The Gig Economy

by Victor Cherubim-May 6, 2016

( May 6, 2016, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Employment on demand, satisfaction on call, happiness on tap, these and many other modern conveniences, if we want to call them as such, are what will be on offer to many around the globe, aided by encroaching technology.

We comfort ourselves with these approaches, instead of confronting the real reason of what makes for work and leisure. One reason is that money as a compensation for work has lost its value. The search is on for a deeper understanding of work and leisure.

“The future of work, does not involve work, “so researchers state. It is driving profound changes for our future. Not only will the nature of jobs, the skill needs continue to change, but soon with near automation, human error will become a thing of the past.

Collaborative Machines

We already see in some parts of the developed world collaborative machines, referred to as “Cobots” working together, side by side with human labour on the factory floor.

The average worker is earning $11.80 per hour in the United States, £7.40 in U.K. Barclays Capital estimates that the Cobot market could grow from just over $100 million in 2015 to a staggering $13 billion in 2020. At the present this new working class is used to feeding parts into the assembly packaging line on the automotive industry factory floor, whether it is located in Germany or in the U.S.

This “gripper technology, “supplemented by “Machine Learning,” and A.I. or “Artificial Intelligence,” will one day, inevitably help to rectify the weakness of using machines solely as replacement for man. This is because human labour will still be needed strangely for more productivity, being more dexterous, with a “greater feeling”. A “Cabot” we are told cannot put together a gear motor with dexterity, as a human at present. So we are back to man with feeling?

The Change is in the making?

Coupled with Gig economy and Collaborative machines, there is a new generation of young who have grown up since the Millennium, with a different mindset to work and leisure.

The state of the Gig economy no longer allows for aspirations of being or belonging. This is because millennial young (those born after 2000) have different ideals than their parents. Gone are the days when they moan about their lack of possessions. They are the “Generation of the Dispossessed.” They share a different value. They take advantage of the freedoms of the so called “Sharing Economy.” They wish to share themselves, their photos (selfies), ideas, creations and opinions.

In the Gig Economy, you can work from anywhere, each day, one day in London, the next week in San Francisco. There is no workplace. There is no assigned desk or a file. They can work from home, at work on a bean-bag and in the cafetaria, or they can job hop around the world. Some have even started “home-swap” between two members of their team. They are the “Loose Generation.” They swap living spaces, work assignments with one another.

This Generation

When we hear that this generation will not be able to ever own their homes because of the difficulties of putting a deposit and buying a flat or a home, we elders may worry, but they hardly worry, because the Gig Economy is not about ownership. It’s about “experience.”

For a Gig Generation that does not want to be tied down with “stuff, “this does not mean they dislike possessions. It is more that “sharing is caring.” It is a coping mindset.

Life is permanently changing

Life for this generation of Millennials is permanently changing. This is understandable from their perspective. The world is changing and they too are changing.

Those of us parents and others belonging to a different world, find it difficult to fit into their thinking. But that is the reality of life.

How can we position ourselves for the Gig Economy of the Future?

If you ever want or wish to work less, we have to understand that there is a choice open. If you want to travel the world, you need not be burdened with possessions. You must be able to feel at home in London or in Lisbon?

You need to fit in with the times, and not make time fit in to your programme. The days are gone when offices were programmed with workers, dressed with enviable glamour.

The Industrial Revolution brought workers from their homes to cities in search of work. Technology today is driving work out to the world. The cost benefit to workers and their employers far outweigh living expenses, wages, other statutory enhancements or entitlements?

Looking forward for solutions, not backwards for reasons, is the new world of work.