There has been a lot of focus on the future of work. Articles and books on the advantages and disadvantages of the gig economy. However, the gig economy is not new. In fact, it’s rather old.
Individual craftsmen and women, artists, farmers, were once the composition of many cultures and communities. Individual workers or families determined their mode of production (be it vegetables or pottery) and negotiated with buyers for their wares. With the onset of industrialization, more and more workers migrated to cities to work for large factories (or factory style offices). Workers traded one style of work and daily schedule for another. Conditions in most cases were stifling. We have “weekends” and “lunch hours” because we needed them in non-stop factory style labor. But they were not gained without a fight.
Eventually working for someone else, whether in mines, factories, or offices, became rather common. It’s not that one style was progress and the other regress. It’s just that it was change and we compare whatever is new to “the way we’ve always done it.” Or what we’re most familiar with.
Now we are making a switch in another direction. Larger companies are not going away, but the way workers contract their services is changing again. The switch to whatever is new requires rethinking some of the habits, systems, processes on which we have come to rely. Such as how and when we are compensated. How and where we get medical treatment. What is expected of and what is expected by both gig workers corporate workers.
Puzzle Pieces Coaching 