Gig Economy
FAQs for Talent
Analytics Leaders
by Shaileja Verma
Gig or contingent workers
represent 15% to 25% of the
global workforce today; by
2025, they are projected to
comprise 35% to 40%.1 The
growing popularity of this
employment model is raising
questions for many: Where do
you find this type of talent?
What do you have them do?
What’s unique about their
needs and work?
With the ability to analyze external labor market
trends, talent analytics will likely be asked
to answer many of HR and business leaders’
questions about the gig economy and how to
take advantage of it.
Below, we’ve featured some answers to business
and HR leaders’ most common questions about
the gig economy and some project ideas you
might consider if these topics are a priority for
your business.
Where Can We Find Gig
Workers?
India, the Philippines and the U.S. are the top
three hubs for contingent workforces.2 The
Contingent Workforce Index is a comparison
of local labor markets around the globe
that measures the likelihood of identifying
and accessing workers to supplement an
organization’s full-time workforce. The numerical
Gig Economy
A labor market characterized by temporary,
flexible and short-term jobs for which
organizations hire independent workers,
including freelancers, contractors and
temporary workers
Talent Analytics Quarterly | First Quarter 2019 25
values assigned to each country rank them in Figure 1: Contingent Workforce Index
descending order based on the availability,
cost, regulation and productivity of contingent
workers (see Figure 1). India 0.56
Within the U.S., the locations with the highest Philippines 0.55
number of 2018 job postings for independent
workers were New York; Houston; Chicago; U.S. 0.53
Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Los Angeles;
Israel 0.51
Charlotte, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; Phoenix;
and San Francisco. Ireland 0.5
In terms of industry, the healthcare, retail and
U.K. 0.5
consumer products, oil and gas, and professional
services industries have witnessed the highest China 0.49
growth of gig workers in the past five years.
New Zealand 0.48
Talent Analytics Project Idea: Using external
labor market data like the above, create a Australia 0.47
presentation for your recruiting team on where
to find gig workers. Think about geographic Norway 0.47
location, sourcing channels and more.
0 0.3 0.6

Are There Different Kinds Source: Manpower Group. “Contingent Workforce Index.” 2016.

of Gig Workers?
Gig workers can be divided into four segments
(see Figure 2):
Figure 2: 4 Contingent Worker Segments
• Free Agents — Workers who derive their
primary income from independent work and Primary Supplemental
actively choose this working style Income Income
• Casual Earners — Workers who use
independent work to supplement their income
and do so by choice (Some have traditional
Preferred
primary jobs, while others are students, retirees
Choice Free Agents Casual Earners
or caregivers.)
30% (49 Million) 40% (64 Million)
• Reluctants — Workers who derive their primary
income from independent work but would
prefer a traditional job
• Financially Strapped — Workers who work
independently to supplement their income Out of
but would prefer not to have to do side jobs Necessity Reluctants Financially
to make ends meet Strapped
14% (23 Million)
16% (26 Million)
Talent Analytics Project Idea: Survey your
existing gig workers to determine which n = about 8,000 U.S. and European respondents
segments they typically fall into and understand Source: McKinsey Global Institute. “Independent Work: Choice,
Necessity and the Gig Economy.” October 2016.
how preferences, needs and experiences differ in
each segment. Encourage HR leaders in charge
of employment branding and EVP to use this data
for more targeted candidate outreach.

Talent Analytics Quarterly | First Quarter 2019 26

What Type of Work Are Gig
Workers Well-Suited For?
The dynamics of gig workers are now slowly
shifting from traditional field and season-
dependent jobs to highly skilled and project or
assignment-based jobs. Although traditional gig
jobs in areas such as transportation and material
movement, office and administrative support
and sales-related occupations account for a
higher share in the world job market, skilled job
functions such as content writing and marketing,
PR and branding, graphic design, accounting and
finance, data science and analytics, and software
development comprise an average of 15% to
25% of the total job postings today (including
permanent jobs).
In the U.S., sales and marketing and office
and administrative support jobs are the most
in-demand for gig workers (Figure 3).
Talent Analytics Project Idea: Examine the
productivity and performance of gig workers
in your organization, and identify trends based
on the types of work and roles in which they
Figure 3: Gig Economy Job Demand by Occupations in the U.S.
Sales and Marketing
Office and Administrative Support
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
Transportation and Material Moving
Management Occupations
Food Preparation and Serving Related
Business and Financial Operations
Computer and Mathematical
Education, Training and Library
Healthcare Support
Others
0%
Source: Gartner TalentNeuron analysis
are placed. Share this information to inform
recruiting and workforce planning strategies.
What Are the Main Benefits of
Using Gig Workers?
Benefits of using gig workers include:
• Cost savings — Organizations can save a lot of
money by adjusting workforce size based on
business requirements.
• Speed and agility — The gig economy allows
organizations to quickly fill talent gaps to meet
specific skill needs or competitive challenges
as they arise.
• A boost to innovation — Involving workers
from outside the organization creates an
exchange of new knowledge and best
practices across organizational boundaries.
Talent Analytics Project Idea: Understand your
organization’s goal for using gig workers. Is it
to save money or increase the speed of work?
Then, develop a model to measure the ROI
of investments in gig workers to understand
16%
12%
9%
8%
7%
6%
5%
5%
4%
3%
25%
15% 30%
Talent Analytics Quarterly | First Quarter 2019 27
whether these goals are being met. If they
aren’t, generate hypotheses to inform workforce
planning as to what is happening and what
could be improved.
What Are Some of the Risks
of Leveraging Gig Workers?
Gig workers are particularly difficult to engage,
often because:
• They feel less connected to the organization
and its goals than full-time employees.
• They don’t get the same benefits as full-
time employees.
• They face steeper learning curves than full-time
employees and receive little career support.
Any disengagement can affect productivity,
work quality and likelihood of working for your
organization again.
Gig workers also complicate typical recruiting
and workforce planning processes. Organizations
must be prepared to develop new ways of
managing the ebb and flow of gig talent if they
want to tap into this part of the workforce.
Given the stated risks of the gig economy, some
of the key attractions for gig workers are:
• Medical and health insurance
• Retirement savings plans
• Tax assistance
• Occupational accident insurance
• Remote working options
• Monthly public transportation subsidies in case
of travel requirements
• Career assistance counseling
Talent Analytics Project Idea: Measure your gig
workers’ engagement levels and disengagement
drivers. What is likely to make them want to
work for the organization again when their
assignment is done? Share this information with
business leaders to help them improve the gig
worker experience.
How Can We Incorporate
Gig Workers Into Our
Workforce Plans?
Many companies are adopting freelancer
management systems (FMS) that help
them efficiently manage their new load of
nontraditional employees. According to a 2017
study by the University of Oxford, projects
sourced by Fortune 500 companies through
FMS grew 26% between 2016 and 2017.3 Cisco’s
Talent Cloud, PwC’s Talent Exchange, EY’s
GigNow, Deloitte’s Open Talent Community,
Accenture’s Digital Talent Broker and Amazon’s
Mechanical Turk (MTurk) are great examples of
these platforms.
To help connect recruiters with gig workers,
TaskRabbit, Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal, Kaggle,
PowertoFly, FlexJobs and Guru are some of the
key available platforms.
Talent Analytics Project Idea: Analyze whether
and how hiring gig workers affects your core
workforce’s engagement levels. How do
employees and managers working with gig
workers feel about the coordination? These
details can help business leaders not only
manage gig workers but also determine whether
the strategy is sustainable in the long term.
Conclusion
As organizations continue to invest in the
gig economy, consider how you as talent
analytics leaders can help ensure return on
that investment. Working on some of the
project ideas above and preparing to answer
your stakeholders’ key questions can help you
continue to provide value to your organization
on a critically important topic in today’s business
environment.
1 “Independent Work: Choice, Necessity and the Gig Economy,”
McKinsey & Company
2 “2016 Global Analysis,” Contingent Workforce Index
3 “Platform Sourcing: How Fortune 500 Firms Are Adopting Online
Freelancing Platforms,” University of Oxford
Talent Analytics Quarterly | First Quarter 2019 28