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The rise of Gig economy: a challenge for HR professionals

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The Gig economy is a labor market that is based on the short term contracts of freelancing jobs rather than permanent jobs. As compared to the regular salaries, workers get the amount in return of the gigs, they perform. Traditionally, jobs in the gig economy were courier services, ride hailing services, freelance journalism, etc. However, online platforms such as upwork, fiver, freelancer, etc. bring new impetus in the economy. Information technology has connected the employers and employees through these online platforms. Most of the people work in the software development, creative and multimedia sector, sales and marketing support services, writing and translation services, clerical and data entry and other professional services. According to online labor index 2017, Asia by far dominates the freelancing market globally with India at the top, Bangladesh on the second, while US on the third place. Affordable labor, a highly-skilled and technical workforce compel the companies to look to hire freelancers.

There are several benefits associated with the gig economy not only for the employees but for the employers as well. Employers prefer to hire freelancers for these skilled jobs, as they don’t have to pay fixed salaries. They also able to decrease their fixed cost by hiring the freelancers, when there is work. Employees also feel autonomy, flexibility, and better control of work life balance.
Though, companies are relying increasingly on contingent labor forces, such as freelancers, consultants, and temporary workers however, these workers are not part of the regular talent pool of the company. Therefore, companies usually don’t invest to retain them. On the other side, freelancers get involve in pseudo-employment without getting payments for redundant work, paid leaves, or other employment benefits.
This phenomenon of gig economy is also making HR professionals irrelevant due to the change in the traditional mode of hiring, training, and compensating the employees, as most of the online platforms are managing the workforce on employers’ behalf. According to the survey of 2017 conducted by upwork,57.3 million Americans are freelancing (36 percent of the U.S. workforce). As the gig economy is continuously rising, there is very much likelihood that this mode of employer-employee relationship has to stay. The popularity of gig economy would create challenges for hiring and retaining the right persons at affordable cost. Therefore, there is a dire need of the hour for HR professionals to carve out the strategies to make the work more attractive for the young professionals by incorporating autonomy, flexibility, and better control of work-life balance to stay relevant with the upcoming trend.

Coworking spaces and a paradigm shift

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Image by pinnstation coworking


In 1980, Toffler predicted 
“Put the computer in people’s homes, and they no longer need to huddle. [. . .] White collar work will not require 100 per cent of the workforce to be concentrated in the workshop”.
This prediction was widely quoted in telecommuting research and started a new trend towards virtualization processes in organizations. According to a survey carried out in year 2014, 1.3 billion people worked from the space and time of their own choice. Advancement in digital technology has enabled professionals to work literally ‘anytime-anywhere’. 

Coworking-spaces, which originated in 2005 in San Francisco have developed rapidly in the last decade. Currently there are 13,700 coworking spaces operating worldwide and around 1.5 million people are working in those spaces. Some coworking spaces are government funded aim to enhance startups and entrepreneurial activities while many others are private funded owned by private owners or big corporations hosting mostly freelancers, independent professionals, consultants, entrepreneurs, small and micro enterprises, employees, students, etc. There are countless benefits associated with these spaces e.g. new startups, business ventures, employment opportunities, innovations, etc. On one hand, these spaces are bringing entrepreneurial revolution while on the other hand these spaces are also encouraging more and more professionals to work independently as a freelancer.

For example, according to a survey of 2014 conducted by Elance, out of 10 university graduates with first or second class degrees, nine see freelancing as a lucrative career choice whereas, every fifth graduate with first or second class degree have already decided to work as a freelancer. The result of the study also shows that 29 per cent of all graduates intend to make freelancing as part time career while 85 percent think that it would become norm in next five years. The reasons behind starting career as freelancer is the independence and flexibility it offers as compared to the traditional job structure. 

This means that coworking spaces would grow exponentially in the upcoming years as these spaces offer a cooperative working environment equipped with office utilities and accessories, in which professionals have the autonomy to work either as independent professional, or shared knowledge of other diverse professionals along with the shared working values of 'collaboration, openness, community, accessibility and sustainability'. Coworking spaces are not limited to the provision of office spaces and amenities to participating professionals. In fact, these spaces represent an elusive concept for working alone-together of participants, which is one of the major reasons that coworking- spaces are expanding globally. However, this rise would also influence the work practices in the existing organizations. 

In this situation, organizations can either recruit freelancers and developed their policies accordingly or they can restructuring their organizations by providing more autonomy and flexibility to their workforce. In that case, organization need to reduced hierarchical structure by incorporating fewer layers and decentralized decision making. In order to attract and retain skilled workforce, organizations need to break down the existing organizational boundaries and shall focus on the collaboration and team working while provisioning more flexible work structures. The traditional roles in the organizations need to be abolished and a manager shall act more like a coach and mentor rather than a boss or commander. 

How to save yourself from losing your Job

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If you lost your job and are looking for a new job, it means you don't hear enough about saving your previous job. You probably hear a lot about finding a new job but surely, you also need to focus, how to save your existing job. You can lose your job for various reasons. Some of the reasons may be out of your control, e.g. Your employer is not making ample money or there is a corporate merger or your department is eliminated and you become redundant. But there are few factors, which are totally under your control, e.g. your performance is not upto the mark or you don't have a good working relation with your boss. So, you could manage these factors and can yourself from laying off.  Here's how:

1.Understand Expectation

You think that you are doing very well at your position but may be your superiors don't think so. It does not matter, what you think about your performance but it does matter what other think about your performance. You must have to understand the expectations of your boss and your colleagues. If you get a vibe from your boss that you are not meeting his expectations then it is always better to discuss with your boss that what he/she expects from you. 

2. Prioritize the tasks

Again, you not only have to understand the performance expectations of your boss but you also have to prioritize the tasks accordingly. Today's business world wants the person, who could handle the multitasks effectively. May be one task has high priority for you but for your bosses, it would not have such worth. There may be certain other tasks, which are of high priority. 

3. Self Confidence

Always have self confidence "Work as if you are totally confident that your job is there forever," says Seiden, a leadership and career-development expert. That's a tall order, but, "if you bring worry into work, people are going to smell it," he says.

He recommends avoiding entertaining paranoia at every turn, wondering why you were or weren't given a particular project or assignment. "Even if you see [that your job is not going to last], you have to put blinders on," he says. Just keep showing up, physically and mentally, to do a great job in the here and now.

4. Brand yourself

It's good to be humble but in workplace, it would not be wise option. You must have self confidence on your abilities and you need to prove yourself continuously and  effectively that you are a valuable resource of the organization. No one born as Socrates, skills could be learned and improved so don't be timid, if you don't have some skill to perform a task. Always open yourself for learning and to experience something new. Try to be the part of new assignments and projects, which would not only help to boost your self-confidence but also help to build the trust of others on you. 

5. Learn about office politics

I actually hate office politics and I am sure, most of us also hate this. So it would always good option to learn about office politics, if you are tone-deaf from the office politics, you could wind-up making mistakes that could cost you losing your job.

6. Always prepared for the worst

At the beginning of the post, I mentioned that there are certain factors that are beyond your control like restructuring, downsizing, business reengineering, etc. So, always keep a sharp eye on that and don't put your all eggs in one basket. It's good to hope for the best but you have to be ready for the worst. 

Difference between Harassment & Bullying - Workplace

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Bullying and Harassments are two of the major problematic behaviors in today's workplace. Most of the people took it as same and could not differentiate between these two behavior. The understanding of these two behaviors are necessary as in the eyes of law, they are both different. I would describe the difference between bullying and harassment and  would also propose strategies to overcome these behaviors  in your workplace. 

Workplace Bullying

It is a repeated pattern of mistreatment and unwelcome behavior from others towards a particular employee or a group of employees  that could cause harm and create a risk to health and safety. It can include verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation. Workplace bullying is different than the typical school bully, as it operates within established rules and policies of the organization. In workplace bullying, it is usually from top towards subordinate(s), however, peers can also be involved in bullying. Workplace bullying causes demotivation, dissatisfaction, anxiety, stress and demoralization in the target employee.

Workplace Harassment

Harassment is a topic which cover a range offensive behaviors. It is repetitive in nature causes disturbance, stress and anxiety. In the workplace, it is a negative behavior which can offend, humiliate or intimidate a target employee or group of employees based on their race, culture, age, gender or religion. In workplace, sexual harassment is most common and unwanted behavior, where the consequences of refusing could be potentially very disadvantageous to the victim. 



How to avoid these behaviors at workplace


Following preventives measures should be taken in order to avoid bullying and workplace harassment.
  1. Zero tolerance policy on workplace bullying and harassment should be adopted
  2. Clear policy guidelines with strict disciplinary procedures should be circulated and communicated among the employees. 
  3. Orientation sessions and training shall be arranged in order to aware the employees to identify these negative behaviors but also to provide awareness to the consequences
  4. If certain case/situation arises in the organization, immediate disciplinary action should be initiated, even if victim does not wish to complaint. Matter should be probed and policy guidelines shall be improved in order to avoid certain incidents in the future. 
  5. Victims of such cases shall not be penalized in anyway, psychological treatment should be provided. 

Hire the candidate best for your firm

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Previously, I wrote about the topics of Recruitment, which play an important role to gather a pool of candidates for a particular job. The next important step is to find out, if the potential candidate has the right mixture of KSA's (knowledge, skills and attitude/abilities) which exactly match with the job description. 
Hire the candidate best for your firm

These simple tips would help you to hire the best candidate(s), which would be a valuable resource for your firm. 

1. Identify your needs

You have to identify your needs. Clarify your self, why do you need a person for this position. It is always a good option to publish the job description in the job advertisement and also communicate to the candidates well in advance. Identify the skills that are requisites and having prime importance for the incumbent to perform the job. Identify those skills, which are not required but could help the incumbent in the next 1-2 years.

2. Be Realistic and Reasonable

Don't expect that the employee, you are going to hire would be in your firm for the next ten to twenty years. This era which is based on professionalism,  people are more loyal with their profession rather than the firm. Don't expect that high salary would encourage a high motivation in the potential incumbent. Money play a role for a while but not for a long term. So before going for hiring a candidate, you have to consider that perks and privileges you are offering to the incumbent is according to the skills and abilities or otherwise. 

3. Evaluate the Personality

Perhaps evaluation of personality is more important than the evaluation skills. You need a team player in your firm, who can coordinate with other team members to achieve the objectives of the whole firm rather than some lonely wolf, who just want to achieve only his personal or professional objective.  It is always better to go for the detailed background check. You don't need to rely only on the references, you could always find your own resource persons, who could give you the honest opinion. 

4. Go for multiple Interviews

Don't just rely on a single interview session lasts for 20-25 minutes. You could not evaluate a person in a small session therefore, it is always wise to go for multiple interview sessions. If you have not evaluated the technical skills by arranging a formal test then arrange at least two interviews, one focuses on the evaluation of skills while other on the professional side. Don't go unprepared for the interviews, always prepared before hand. It is always good to have an evaluation form in order to evaluate different aspects of the interviewee. Always start the interview from light conversation and allow the candidate to settle. Give time to the candidate at the end of the interview for questions. Be open to answer the questions asked by the candidate in a polite manner. 

5. Don't Hurry

After interview, don't just decided at once. Consider all the factors like notice period, arrears to be paid in the previous firms, joining period, etc. After keeping in consideration all these factors, arrange a list of candidate w.r.t their suitability for the job. 

6. Offer the best

If you find a suitable candidate that exactly match with your need then offer the best at once. Don't remain open the room for negotiation. If the candidate is not willing to join at a position that you are offering, don't start bargain. Let him go and offer the second best waiting in the lane.

7. Give time to settle

Even if you have hired the top candidate of industry, don't expect for sudden radical improvements. Give him due time to settle himself in new working environment. Arrange orientation sessions for the newly hired incumbent. Social events such as welcome dinner could be a good option.

Test yourself, if you ready to start your own business

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In this era of globalization, the concept of loyalty among professionals have been reduced several folds. Now, people are more loyal with their profession as compared to their job. The recession has also played its role and now, people are more worried about their jobs. On the job, an incumbent has to face a number of challenges. Someone has a problem with his/her boss or colleague while other may be worried about downsizing or rightsizing, etc. Perhaps, you are also one of them, who want to get rid from such a problems and want to be his/her own boss.

Be aware with the hurdles that are going to come


If you are planning on such a thing, be aware that it is a huge step. If you did not plan well, your whole investment would be disappeared in a sinkhole. People make plans to start their own business. Initially, they have strong commitment that they would spend every single minute on their business. They feel good as started daydreaming about their potential successful venture. But, instead of daydreaming, you have certain important decisions to be made. These are the ten musts questions that you need to be answer:
  1. Are you really ready to quit your job?
  2.  Are you ready to sacrifice your holidays, family gatherings, late night fun, etc.?
  3.  Do you have required skills?
  4.  What will be unique in your business?
  5.  Have you ample financial resources to start the business?
  6. Do you have required workforce and how would you manage it?
  7. What can you sell or offer to your customers?
  8. How your product and services would be different from the other?
  9. What would be your potential/target population?
  10.  Do you want to start it, as a full time or a part time business?
You have to be aware that on the job, you are availing certain facilities and have access to certain perks. You have a fixed salaries and allowances (home allowance, travel allowance, personal and family insurance, etc.). But, if you quit your job, you will lose all the perks and privileges.  Being the entrepreneur or a business owner (rather small, medium or large), you have to put a number of caps on a single head. You have to work day and night in order to achieve your personal, family and organizational goals. You must also kept in mind that a number of skills are also must while starting of business but if you don’t have or lake of one or more then starting a new business with all your investment could be a disaster for you. You must be aware that while you start your business, there would be no weekends, there would be considerable amount of anxiety and stress for hunting about orders, fulfilling them and so on.
Make a roadmap today!

One of the most important decision while starting your own business is, either you want to quit your job completely and want to start a full time business or you want to carry on your job with  the start of a part-time business. Although, the next chapters will throw light on that however, the major decision is yours. You have to deeply analyse the circumstances and start planning it today. If you are planning to start your own business with your job then your job may also get suffer from it.  While answering the above mentioned questions, don’t be over optimistic, try to be realistic. Take a break for a couple of days, sit down and think, if you can do it and are you really ready do it. After getting through all this, if you have decided that you can sacrifice your holidays; you can work till the late hours and you can take the responsibility than congratulate yourself, as you are ready to be an entrepreneur.  It is the great time for you to make a roadmap for your business.

Payroll Management Systems

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An employer, regardless of the number of workers they employ, must maintain all records pertaining to payroll taxes (income tax withholding, Social Security and federal unemployment tax) for at least four years after the tax becomes due or is paid, whichever is later.
Given below are the Top  Most Recommended Systems, that can definitely enhance your performance.



Bullhorn ATS and CRM


Bullhorn will reduce the time and cost of payroll processing with its quick, accurate and easy-to-use payroll software. Designed to grow with your business, this solution will keep your organization agile and efficient.

6 Reviews
Price
Demo

BambooHR
BambooHR is a cost-effective SaaS-based system, recommended for small to mid-size organizations. Whether you want help with compliance issues or deeper payroll integration, this software can be tailored to your business needs.

4 Reviews
Price
Demo

Ascentis

Ascentis Payroll is an online system that can reduce payroll processing time up to 30%. With a customer base of more than 1,500 organizations and superior customer support, Ascentis is a great option for almost any business.

3 Reviews
Price
Demo

Kronos Workforce Central

Kronos Workforce Central simplifies payroll and employee time & attendance tracking. This solution is excellent for organizations of all sizes--even Fortune 1000 organizations--seeking a complete payroll management suite.

2 Reviews
Price
Demo

UltiPro

UltiPRo offers unified sets for various HR functions, including payroll, benefits admin, and time & attendance. A cloud-based solution, the system is accessible 24/7 on devices with Internet connectivity, giving it global reach.

2 Reviews
Price
Demo


NuViewHR

NuViewHR streamlines your payroll system, automating time-consuming tasks like timekeeping and data entry. The system also has a self-service option, allowing employees to fill in timesheets directly, saving managers time & money.

1 Review
Price
Demo

Sage HRMS (formerly Sage Abra)

Perfect for SMBs, Sage HRMS Payroll offers total control over your payroll. Sage keeps you up-to-date with changing tax laws with quarterly updates, and unlimited direct deposits to help streamline the payroll process.
Price
Demo

Kronos Workforce Ready

Kronos’ Workforce Ready is great for SMBs needing a powerful payroll system. This fully integrated payroll solution allows you to continuously process payroll and provide calculations when needed.
Price
Demo

SentricWorkforce

A highly configurable solution, SentricWorkforce unifies payroll, HR and time & attendance processes into one web-based system. This is a truly global system, allowing users access from any device with an Internet connection.
Price
Demo

Lawson Talent Management

Lawson's payroll solution draws on more than 25 years of industry best practices, delivering a superior product you can rely on. Offering robust functionality and an intuitive interface, Lawson is ideal for 1000+ employees.
Price
Demo

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Managing Editor, Software Advice

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