To gig, or not to gig

Would anyone choose to be a gig worker vulnerable individuals into work, who do not fit the “one-size fits all” standard?

Gig workers are individuals who are on non-standard contracts with no guarantee of any earnings, they may be called relief, bank or zero-hours employees, or they may be independent contractors, freelancers, consultants, or seasonal workers. They may be paid an hourly rate or a fee for a job or task. You can work full-time, part-time, or often gig workers will have several projects from different clients or companies to gain skills, earn extra cash or as their main source of income.

A recent report suggests that many gig workers earn less than National Minimum Wage, however isn’t there an even bigger issue here? The disadvantages of being a gig worker are far greater than earning less than NMW. They may also find themselves locked out of some employee benefits completely, such as private health care, company sick pay or holiday, but often their earnings will be so low with each employer, and as such they will not have access to a pension, salary sacrifice schemes, SMP, SSP or other statutory benefits. I’m sure businesses would argue that gig workers have the advantage of being able to choose when and how often they work. There is no expectation on work being offered or the need for work to be accepted. But does this allow companies to avoid fair pay and benefits or does the flexibility make up for it?

Pros of gig working for companies and workers

Gig workers can work flexibly around the family, school runs or other caring needs. They have instant access to a market filled with potential clients, they can work for multiple companies at the same time and can use the experience to fulfil a passion, learn a new skill, realise a desire to try something new, or look to maximise the opportunity to earn more money.

As a gig worker many opportunities become available from deliveries, to writing. Gig is an innovative employment model, with reduced recruitment costs, and provides instant access to a huge pool of talent. But businesses need to be mindful of their treatment of sub- sets of workers and be consistent and transparent with employment standards. If these are not maintained, it can lead to reputational damage.

Cons of gig working

Being locked out of employee benefits such as private health care, earned salary advances or holiday, unable to access pensions, salary sacrifice schemes such as cycle to work, childcare vouchers or buying annual leave. Gig workers will often not be able to acquire statutory benefits such as SSP if they do not have high enough earnings.

On the less green side of the fence, it is evident that gig workers have inconsistent employment, they lack rights and benefits, and they may have to manage their own taxes as a self- employed person. Some are paid simply a fee per pick up or delivery rather than an hourly rate, meaning pay divided by hours worked can fall below NMW.

We need to consider the ethical side of how we are employing gig-workers. It could be argued that the gig economy is less expensive than employing people but is it morally right to be treating a group of workers in a substandard fashion? It could be argued that gig workers are a vulnerable sub-set of workers of which big business takes advantage as they are deemed to be "less worthy" than contracted employees.

Another frequent complaint of zero- hours workers is that getting paid can be problematic. Permanent contracted employees have regular work and therefore regular pay, many being salaried, you know how much you are going to get. Gig workers’ pay can fluctuate, this makes claiming benefits such as Universal Credit (UC) complicated and you can easily have UC stopped if in one month you receive six-week’s pay for example. Higher pay, reduced benefit, but then next month UC may not reflect a low paid month.

Employment status is another issue for gig economy workers who are seen as independent contractors rather than actual "workers", meaning they are not protected, they have few rights and miss out on NMW and redundancy payments. An example of this is Uber, they no longer classify as independent contractors just as workers. Some taxi firms using online platforms have disturbed a whole sector causing chaos and claims of unfair competition. Should we be treating people as a means of massaging our bottom line, or paying people fairly for a day’s work? If you could choose, would you choose to be a gig worker? As we reflect on Mental Health Awareness week, we should spend a few minutes thinking about gig workers who can feel insecure and suffer stress and anxiety because of working this way.

In some sectors gig economy platforms provide an easy way of finding work and allowing quick and easy hire of contracts for short-term projects. Other sector’s platforms must address concerns over workers’ rights and make sure it benefits the employee, not just the employer.

Care is needed employing gig workers, you should not refer to them as self- employed, they are employees only on zero-hours or relief contracts with no guaranteed hours attached. Convenient working models. So, how can you protect yourself from a NMW compliance issue? Simple, pay a fair wage for fair pay. A delivery worker being paid per delivery needs to do a certain amount per hour to reach the threshold. It’s not their fault if no one fancies fish and chips tonight.

Mistreating this sector of workers is wrong. In 2023, we should know better.