Companies
willing to try flexible employment structure: Report
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Indian
organisations are now allowing employees the freedom to freelance, choose
projects and decide compensation based on their skill sets
The daily grind at work
may be up for a facelift. Jobs in the future will allow far greater flexibility
and autonomy than what is allowed today. Some reports suggest that two out of
five people believe that traditional employment will not be there in the
future. Interestingly, a few companies are taking the concept of the “gig
economy” seriously, allowing their employees to choose projects and negotiate
project terms and deliverables based on their skill sets.
According to a study by
PwC titled Work-life 3.0:Understanding How We’ll Work Next, 41% of
nonindependent workers say they expect to become independent workers in the
next year— and 53% say they expect to work on their own in the next five years.
Considering the results
above, a few years down the line, people will have their own “brands” and will
be selling their skills to those who need them with compensation being adjusted
based on the amount of time worked. In such a setting, the employees will have
the freedom to freelance but under the safety net of a larger organisation or
brand.
The PwC report adds that
two-thirds of employees agree that future career paths will be determined by
workers themselves, not by their companies. Similarly, 63% say the eight-hour
workday will become obsolete, and 68% say that work will be done remotely
instead of in a traditional office. Moreover, 76% of workers believe that
benefits and healthcare will be squarely their own responsibility, rather than
their employers’. About 86% of respondents at least somewhat agree that they
have a strong desire to work independently. That’s because independent work is
perceived as allowing greater flexibility in schedule and control over work
environment, the opportunity to earn more, and a better work-life balance.
Take the case of
Chandrika Pasricha. She has been a management consultant for over 17 years,
mostly at McKinsey & Co, Inc, and is the founder and CEO of Flexing It, a
global marketplace that connects over 32,000 highly skilled business consultants
and experts to more than 1,600 organisations across the region for
project-based and consulting assignments.
“The interest in and
usage of our platform is across types of companies and also industries. Over
half of the organisations registered with us are startups and SMEs, followed by
MNCs or large companies, professional services firms and PE and VC investors. These
organisations are from different industries — including consulting firms,
development or not for profit, banking services and financial institutions,
retail, IT and telecom, education and FMCG. From the projects posted on Flexing
It, we have observed a spike in the demand for flexible resources for marketing
strategy development, industry analysis, market assessment etc.,” she says.
Organisations are realising the need to offer flexibility as a core strategy to
retain high-performing talent. This flexibility could vary in terms of
capacity, roles, options to work remotely, etc. This is a key expectation today
amongst most senior professionals as well as the millennials, i.e, the ability
to craft a meaningful portfolio of work while having control over their
schedules, working style and balancing personal life along with the
professional commitments, Pasricha says.
Most companies are now
through their diversity programmes bringing women back to work. Start-ups too
are looking for qualified professionals in an attempt to work within their
constrained resources. Besides, it is a win-win for both. “Both organisations
and professionals increasingly value learnings and skills, and each project
executed builds on these, and increases the value organisations can get from
experienced professionals,” she says.
Rakesh Deshmukh, CEO,
Indus OS, believes that traditional employment is making way for a more
flexible employment structure. Indus OS has espoused the gig economy in the
real sense. It has both experienced seniors and gives employees the freedom to
choose their project to build their own brand and expertise. “We have seen that
this freedom is exercised especially by the technology, engineering and product
teams. The employees have the opportunity to choose the projects they would
like to be a part of depending on their skill set from within the current and
future company projects, rather than the management assigning projects to them
directly. Employees can choose the area of work relevant to them and their future
aspirations,” he says.
FROM:
Temporary, contingent staff managed by the staffing firms
TO:
Independent consultants and professions building their own brand and work
portfolio
FROM:
Focus on technology and creative tasks
TO:
Emergence of mainstream freelancer, an independent strategy consultant whose
services are outsourced
FROM:
Offshoring work with emphasis on cost
TO:
Mix of local and remote skills with greater focus on quality
Half of the resources a company relies upon to get work done
will no longer be on its formal payroll by the end of this decade, says the
Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report, 2013
Within a decade, one will see a new global 2000 company with no
full time employees outside of the C-suite, according to-Liquid Workforce —
Building the workforce for today’s digital demands, 2016
In the United States, 43% of the workforce will be freelancing
by 2020. That’s roughly four times the number in 2015, says the Mary Meeker
Internet Trends Report, 2015.
HT13SEP16
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