As physical effects of the Covid-19 pandemic seem to fade away, professionals are re-evaluating their priorities vis-à-vis life and careers. Continuing in full-time corporate jobs is no longer seen as the only way for career or personal growth, a survey of over 50-plus companies across sectors has indicated.
An online curated platform of freelance professionals, IndusGuru conducted the survey recently. Besides large corporates, respondents were also from small and medium businesses that have presence across India, including Mumbai.
With the pandemic-driven upswing in job changes, rise in entrepreneurial mindset, and ease of working from anywhere, the future of the corporate workplace is heading towards leveraging the gig workforce,the surveyhas stated.
Gig professionals are workers who rely on freelance contracts and shortterm jobs/projects with companies. As per the survey, while projecting the future of the professional gig economy, 60% respondents believed that flexible, part-time and contractualhiring is likely to be the most prominentfuture need, followed by consulting projects.
Moreover, 65% of the companies are already engaging gig professionals – mainly in fast-moving sectors like consumer goods, pharma, banking,financial services and insurance, services industry, manufacturing, technology and BPOs.
It is estimated that the next two to five years will witness a rising trend of gig professionals being engaged in India, with close to 50% primarily at manager and executive (mid-career level) positions.
IndusGuru Co-Founder Deepak Malkani said, “Our research is aimed at providing insights to organisations on adopting the gig workforce. We held detailed case study interviews that helped us dive deep into the gig-hiring roles and find organisations willing and keen to engage freelance professionals in a wide range of situations today – interim management /back fill roles, shared CXOs, PMO and technology hot-skills to aid digital transformation, project-based roles and senior industry advisors.”
The survey pointed out that companies need to work on a more formalised HR approach while managing the process of onboarding, work-arrangements, engagement and contractual payments. Also, companies need to work on aspects like training, insurance, IT and data security while structuring the professional gig hiring system.
