Three Ways to Spark an Internal Gig Economy

The gig economy is on the rise, and savvy HR teams are taking note. Gigs can attract employees to your company providing on-demand resources for project-based work assignments. Gigs can also pose a retention risk if top performers find attractive gigs elsewhere.

How do you take advantage of the benefits a gig economy offers and reduce attrition risks? Build a gig economy inside your company.

According to Staffing Industry Analysts, giving employees the freedom to choose – or initiate – their own projects, and allowing the flexibility for employees to choose the teams they work on, may be the retention and engagement solution you’ve been searching for.

Are Gigs the Way to Retain Top Employees?

Companies are taking advantage of this growing on-demand-resource trend in two ways:

1. They’re hiring contract employees where it makes sense.
   Hiring contractors to work on-demand on individual projects offers resource elasticity. Companies rapidly staffing a new project or growing a line of business can count on temporary resources to bring scale and expertise.
2. They’re shifting full-time resources into gigging roles.
   Full-time employees and giggers aren’t mutually exclusive. Allowing top talent to choose projects and teams that interest them increases tenure and the overall experience and skill level of your workforce.

The premise of a gigging culture is this: Start with great people, then match them to jobs. Research by Korn Ferry Talent Acquisition backs up this idea. Their survey of talent acquisition professionals finds that it’s getting harder to find qualified candidates – and harder still to retain them.

Five years ago, salary and benefits were the top reason a candidate would choose one company over another. Today, culture is the number one reason candidates choose a company. In five years, “workplace flexibility” is predicted to be the number one reason top candidates will choose – and stay with – your company.

Three Ways to Launch a Gig-centric Workplace Culture

1. Tap machine learning and artificial intelligence
   Intelligent people management and engagement lays the foundation to bring gig work into the enterprise. Leverage technology to assess employee interests, capabilities and career goals. Machine learning helps match workers to jobs and surfaces the training and leadership programs that align with career goals.
2. Make it easy to gig
   Once you know which projects are available and how your workers’ skills map, a smart gig-ready platform makes project and team selection easy. Connect your workforce to the projects, the people, and the virtual communities that interest them. Leverage technology to keep gigging opportunities fresh and lines of communication open.
3. Make the connection part of your culture
   Encourage employees to join (or launch) projects that interest them. Look at the upside of an engaged and inspired workforce that can choose the leadership opportunities that align with their career goals. Consider technology solutions that put gigging opportunities at your employee’s fingertips. Help your hiring managers identify perfect candidates internally.

Gig-enabling Technology Helps You Stay Ahead of Hiring Challenges

Demographics suggest a further tightening of the talent pool that will become acute in the years ahead. McKinsey estimates that between 2015-2025, the 167 million workers entering the workforce will barely outpace the 166 million of workers retiring. Finding and keeping top talent will require that companies put workplace flexibility on the front burner. Technology that maps employee interests, skills and career goals to gigs will help your organization keep great people.

Want to learn more about the Gig Economy? Read our post on why the Gig Economy should be a priority for your organization.

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