Tech cos are offering longer projects, full-time jobs to gig workers: Nasscom

• The share of Indian tech companies who hired gig workers has risen – to 65% in 2022, from 57% in 2020
  
• Companies now want to hire gig workers for a longer period of time – a fourth of the organisations surveyed want to hire gig workers for over 12 months.
  
• In fact, 53% of them decided to absorb their gig workers as full-time employees.

The gig economy in India has ballooned in the last two years, all thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, and this trend has been witnessed even in the technology sector.

The share of Indian tech companies who hired gig workers has risen – to 65% in 2022 from 57% in 2020, reveals a new survey by Nasscom, Indeed and AON. However, the proportion of gig workers in the workforce remains less than 5% in tech companies with more than 2,000 full-time employees.

On the contrary, for smaller tech organisations with a strength of less than 2,000 full-time employees, the share of gig workers is more than 5%, according to the report titled ‘Future of Workforce: Decoding Gig Workforce 2.0’.

“The future workforce will indeed be a blended model wherein the gig economy is expected to play an important role – not only as a talent management strategy but also accelerate job creation and boost the country’s economic growth,” said Debjani Ghosh, president at Nasscom.

Gig durations grow

Before the pandemic, gig workers were mostly hired for projects with a duration of up to 9 months or less. However, the duration of projects being offered to gig workers has increased significantly after the pandemic, as per the Nasscom report.

About 25% of the surveyed tech organisations are now more keen to hire gig workers for projects with a duration of more than 12 months. In fact, 53% of them decided to absorb their gig workers as full-time employees, said the report.

“Companies investing in gig work platforms and processes speak volumes about how critical talent is for enabling their next level of growth, especially now, given the global uncertainties. Businesses that place gig workers at the core of their business strategies will continue to thrive in 2023 and beyond,” said Sashi Kumar, head of sales, Indeed India.

This spike in demand for gig workers is accompanied by salary jumps too, according to a report by RazorpayX Payroll earlier this week. The salaries of gig professionals has seen a massive 153% surge in the last one year, the RazorpayX Payroll report said.

Hiring gig workers has also aided the tech organisations to reduce the time taken to hire new employees for new roles. It has also helped in engaging with a more diverse workforce which includes retired professionals and women returning to workforce, according to the Nasscom report.

“However, ensuring the quality of gig workers, hurdles in security checks and verification, lack of structured policies, and clarity on regulations or guidelines for gig workers are some of the key concern areas amongst organisations,” the Nasscom report said.

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