The Key Drivers Behind the Growth of the Gig Economy

There’s no doubt that the arrival of smartphone technology has dramatically changed how we live, play, work and spend our money – take a moment and look around at the people near you, where is their focus? In particular, being super-connected to each other via the many social networks available today has exponentially boosted communication and, in the process, contributed immensely to the sprouting of new ways of making a living.

Thanks to the inception of platforms like LEXITUP, landing a gig or short-term project is now as easy as making dinner plans, ordering an online cab or getting a Tinder date. The expert economy is increasingly altering the way most people perceive and perform work.

However, it’s only natural to wonder what is precisely fuelling this ‘free agent economy.’ Even in 2018, there were already an estimated 50 million gig workers in the American labour market alone, which is a significant 33% of the entire country’s workforce.  On a global scale, gig workers account for close to 31% of the entire human capital in the universe.

Here are some factors that have contributed immensely to this unprecedented phenomenon.

Better Organisational Arrangement  
One of the key drivers of the overall gig economy stems from the fact the ideas and fundamentals of remote work appeal to both workers and employers alike. Seven out of every ten talent managers and HR specialists globally say that they presently prefer hiring online rather than through the usual traditional channels. Interestingly, the preference of freelance experts over full-time employees has been fuelled by the following reasons:

• Reduced labour costs – It is estimated that a company stands to slash back more than 20% of their labour and human capital expenditure if they adopt a freelancing/remote working employment model.
• Skill gaps that need to be filled – McKinsey estimates that over 40% of existing companies today are experiencing serious skill gaps that they cannot easily outsource locally. Gig workers, free agents and freelance experts can prove to be very useful especially for hard-to-hire employment sectors or when the company does not require a permanent position.
• Timing – There’s no denying that talent managers find it more comfortable and less stressful to onboard a freelance expert than to onboard full-time or inadequately trained employees.
• The infusion of rare talent – Compared to conventional workers, freelance experts tend to have a broader and richer range of work experience to draw from. An ordinary employee is often just confined to one or two companies for their entire career. However, on the other side of the spectrum, a freelance expert enjoys the freedom and rare opportunity to hone their skill set by working with dozens of different projects for different companies, industries, and clients.
• Extending a Company’s Reach – Marketing specialists are slowly realising that one of the best ways of boosting their brand awareness is by hiring a diversified workforce from different parts of the world. And what a better way of doing this than onboarding freelance experts around the globe?
• Accelerated Solutions Offerings – It is no secret that freelance experts tend to naturally accelerate a product’s development process or hasten the pace of finding solutions to tentative issues.

Talent Workers Preference
As it turns out, it is not just companies that favour the enticing benefits of the expert economy. Freelance experts are also driving this growth and here is why:

• More and more experienced workers prefer being free agents – These are not your run-of-the-mill employees but are highly trained, well-educated and a disciplined workforce that prefer the working model of free agencies compared to being confined to a single employer. Close to 80% of gig workers worldwide are in it purely by choice. Exciting career opportunities, personal development, and empowerment are just a few reasons why they chose to freelance.

Improved Flexibility – More than 65% of global freelance experts are more inclined to the operational logistics of free agency only because it awards them an incomparable degree of freedom. This way, it becomes increasingly easy to integrate one’s personal life around work in addition to the ability to work at any time of the day and in any place they choose. Therefore, it is not exactly hard to see why the best