The Great Gigification

IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, THE BUSINESS landscape in India has seen a paradigm shift with a spurt in digital transformation, innovation and increased focus on profitability. Businesses are in­creasingly adopting technological advancements to reduce operational costs and optimise their profit and loss statements. A burgeoning startup ecosystem in India has also led to a radical shift in the business environment where large enterprises are competing with the fledgling ones to match the innovations they bring forth.

To thrive in a competitive business environment, enter­prises are now exploring avenues to minimise operational expenses, maintain agility and scale their business rapidly. This change in business needs has resulted in massive growth in India's gig economy. Today, the world is rapidly gravitating towards the concept of contractual work, or gigification.

In the last couple of years, the gig and platform economy has grown incrementally in India to include 77 lakh-plus workers in the gig economy. It is expected that the gig work­force in India will expand to 2.35 crore workers by the end of this decade.

This increasing adoption, rather, shift to the gig economy has especially increased in the last two-three years. With pref­erence for flexibility, work-life balance and increased income potential, millennials and Gen Z now see greater appeal in the gig economy.

Startups became early adopters of the gig economy in India. The manifold advantages of the gig model, such as optimised profit and loss statements, agility, ability to scale rapidly, easy ramp up/down, etc., have also propelled large enterprises to join the bandwagon. Enterprises now prefer to opt for gig part­ners, or contractual workers to leverage the benefits they bring to the table. Optimised costs, higher productivity, project-based investment on human resources are only some of the many advantages of working with gig partners.

Not just enterprises, but even high-skill talent is now veer­ing towards contractual, niche, flexible, well-paying and pro­ductive working roles. The workforce behaviour changed irre­versibly during the pandemic, when talent began to reprioritise their needs and expectations from their work and workplace.

While India's gig economy has been majorly dominated by the low and mid-skilled segments, there has been an emer­gence of high-skill talent as well. Today, high-skill talent forms over 22 per cent of the workforce engaged in India's gig econo­my. A recent industry report suggests that nearly a two-third of organisations in the technology sector are hiring gig workers to respond to a changing business landscape. Today, some of the most popular roles for high-skill gig talent in India include social media marketing, digital transformation, investment banking and software development, among others.

The gig economy also offers increased opportunities for management professionals. Globally, while 65 per cent of tal­ent managers look to hire gig workers, an astounding 84 per cent of talent managers in the Asia-Pacific region prefer the gig model. Management professionals can now explore different roles such as project manager, market research consultant, and product consultant with enterprises and leverage the many benefits of the gig model.

MANY ORGANISATIONS, ESPECIALLY larger en­terprises, now outsource their market research projects to contractual workers, where the market research consultants are required to conduct primary and secondary research to col­lect data, understand competition, requirements and manage costs. These are usually short-term projects which do not require extensive experience either. Newer management professionals with 1-2 years of experience can also pursue such gigs with ease.

Gigs in project management can be another lucrative op­tion for management professionals. In this role, they would be required to identify problems, build strategies, identify bottlenecks and offer improved processes.

For those professionals looking for a higher pay, product consultation roles are currently in vogue in the gig economy as well. These consultants help different startups identify the type of product which needs to be built, conduct consumer research before launch to back up the product success and sup­port the internal engineering team to build the product. With the exponentially growing startup ecosystem in India, many management professionals have been entering this role and a similar trend is being observed in the gig economy as well.

Similarly, sales consultants can also find a place in the gig economy for short-term projects where they can help enter­prises build a go-to-market strategy.

Despite the rapid growth of the gig economy, most manage­ment schools have been slow to adapt to this change. Gradu­ates interested in pursuing gig work are not provided with the right toolkit to excel, or given any opportunities to explore contractual work. Neither do they offer career advice to those who are looking at an alternative trajectory. More often than not, they are required to create opportunities on their own.

USUALLY, MANAGEMENT SCHOOLS tend to focus on matching students with full-time jobs and, without giving much thought and importance to independent work in the gig economy. There's a continued pattern of teaching the student and preparing them to become yet another full-time employee in full-time jobs. Such an approach will not just hinder the career growth of few, but also leave the graduate students underprepared to succeed as independent workers if they wish to explore this domain. The possibility of more graduates choosing to explore the gig economy will keep increasing as the younger generation seeks agency, indepen­dence and flexibility to balance their professional life with personal interests and passions.

Offering equal career opportunities in the gig economy will allow more scope for exploring diverse options, avoid dissat­isfaction and burnouts caused due to stress, improve earning potential and enable a healthier work environment. Therefore, it is critical that management schools must quickly rise to oc­casion and integrate the study and practice of the gig economy into their curriculum, along with placement systems. Another reason why the inclusion of the gig economy in the manage­ment curriculum is quickly becoming a necessity is the fact that it allows students to understand the world of entrepreneurship.

The gig economy provides a platform for the independent workers to hone their skills through continuous access to a diverse set of clients. Moreover, the generation today has a growth mindset that seeks dynamic career progression which can be satiated by working with varied clients on a project ba­sis. It also allows individuals to continuously develop their skillsets and harness their income potential. Talking about gig economy in management schools will build a workforce that is well-prepared, tailor-made and brings with itself the skills required by employers.

With an increasing preference of enterprises to engage with high-skill gig workers, jobs in managerial roles will be gigified and dominated by independent workers. To keep up with the ever-changing market needs, management schools need to be­gin preparing students at the earliest. It is crucial for B-Schools to provide the right opportunities to students to gain a better understanding of the gig economy, and the avenues that can be tapped into. This groundwork at the university level will give the students the clarity they need to choose their career path and make informed decisions about their future.