How Your Business can Benefit from the Gig Economy

By Octomate Admin Sep 12, 2024

What is the gig economy?

“Have you ever led a tour group?” That’s how Emily, an ex-accountant, responded when we asked her to describe her work in the six years since she’d left a professional services to set out on her own. She had since became a full-time tour guide, bringing tourists around her country with a well-organized tour plan, and describing the different landmarks with passion coated in her own local flavour.

Like Emily, many have already made their move towards the gig economy. Gig work—project-based assignments performed by people operating as independent contractors — has became more prevalent as the COVID-19 pandemic led rising numbers of employees to leave traditional full-time jobs. This shift toward a gig-dependent economy is expected to continue post-pandemic.

How can you benefit?

1. Scale rapidly

The gig economy is extremely helpful, especially when we talk about retail or logistics or hospitality. Companies in these industries usually have a hard time managing their staff and it is also not cost effective to keep their teams intact all year round. Therefore, according to seasonal spikes, gig workers can be temporarily employed, allowing businesses to scale rapidly with changing business demands.

2. Access to a larger group of talent

Temporary staffing allows any business to access instantly a broad category of skilled persons, that have expertise in a specific field. In turn, this saves a lot of time for the employer, as there is no need for tedious and lengthy interviews. Gig workers offer their experience and professional advice on a specific branch of a business, which is both cost-effective and a modern approach to solve any firm’s necessity at any point in time.

3. Higher profitability

Availing the services of gig workers allows businesses to save money. Employee benefits such as insurance paid vacation leaves, and retirement plans can amount to thousands of dollars each year. In fact, according to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employee benefits make up 32% of an employee’s compensation. Companies that work with freelancers can also save money on infrastructure expenses, without the need to maintain office space, computers, and other office supplies.

How can we help?

With the explosion of the gig economy alongside its various benefits, businesses that are poised to take advantage of the gig economy will stand to race ahead of competitors.

To enable you to expand your business on demand, Octomate offers a suite of workforce management solutions to help you manage your gig workers easily and remotely. Get access to Octomate's rostering, timesheet, instant payment features to streamline your processes.

Interested? Reach out at hello@octomate.us or schedule a demo with us today.