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Leveraging The Gig Economy The Right Way

Tom Taulli

The rapid rise of the gig economy has been stunning. Companies like Lyft and Uber have achieved enormous valuations – and the growth continues to be robust.

Of course, none of this would be possible without smartphones, cloud computing and even AI (Artificial Intelligence). All of these technologies have converged – leading to disruptive changes.

To put things in perspective, about 35% of the US workforce and 16% of the entire population is a part of the gig economy.  Yet this should be no surprise as gig economy workers have the benefits of earning money on their own terms, being their own bosses.

So what does this mean for companies?  What are some strategies to consider?

“When the values of millions of bright, talented, driven, and entrepreneurial workers have evolved, so too should your hiring process,” said Woody Klemmer, who is the co-founder and COO of Laborocity.  The company helps hire contract workers on-demand.

“The new generations of workers, who will soon be a majority of the workforce, value freedom, experience, technology, and having a job that is impactful. Companies must adapt to accommodate this mentality. A few easy ways to accomplish this include allowing employees to work remote, offering more vacation, and integrating new collaboration software, like Slack.”

If anything, the gig economy can be transformative for a company.  "By utilizing the gig-economy, companies such as Amazon and Target have dramatically increased their workforce during periods of peak demand, such as the holiday season,” Woody said  "As opposed to hiring full-time employees during that period, businesses no longer need to lay off employees and carry the accompanying financial burden.  Instead, the gig-worker re-enters the pool and signs up for another job. This arrangement is particularly helpful for other industries, such as landscaping, moving, construction, and events where demand fluctuates throughout the year.”

A New Hiring Strategy

“At Puls, we’ve taken a different approach,” said Eyal Ronen, who is the CEO. His company is basically an Uber for tech support. Puls has coverage in more than 50 metros and a network of over 2,500 technicians, who help customers with their smartphones, big screen TVs, security systems, voice-activated speakers, garage door openers and so on. As a testament to the company’s success, it recently snagged a Series C funding of nearly $50 million from Temasek Holdings, Sequoia Capital, Red Dot Capital, Samsung NEXT and Viola Ventures.

“We ensure our technicians have the potential to earn consistently higher compensation than they could working in the same capacity elsewhere,” said Eyal. “We also pay a flat fee so technicians know how much they’ll make on any services prior to accepting a job.”

But success is more than just about compensation. Puls also supplies tools to its technicians, so as to help ensure quality. There is also rigorous training before someone comes on board. “This process has helped us maintain some of the highest ratings in all our markets on Yelp, Facebook and internal customer satisfaction surveys,” said Eyal.

True, this is not cheap. But this has focused Puls on finding innovative ways to be more efficient. For example, there is the use of machine learning for matching technicians for the right jobs.

“Understand that your gig economy workers are your brand ambassadors,” said Eyal. “Keeping them motivated, appropriately leveraged and feeling valued ensures they treat your customers as you would.”


