Here is why:
Because of change in work conditions, void of permanent location, fixed
office, because of nomadic and remote work being a normal part of
workplace, we need one-off per-task priced services, not the whole service
package companies generally offer.
The Summary:
You find yourself in Singapore for freelance work for 3 months. You are
leaving and want to file taxes but know nothing about taxes. You can go to
H&R Block because you can’t think of any other international tax company
that could provide a one-off service you need. You can go through the
Yellow Pages but …. nobody uses Yellow Pages any more. You can’t go to
the big 4 because you are small. You wish you can go to Upwork and find
someone who’d do this for you for a task-based price, not a service based
price.
This is how knowledge work moves to gig economy. We already do this with
programmers, digital designers even finance on Upwork, Freelancer and such.
We have gig platforms for physical workers help, for help with groceries
etc. And more and more of us need a one-off service – not a whole pricey
package.
Harvard Business Review argues this is exactly where we are heading to. And
if you look at our list of 300+ gig platforms we can easily tell them: “We
told you so”
https://hbr.org/2020/06/will-the-pandemic-push-knowledge-work-into-the-gig-economy
The winners of the pandemic are already emerging, from telemedicine to
delivery apps, and Silicon Valley is eager to invest in them. In March, 12
investment firms pledged to invest more than $30 million in companies with
Covid-19 programs, and Y Combinator has connected many of those founders to
investors.
“One result may be that even though we will undoubtedly lose many in-person
businesses, we may have a more robust on- and off-line landscape of
experiences and businesses available after the pandemic,” said Jane
Desmond, professor of anthropology and gender and women’s studies at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/07/economy/gig-economy-unemployment-coronavirus/index.html