Gig Economy Under Biden, Sirenum Raises $2.7m Series A, Co-Working Spaces Making a Comeback, and More...

There are approximately 60 million Independent workers in the United States, representing $1.5 trillion in U.S. GDP and growing. Projections estimate that 50% of our U.S. workforce will be independent workers by 2025- 2030. The Gig Economy represents a trend that will digitally transform how organizations engage with talent.

I believe that every organization in every industry needs a Gig Economy strategy. Not having one in 2021 is like missing the internet trend in 1990 or the mobile revolution in 2010.

The Freelance Revolution

The rise of independent contractors and globalization of knowledge work is the Industrial Revolution of our time. Everywhere we look, we can see the U.S. workforce undergoing a massive and structural change.

Gig Economic Regulation Under Biden - Both Biden and Harris have expressed views on a range of technology policy issues that are bound to be discussed in Congress and state legislatures over the next few years. We will analyze Biden's and Harris' comments on three technology policy issues (the gig economy, online speech, and algorithmic bias) in the coming days.

Social Auto Transport raises $1.5M in seed funding to expand gig economy auto-moving business - Car owners are most likely to visit dealerships for service during the first three years of vehicle ownership, J.D. Power reported in its 2020 Customer Service Index survey. The survey found that 88% of customers visit dealers for service in those initial years. The global insights company reported in 2018 that 64% of consumers wait at the dealership for their vehicle to be serviced.

The future of work could be this ATL startup's on-demand job marketplace - Atlanta, startup Wripple, which brings the gig economy into white-collar work. Founded by executives at digital media company Razorfish, Wripple is a marketplace that provides companies with on-demand, interdisciplinary teams for different projects.

Sirenum, a platform for managing shift and gig workers, raises a $2.7M Series A - Sirenum, a platform for remotely managing a shift-based workforce across industries such as railway, aviation, construction, and the gig economy, has raised a $2.7 million Series A funding round from new investors, including former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy, alongside the William Currie Group.

Reconstructing The Gig Economy Equation: How This Founder Is Optimizing Income And Opportunity For Gig Workers - The gig economy in the U.S. has seen a skyrocketing rise over the past decade, with the tremendous surge of ride-sharing, food delivery apps, and other part-time freelance apps beginning shortly after the 2008 financial crisis and which prevails today. According to a 2020 ADP Research Institute Survey, gig work has swelled in the U.S by 15% since 2010, now with 6 million more gig workers today than a decade ago.

The Hybrid Workplace

We see unprecedented numbers of companies implementing remote work programs. The way we work has forever changed and will require new skills and leadership approaches.

Will Work-From-Home Fatigue Save Co-Working Spaces? It May Already Be Happening - There was a clear demand for co-working space before the coronavirus pandemic was ever on anyone's radar. For years, the growing gig economy had spurred a need for shared space. Rather than plant themselves in coffee shops for hours on end to escape the monotony of working from work, independent workers could instead rent out a desk in a co-working environment and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow remote employees -- without the bustle of continuous latte orders in the background.

Research finds new hires having trouble connecting with teammates and values during remote work - Remote work can be challenging enough for the workers who are already established at a particular company. Onboarding new employees and ensuring those workers connect with teammates and the workplace culture can be challenging.

How leading companies should be handling remote work - Siddharth Rao, a staff software engineer and a technical lead in the revenue product organization at Twitter, tells Beth Mauder how companies can be confident in their remote employee hires.

Workplace Wellness 

We will spend one-third of our lives working, and the disruption to the way we work has never moved faster. This all can impact our overall wellness as we navigate the changing landscape and fight for balance.

 Coronavirus is testing those of us with anxiety. We need to have mental health help available when the pandemic ends. - The pandemic has tested all of us. Those with some mental illnesses, especially anxiety, have contended with perhaps our largest fear: uncertainty. Early on, we heard about new symptoms, new theories about how the coronavirus was transmitted, and the surprising way it affected some children and even some of those with no underlying health conditions.

PAUL ESTES, the best-selling author of the newly released book Gig Mindset and is an unstoppable advocate for the simple idea of ensuring that all voices are heard and that all people have access to opportunity. This passion is inspired by the quote from the late Leila Janah "Talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not." Now is the time to address systemic location bias and encourage companies to reach beyond their organizational boundaries to engage the world's best minds.  For 20 years, He struggled to balance his life with fast-moving leadership roles at Dell, Amazon, and Microsoft. He led a team of progressive H.R., procurement, and legal trailblazers to launch Microsoft's Gig Economy freelance program. Hiring his first virtual assistant transformed the way he lived and worked.

Paul is the former host of the Gig Mindset and The Talent Economy podcast. Each week, Paul provides insights and perspective to over 99,000 readers of his weekly LinkedIn newsletter, and he frequently shares his insights as a keynote speaker and panelist. He has nine pending patents in content and collaboration related to the on-demand economy.