salary.

Contingent worker and innovation performance in electronics manufacturing service industry

Purpose This study aims to explore the influences of contingent workers on organizations’ innovation performance and develop a framework examining how innovation performance benefits from the utilization of contingent workers. Built up on a strategic human resource (HR) flexibility model, the importance of coordination flexibility of contingent worker skills and behaviors is highlighted. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modeling is used to test the proposed hypotheses by using data collected from 163 paired surveys in Taiwan. The results provide support on the hypotheses. Findings The findings in this study highlight the coordination flexibility of contingent worker skills and behaviors, adaptive capability and knowledge integration on innovation performance in highly competitive industries. This study provides evidence linking coordination flexibility of contingent worker skills and behaviors and organizational innovation performance, and can contribute to the strategic HR management literature. Originality/value Coordination flexibility of contingent worker skills and behaviors contributes positively to innovation performance. According to the findings, managers should pay more attention on the contingent workers’ coordination practices to enhance organizational innovation performance in the manufacturing firms. In addition to the managerial implications, research limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States, 1995–2015

To monitor trends in alternative work arrangements, the authors conducted a version of the Contingent Worker Survey as part of the RAND American Life Panel in late 2015. Their findings point to a rise in the incidence of alternative work arrangements in the US economy from 1995 to 2015. The percentage of workers engaged in alternative work arrangements—defined as temporary help agency workers, on-call workers, contract workers, and independent contractors or freelancers—rose from 10.7% in February 2005 to possibly as high as 15.8% in late 2015. Workers who provide services through online intermediaries, such as Uber or TaskRabbit, accounted for 0.5% of all workers in 2015. Of the workers selling goods or services directly to customers, approximately twice as many reported finding customers through off-line intermediaries than through online intermediaries.