The companies that win, or at least should win, are the companies that best supply what the market wants through the least expense. What does this mean for workers as companies move towards this “frictionless” economy? It means that temporary or project work has to be part of the plan for companies to become smarter and more adaptable. Think of it as talent on demand, and the Guardian recently made the case that the labor market has borrowed from the Netflix model.
Ten years ago 10% of the workforce was temporary or working on a per-project basis. Today it’s about a third of the workforce, and projections for 2020 are for about half of the workforce to be temporary or working on a project basis. This might seem a little scary, but new dynamics to the economy often seem scary, to the point where you can’t see the benefits. Healthcare is a concern, but with the Affordable Care Act in place, coverage costs are coming down for the self-employed. There are tax breaks too. When we start seeing incentives like these that signals that the market/government is trying to carve a path and ease a transition, in this case, to an economy that’s more dynamic and needs more self employed workers to handle changing demands.
How is this Good for Workers?
The stigma of “office temp” is gone, so you can feel free to move from company to company and your thoughts and ideas will be respected. In fact, smart companies will try to use your outsider perspective to get a better view of how their operations could be improved. You are the disrupter, which as we all know now, is a good thing. You are the maven, cross-pollinating best practices from company to company. But back to the benefits for you: You get more control over the hours you work, the vacation you take and the type of work you do. There’s no awful boss or company policy forcing you to accept anything you don’t want to. However, you also have to take a front seat in organizing your finances and ensuring you’ve got everything covered long term.
Flexibility is key
The better you are at adapting, the easier it will be to find ways to get paid. Employers have to meet changing demands and therefore tasks aren’t static. Having a skillset gets you in the door, but being able to apply that to more and more business needs makes you harder and harder to replace, and that’s the goal.
About NextGen
NextGen is the brainchild of longtime telecom professionals with nearly 50 years of experience and millions of dollars in Telecom Recruiting Services. We focus on establishing long term relationships with our clients and candidates so we can recruit the best and the brightest in the telecom industry. This ‘quality over quantity’ approach is at the heart of everything we do and has resulted in successful job placements at Fortune 1000 firms worldwide.
