Management

Tapping
Gig
Talent HOW COMPANIES ARE
REORIENTING THEIR
SYSTEMS TO INTEGRATE
SHORT-TERM WORKERS
BY SONAL KHETARPAL
ILLUSTRATION BY RAJ VERMA

ohib Malgi, 33, quit his well-paying job as a software devel-

oper in Montreal and moved back to Mumbai. He wanted to
work independently. The reasons were usual:monotony, office
politics andlowjob satisfaction. It's beena year-and-a-half and
he doesn't want to go back to full-time work. "In office, my col-
leagues were myworld. Now, Ihave the entire world," he says.
He works on projects for companies across the globe. He has
worked from hills, beaches, forests, including Gokarnain Karna-
taka, Goa, Rajasthan. He is currentlyworking from a tinyvillage,
Sainj, in Himachal Pradesh, after spending a month in Bir, again

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 Management- Gig Work

What Firms
Must Do to
******** e***********************

Integrate Gig Workers

**** ***

** **

A senior Re-look at Define job Ensure free- Make con Offer insur
leader of the job roles/pro- roles and lancers are tractual ance if job is
company can files; outline asks based clear about agreements on premises,
work to build the ones that on skills expecta- flexible to apart from
buy-iin can be required and tions and get cater to their access to
from existing given to outcomes to feedback varied re digital learn-
teams freelancers be achieved instantly quirements ing tools

in Himachal. "This is life. Why will I evergo back?"he says.
People such as Malgi used tobe an exceptiona fewyears
ago. With lockdown, the freelance work they do has found
a much wider acceptance among companies as more and
more professionals open upto theidea of gigwork. India is
now the second-fastest growing market for gig work in the
world with an estimated 15 million freelancers, according
to Payoneer's report, 'Freelancing in 2020: An Abundance
of Opportunities'.
Chandrika Pasricha, Founder & CEO, Flexing It, a cu-
rated platform that helps organisations access and work
with independent consultants, says there has been a huge
change in mindset in the last one year as professionals want
tobein charge of their life and career. "There is a realisation
thatjob security is a myth. Even younger professionals want
to focus on building and monetising their skills," she says;
the trend used to be more common among experienced
professionals.
The boom in companies that facilitate working arrange-
ments between companies and gig workers is the clear
est indicator of where things are headed. L0ok at global
freelancing platform Upwork. Its third-quarter revenue
(FY2020) surpassed expectations by rising 24 per cent to
$96.7 million. CEO Hayden Brown said in the company's
earnings release that the growth has come on the back
on "both existing and new clients who adopted Up-
work in record numbers." Back home, number of firmns
looking to hire consultants on Flexing It rose 75 per cent
in FY20.
While there is no aggregate data on Indian firms that
are using freelancers, Axis Bank announced this year that
15 per cent of its incremental hiring over the next three
years will be under alternative work models. Lawfirm Cyril
Amarchand Mangaldas is moving to a new "permanent
dynamic working policy"that enables employees to choose
where and when they want to work. One of the concepts is
flexi-lawyering where people can work on short projects
of, say, four-cight months. Prince Augustin, Executive Vice
President-Group Human Capital & Leadership Devel-
opment, Mahindra & Mahindra, says, "This is part of our
overall workforce plan where they come for specialised
work, deliver, and go away.
owever, is this as simple as it
sounds? Or does it require
changes in structure of com-
panies considering that most
organisations are built on fixed
templates? Companies that are
looking to make gig work more
central to their operations are
doing exactly that by making their processes and policies
more flexible to accommodate short-term employees and
makingthe most of their skills and time. This includes mak
ing contractual arrangements more flexible, offering insur
ance if the job is on the premise and re-definingjob roles
based on skills required and outcomesto be achieved. "The
benefits willbe realisediforganisations see that as more of

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 lt is important for
firms to create the
right environment
for all kinds of
employees
before
jumping on the
bandwagon
and increasing
on-demand
Workers"
SHRADDHANJALI RAO
Vice President of Human
Resources, SAP, India

atalent management issue than a cost issue," says Rajkamal

Top Sectors Vempati, EvP & Head, HR, Axis Bank.
Driving Demand for Here is how companies can make gigs awin-win for both

Gig Workers themselves and the workers.

Being Battle-Ready
Companies are built for employees who are expected to
Consultin9
have a long-term engagement withthem. Makinggig work
integral to their operations will require them to be farmore
dynamic. It will help if CXOs themselves act as evangelists
FMCG forthe change. "Firms need one of their senior leaders to
Education
*****
Own it, work on it andget the teams, one by one, to try it,
says Alok Agarwal, Chief Marketing Officer, Orient Bel.
Shraddhanjali Rao, Vice President of Human Resources,
***********
*********
SAP, India, says, "It is important for firms to create the right
environment for all kinds of employees before jumping
on the bandwagon and increasing on-demand workers."
She says companies should start with incremental shifts
so that the change is acceptable to all stakeholders. For
*
instance, SAP has introduced a programme called "Talent
Marketplace' to prepare their fulltime employees for the
road ahead. This allows anyone in the company to put out
Development/ Pharmaceutical a project opening. Any employee, irrespective of his or her
Not-for-profit Healthcare
existing expertise, can take up the stretch assignment. For
example, adeveloper who aspires to be a data scientist can
Source: Flexing It report, Professional Gig
Economy Report 201920 take up a data-related assignment and deliver on thejob. It
could be a fourweeks to six months project.
This platform has helped us institutionalise the
mindset of dual careers and talent mobility and agility.

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 Management - Gig Work

Through this initiative, we are trying

to set the organisational context and
culture before going full swingworking Top Five Skills
with freelancers," she says. This will
prepare employees to accept that the
Firms Need From
colleagues they work with will keep Freelancers
changing and also help leaders under
stand that the teams they lead will not 1
remain the same for long periods. Strategy Marketing Technology/
(Business (Market research, (Data
Job Roles development, brand manage SCience,
Companies will also have to relook at project ment, digital cyber
theway theylook at jobroles and talent management) marketing) security)
profiles. Theywill have to take a clearer
***..
stance on roles that should stay with
full-time employees and those where
******* ****
freelancers can come on board. In fact,
unlike popular perception, firms are
not outsourcing volume-based, low-
value work but highly-skilled work. Source: lexing It report, Professional Gig
For example, the value of projects out- EConomy Report 2019-20
sourced through Flexing It rose four
times in FY20.
Manu Narang Wadhwa, Chief Hu- *******

man Resource Officerat Sony Pictures

Networks India, says they have hired
consultants in legal domain. "Legal is
among the core functions of our organ-
isation, but for the first time, we have
Manufacturing/ Human
gone ahead and hired freelancers, for-
Operations Resources
merjudges/lawyers ofSupreme Court (Process (Payroll, talent
and high courts," she says. excellence, acquisition,
As freelancers come onboard, job quality learning &
roles will also have to be looked at dif- assurance) development)
ferently, defined by the goal/outcome.
"Workforce planning will have to shift
to workfit planning where firms will
delineate tasks and hire people with Why Companies
skills to accomplish those deliverables
rather than discussing the headcount,"
Want to Tap Alternative
says Wadhwa.
Rajkamal Vempati of Axis Bank says
Talent Pools
when they started implementing the
Gig-A programme in the organisation,
This gives They can
they had to break through the mindset them agility to access
of best B-schools. "When hiring for gig respond to markeet specialised
work, we have to ensure that the organ- conditions, get skills they
isation is not constrained by frameworks talent taster don't have
of grade and position in the current **************************************?***************************************
structure but focuses on bringing the
right talent forprojects."Theyalso have Leads to better cash Widens the talent
anewinterview process for independent flow management as pool by tapping
workers that they call Pitch' where fo talent is hired as per people in smaller
cus isnot on finding cultural fit for long-
requirement Cities and towns
termassociation but gettingpeople with

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 misconception that cultural integration doesn't matter
while working with freelancers. "The human tendency
is to go above and beyond for people you like. So, it is im-
portant to bring in the human side even in transactional
relationships."He says many companies treata freelancer
like a vendor and expect to get extra work out of him at as
low a price as possible. It is important to treat all kinds of
employees equally if they are looking at using freelancers
at scale. "In a hyper-connected world, every channel of
communication is important for a firm to retain its brand
(as an employer)," he says.

amir Sathe, Vice President of the Wad-

hwani Advantage Programme, part of
the Wadhwani Foundation, says as they
scaled up their Sahayata Business Sta-
bility programme to provide business
consulting to SMEs, they tapped into 50
freelancers (sector specialists) to meet
the sudden spurt in demand. He says
initially, it was a challenge to get consultants, especially
those who worked for fewer hours, to work together as
a
team. Greater onboarding effort and time spent with
them to get them acquainted with the project and the firm
eased things. Sathe says it is as important to set the stage
with clear directions about the output apart from modus
operandi, cadence and values for brand reinforcement,
especially in roles where they'will berepresenting the firmn
to third parties. "It is important that they speak the same
Legal is among the core func- language as we do," says Sathe.
tions of our organisation, but However, as freelancers can beremote and on-premise,
for the first time, we have gone very much like full-time employees, processes have to be-
ahead andhired come intuitive. The lavish onboarding and orientation
will not work. "We will have to re-think about creating the
freelancers, former wow' element digitally," says Rao of SAP. She says even the
judges/lawyers feedback mechanism will have to bereal-time and objective.
"It can't happen at the end of the quarter or the project.
MANU NARANG WADHWA It will make the talent very insecure," she says. Even gig
Chief Human Resource Officer, workers have to be provided access to learning platforms so
Sony Pictures Networks India
that they can upskill. In fact, customisation will have to be
brought into each and every employee interface. Wadhwa
of Sony Pictures says, "Never before in HR has legality of
contracts come in focus." Consultants working on low
value work have a generic contract but those with high value
skills have very specificterms and conditions. "Today, each
right skillsets for different projects. of our fixed-term contract is different from each other.
Organisations have to become comfortable with multiple
HR Policies types of contract," she says.
Companies will have to attract not only full time but inde- Flexibility will have to be brought in the benefits offered
pendent workers too and look at engaging both simultane too. Wadhwa says that, for example, for on-site jobroles,cer
ously. This will entail relooking at HR policies, workplace tain gig workers would want on-site insurance, while others
benefits, onboarding practices, among others. might want accommodation. "Gone are the days when a 'one
Abhijit Bhaduri, author of Dreamers and Unicorns-How size fits all'approach would have worked"'she says. BT
Leadership, Talent and Culture Are The New Growth Drivers
and former Chief Learning Officer at Wipro, says it's a @sonalkhetarpal7

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