Analysis of the Gig Economy's Impact on Workers and Organizations

This essay delves into the analysis of the gig economy, defining it as a free market system where temporary positions and short-term contracts are prevalent. It examines the evolving landscape of work, highlighting the shift from traditional full-time employment to freelance and independent contractor roles. The essay explores the impact of the gig economy on both workers and organizations, presenting the pros and cons for each. For organizations, it discusses cost advantages, access to specialized talent, and flexibility. For workers, it highlights flexible hours, greater independence, and diverse job opportunities. Conversely, it addresses challenges such as compliance issues, difficulty in fostering workplace culture, lack of training, absence of benefits, isolation, and the need to constantly seek new opportunities. The essay concludes that while the gig economy offers employment on a global scale, the satisfaction levels of gig workers vary, emphasizing the need for careful consideration of both the benefits and drawbacks of this evolving employment model. The essay is a comprehensive study of the gig economy, its dynamics, and its implications for the future of work.

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Introduction
Analysis of Gig Economy
The Gig Economy is defined as the free market system wherein the different
temporary positions are common and the various organizations contract with the different
independent workers for the different short-term engagements. In the gig economy, the
temporary, as well as flexible jobs, are, and the various companies tend towards proper hiring
freelancers along with independent contractors instead of the full-time employees (Ashford,
Caza and Reid 2014).
Furthermore, the gig economy destabilises the traditional economy of full-time
workers who do not change positions, and they focus on their lifetime career. The primary
examples of the gig employees in the workforce include independent contractors, freelancers,
project-based workers along with part-time hires. Moreover, the current reality is that the
different people in the present scenario tends to change jobs several times a year and the gig
economy is seen as the evolution of the respective trend (Wood et al. 2019).
From the perspective of the different freelancers, the gig economy can help improve
the work-life balance. Ideally, the respective model is powered by the different independent
workers selecting the jobs when they are interested in and not those in which they are forced
into a respective position, and they are unable to attain the employment (Petriglieri, Ashford
and Wrzesniewski 2019). In addition, the gig economy is analyzed as the part of shifting
business and cultural environment which includes sharing economy along with barter
economy.
Analysis of Workers and Organizations

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As commented by Kalleberg and Dunn (2016), organizations are defined as the
process of identifying along with grouping work which is required to be performed.
Moreover, the other aspect is relating to defining along with delegating the different tasks,
responsibility as well as establishing relationships for the primary purpose of enabling the
various individuals to work most effectively together in accomplishing the objectives. It is
analyzed as the instrument for achieving the organizational goals; moreover the internal
organization is defined as the structural framework of the different duties and responsibilities
required for personnel in performing the various functions and achieving the organizational
goals (Lobel 2017).
Moreover, Aloisi (2015), has commented that it refers to establishing the competent
authority relationships among the selected work, workplaces along with persons for the group
to work together efficiently. Lastly, the organization is the harmonious adjustment of the
specialised parts for the overall accomplishment of some common purposes. In the
organizations, the major characteristics of the organization are inclusive of the division of
work, coordination along with analysing the common objectives which will be beneficial in
improving the overall goals.
On the other hand, Stewart and Stanford (2017), have commented that workers are
defined as the individual who performs work for an employer or agrees with the employer to
perform the different tasks which are assigned to them. Furthermore, the worker is defined as
the person who is deemed to perform a particular service under the proper contract of service
for a specific manner.
Lastly, as commented by Kässi and Lehdonvirta (2018), the employees are considered
as workers, but all workers are not considered to be the employees. There are different kinds
of rights which can be availed by the workers which include health and safety activities; there

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is the inclusion of the right to privacy and fair to compensation in the organizations in which
they are employed. The main thesis statement of the essay is to analyse the impact of the gig
economy on the workers and organizations.
Pros of gig work for organisations
As commented by Abraham et al. (2018), there is the inclusion of large scale of
employment in the different organizations which prefer to employ the part-time employees
in few specific roles, and it will be beneficial for the overall growth of the organization. With
the incorporation of the gig economy in the recessionary period, it has helped in changing the
employment landscape of the economy to a great extent and it gave rise to the paid gigs in the
organizations. Moreover, Cherry and Aloisi (2016), have hypothesised that the gig economy
has created new options along with it the organizations have created a new platform and new
possibilities for the different individuals in connecting with new kinds of opportunities as
well as exploit the different skills which could have been remaining unused.
Moreover, as opined by Graham, Hjorth and Lehdonvirta (2017), the inclusion of the
gig economy has been able to provide the different organizations with cost-advantage as
there are various businesses in the current scenario which have been able to use the different
external talent with the arrival of gig economy. Besides, Burtch, Carnahan and Greenwood
(2018), opined that there are few odd jobs and to perform such activities, the hiring of full-
time workers can be costly. Therefore, in such a scenario, the hiring of freelancers or part-
time employees can be able to gain competitive advantage, and it will be helpful for the
companies.
Pros of gig work for workers

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Firstly, as commented by Abraham et al. (2016), there is the inclusion of flexibility in
hours and pay for the ones who are trying to build their career inside the gig economy. In
such scenarios, the configurations of the pay along with schedule are unlimited in possibility.
For the different employees, flexibility is one of the draws on demand work and the
prevalence along with the availability of the different freelance opportunities helps them in
managing overall motivation among employees.
Furthermore, as commented by De Stefano (2015), there is the inclusion of greater
independence as many contracts or the freelance workers find that they are provided with
massive interdependence as to complete the different tasks which are performed by them.
There is no such inclusion of anyone while the gig workers perform their tasks and they are
left alone mostly to complete the tasks appropriately. It is one of the best ways to boost the
confidence among the different gig workers, and it provides the employees with the proper
ability to complete the job the way they were supposed to perform on their timetable.
In addition, as hypothesised by Manyika et al. (2016), the different gig economy
workers may find that they are available with various jobs to complete, and instead of the
similar and monotonous work to be performed by them each day, the gig workers are filled
with different kinds of elements which helps in making their work interesting and it may be
found that the different workers are excited about the different projects and they are able to
become more creative with the work as it varies each day.
Lastly, as commented by Cherry and Aloisi (2016), the payment for the gig workers
or the freelancers is variable as it varies from company to company. It can be analysed that
the different organizations pay less to the different gig workers, while the other organizations
pay more to gig workers as they do not have to pay additional benefits to the employees in
addition to the salary. Moreover, it has been noticed that there is the inclusion of the wages

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based on the hourly rate which means that the employees can control the working hours and
they are being paid for the extra hours which they have worked. There can be the inclusion of
obtaining higher education while working as the gig employee in the organization as these are
incredibly flexible. It can be the inclusion of addition of the extra degree in the resume which
will be beneficial for them in earning extra money as a freelancer or as the full-time
employee (Graham, Hjorth and Lehdonvirta 2017).
From the overall analysis of the different pros of the gig work on the employees, it
can be analysed that many gig economy workers may find that the online degree is one of the
ideal manners for the individuals to get the education which is required and become qualified
for the freelance employees.
Cons on gig work for organisations
As commented by Cherry and Aloisi (2016), there is the inclusion of different issues
related to compliance as the gig economy has created different kinds of jobs which does not
fall in the traditional category and it has given rise to the various legal and compliance issues.
The contractual agreements of the gig workers and economy vary from one country to other,
and there is discrimination which affects the overall productivity of the organizations, and it
changes the morale of the employees in a negative manner.
Moreover, as commented by Abraham et al. (2018), there is the inclusion of difficulty
for the employer in organization to connect with the workplace culture. The essential aspect
of the job is to connect with the workplace culture and the establishment of relationships with
the workers. However, it becomes difficult when there is movement between the companies
and working remotely. Furthermore, as opined by Lehdonvirta (2018), there is a lack of
training along with skill development opportunities, and it affects the overall productivity and
profitability of the organization.

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Cons of gig work for workers
On the other hand, as commented by Aloisi (2015), there are different cons of the gig
work for the various employees. Firstly, there is no such inclusion of package as
unfortunately for most of the gig economy related jobs, the different kinds of benefits are not
part of the package as these individuals are not the full-time employees of the companies. The
various laws along with legislation are different in terms of the freelancers as well as the full-
time employees.
Besides, Tran and Sokas (2017), have commented that there are few businesses which
will be offering different benefits to the various long term contractors; however it is rare in
nature. Furthermore, as commented by Aloisi (2015), the different gig economy workers plan
for budgeting for the purchase of the private insurance, and it has been analysed that most of
the businesses will not handle this for the different freelance workers. Therefore, it is
essential for the freelancers to talk and gain the different viewpoints from the financial
advisor and they can find out the various options, and it will help them in finding the best
solution which is available.
As commented by Tran and Sokas (2017), there is the inclusion of isolation, and
there is lack of cultural solidarity as there can be different employees who may find the
remote gig economy as a huge problem. Furthermore, it can be seen that gig economy
provides flexibility in the workplace; however there is the inclusion of isolation, and it
becomes difficult for them to communicate with the different individuals during completion
of the project.
Moreover, as opined by Aloisi (2015), the different gig economy workers have to
work which leads to stress to find the other regularly, and next job or they are required to be
prepared for the various changes in the current aspect. All the respective elements can lead to

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stress among the gig workers, and it has been analysed that most of the Gig economy workers
mostly feel and face the unexpected changes in the jobs which are performed by them or
there can be the change in the salary. The other stress which is fronted by employees is
relating to being exchanged by the other employee, and it becomes difficult for the gig
workers to find other jobs.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above, it can be concluded that the life of the gig workers is not
as easy as it seems. It has been analysed that the gig economy has been able to employ the
considerable number of people on the entire global scale; however various gig workers are
not happy and satisfied with the respective kind of tasks which are performed by them. The
main reason is that not all the employees are highly skilled and they do not have the
necessary and required knowledge and skills which are needed for performing the part-time
tasks and win in the competitive business environment as well.
However, from the overall analysis, the gig workers are one of the essential parts in
the current scenario, and therefore the integration must be the primary focus of the different
organizations. However, the different gig workers are becoming cautious about themselves as
the definitions of success in the gig economy have changed to a considerable extent. The
workers need to find the proper balance between availability as well as flexibility which will
be beneficial in improving the overall sense of growth in the respective gig economy.

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