Question

Can I please have a thesis statement of "Some say that the contemporary world of work is heading towards the ‘gig economy’. Critically discuss the pros and cons of gig work for organizations, workers, and the wider society". Also can I please have a conclusion (including the thesis statement made)

Answer 1

With modernization and internet facilities and infrastructure developing beyond imagination, the end result is that the labour force has become more dynamic in nature than it ever was. The labour force typically was concentrated within offices in which people would work for us and get tasks done.

However, over a period of time, the Gig economy which is short-term free-lancing contracts for the labour force are increasing in number. As this happens, a firm’s reliance on typical staff and overhead expenses from the same such as rentals and others will decline over a period of time. Also non-permanent employment gives people the edge of being able to negotiate in a better manner and as such jobs do not have outsourcing parties in the middle, it is a gain for both the companies that provide such short term contracts on one hand, and on the other for those who want to undertake these tasks as well.

The merits for both the organizations as well as for people is that it increases their negotiation power, and tasks can be aligned to any one across the globe who has the required talent and skills without the investment into human resource management and subsequent monthly expenditures. This reduces the costs of firms substantially while increasing the overall profitability for business.

The only downside is that data privacy becomes difficult to maintain as these contracts are given to people without a background check and even if a background check is done, companies may lose critical information which may be misused. Further, such jobs are not permanent in nature and do not provide other benefits to the working staff which may result in external costs. For example, traditional organizations provide health insurance among a lot of other benefits to the employees. While gig economy may result in reduced costs for firms, it is often debated that the working population may not benefit as companies reduce the price of tasks even further.

Conclusion: -

We can conclude by saying that the evolution of technology is changing the labour force rapidly and is leading to a situation wherein permanent employment may not be regarded as the only way possible in which a company can get its tasks done over a period of time. There are other methods also which may be analysed and have its own merits and demerits as explained above.

Please feel free to ask your doubts in the comments section.