Nice “Gig”

For those of us old enough to be in the workforce during the late 70's and early 80's, can you imagine uttering such phrases back then as “I got a text from ….” Or, “just email it to me.” How about “I received an invite from Facebook (or LinkedIn)?”

And lest we not forgot, “I now work remotely.”

Neither can I.

But let’s examine a word that was often used in the lexicon of conversation in any era, “gig.” Most everyone had a musician friend who bragged about playing or getting a “gig.” Or when someone landed a plum job, he/she was usually congratulated with a “hey, nice gig.”

Today, “gig” has evolved to a whole new career meaning, not to mention a skyrocketing separate economy. Roughly 57 million people are employed in the gig economy - temporary jobs or independent contractors such as Uber, Airbnb, Grubhub and TaskRabbit to name a few - which, according to projections, the gig sector will grow to more than $450 billion in just three years.

The advantages of a gig job are obvious – make your own hours, the ability to work for multiple companies at once etc.

But that is gradually changing as well.

According to a recent study from payroll provider ADP, a rising faction of gig employees are now working within the confines of traditional “brick and mortar” companies. ADP gleaned data from some 75,000 companies and some 18 million workers and found that nearly 16 percent of that aggregate workforce is a gig worker – with half being 1099-MISC contractors and the other short-term W-2s.

The study which can be found here, https://www.adp.com/resources/articles-and-insights/articles/i/illuminating-the-shadow-workforce.aspx, shows that the gig workers inside of these companies tend to skew older than traditional employees – with roughly 30 percent over the age of 55 and many of them being accountants, attorneys and IT consultants.

For those on the proverbial “back nine” of their working careers, it’s easy to see where a gig assignment  would be an ideal fit and the accounting profession has responded in kind as there are already a number of start-up firms catering to those toiling in the gig economy.

That said, I don’t know if I will ever transition into a gig worker. I hate sitting in traffic so becoming an Uber driver shuttling impatient travelers back and forth from New York’s congested airports is probably not an ideal choice and other than relatives, I don’t want strangers renting my house, so Airbnb is not a valid option either.

Grubhub? Hmm. Now that might be something to consider.