Managing performance in the gig economy

Hello, I'm Dr. Rochelle Haynes, and this HS talk will be on managing performance in the gig economy.

In this session, we will be looking at the distinction between different types of employees and workers and the implications that this has in managing human resources as well as managing performance. We're also going to be defining what we mean by the contingent or blended workforce, as well as the gig economy, and examine the challenges to managing gig performance.

In new world of work, we are seeing more a mix of employees. We are seeing a mixture of full-time versus part-time employees, we are seeing offline employees versus online employees, as well as those who are in-house, those who are contracted. Humans even working alongside robots in some companies. Persons who are very familiar with technology, who will be called digital natives, and those who are not, who we call digital novices. This has a lot of implications for the way in which we manage performance and interact with our employees and workers.

If we were to look at the three main categories of workers in the UK, these categories are mainly defined according to whether or not you're an employee, a worker, or self-employed. Each of these categories have different implications for your level of protection within the workplace and the way in which you are managed by your employer or contractor. An employee is someone who works under a contract, and it's the most protected category in these three bunches that we see here. The next we have is a worker who is someone who undertakes work with the organisation, but they may not have an explicitly written contract. It might be more verbal or implied, but this person may also be part-time with the organisation, or only with the organisation for a set time. While a self-employed worker is someone who has the responsibility of their own business, whether that business succeeds or whether that business fails, they're seen as having the least protection within the employment relationship because they're not really seen as a part of the firm. It is this category that we are seeing more and more types of labour emerge in different forms. Whether that is through independent contracting, whether that is people working more remotely and never have any contact with one company, or whether that's persons contracting for several companies at times. But dependent on the way in which that is occurring, it will also determine how that worker, we should say, is managed, but also the level of protection and the nature of the work experience that they undergo.