Is the #NewEconomy really all that New?
Wait a second. This so-called Future of Work thing, how futuristic could it be if we’ve been doing it for pretty much ever? And why is there so much hesitation if we are all so used to the analog version? Let me give you some examples of how all of us are doing so-called 'on-demand' staffing and living the #NewEconomy everyday.
Ex 1: You’re cooking dinner. You get a little extra confident on your chef knife wielding skills. You slice open a thumb. Dinner’s ruined, and more importantly, so is your thumb unless you get that taken care of immediately. What do you do? You decide it isn’t ambulance-worthy so you make a choice to either go to an ER or a Minute Clinic – maybe you even call to see how long the wait is in each before you hop in a car to make your way over there. You get there, someone in scrubs sees you, stitches you up, applies bandages, and if the thumb mishap hadn’t ruined your evening, the hospital sticks you with a bill that certainly does. You don’t know who the caregiver is, what his credentials are, or if they have ever dealt with a sliced up thumb. But you’ll take the help you can get because you need that help on-demand.
Ex 2: You need to go out partying tonight. Oh wait, you have kids and they aren’t going to put themselves to bed. You need a babysitter, stat. What do you do? You call your regular sitter and find out she is unavailable? Now what? You call friends trying to get leads on another babysitter who can come in last minute to help you out. You have never met her, know nothing about her other than a friend’s recommendation, and yet you are more than willing to have this stranger be responsible for your children – as long as they can show up on-demand.
Ex 3: You’re late for a meeting. You really need to get there on time and you decide the best option is to take a cab. You walk out onto the curb and attempt to hail a cab. In other words, you stick your hand in the air. The first one that stops, wins your business. (If only all sales were that easy…) You don’t know anything at all about that cab driver other than they showed up in a yellow car with a meter (hopefully) in it before any of the other yellow cars did. You just needed that ride on-demand.
In each of these situations, if we think about them, we are trusting a stranger so much so that we are putting our lives in their hands. We spend minutes deliberating about what shoes to wear, hours considering at which Italian restaurant to eat, days on what movie to watch, and weeks on what color countertops to install. Yet, while watching the wrong movie might be a waste of $15, picking the wrong babysitter or cab driver? Let’s not even think about the repercussions.
But that’s what we do. When we need help immediately, we take what we can get. So, why are we so hesitant to do so at work? Have a need for a person – find someone on-demand. Employee didn’t show up? Too much work to handle by the existing staff? Only need someone for short project? Bring in a pre-vetted, capable, ready and willing worker to do the job. Unlike the cab driver or babysitter, you feel confident knowing that companies like Wonolo have your back – there if you need us, insuring the Wonoloers who save the day are quality workers that you might bring onboard if you had weeks to interview. Same if you need a designer - find thousands who come rated and reviewed around the world on Upwork. Need a smart MBA-type consultant - thousands more waiting to give you quality results in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost on HourlyNerd. These are all on-demand solutions that have built trust into the platform to provide you with a better experience.
This all gets billed as the Future of Work by many because it allows simplicity, variety, speed, and most importantly, flexibility – all by using technology and algorithms to do what we’ve been doing in an analog way in other parts of our lives for hundreds of years. This isn’t a revolution, this is evolution. And it’s about time this #NewEconomy came to the workplace.
No wonder companies like Uber for cabs, Urbansitter for babysitting, and Heal for doctors are out there – because you should always get a pre-vetted, company-backed person you can trust when you need someone on-demand. Same for your business – so next time you could use some help at your company, give companies like Upwork, HourlyNerd, or Wonolo a try for on-demand talent.
Writer/ Poet ( self employed)
8 年It's really our new evolution economy of cartoon movie where services are switch its shapes to be compressed at short term cycles to fit our new economic services. Cutting the overproduction cycles is the "new healthy economy"; not compressed human services at its regular basis?
Chief Financial Officer & Company Secretary CA, CPA, AGIA, ACG, MBA at Vita Life Sciences Ltd, Australia
8 年Some say, work that requires a larger element of personalised skill, experience and knowledge will be future proof. I however believe that with newer technology, some of these functions will also reduce, not eliminated though. The computer will be able to store huge amount of data and knowledge at your fingertips, and accessible by all. For e.g. if you consult a lawyer for advise, many of the legal opinions, case study and legal precedents will be available online. Hence for simple legal cases, these advise and requirements will be eliminated and consequently, less lawyers will need to be hired. Not much different if you're a medical practitioner or pharmacists. These roles won't disappear but their numbers will either reduce or these functions will be paid minimum wage.
Making IT understandable to human beings
8 年There is one recurring theme - all these tasks are transactional and urgent. You do not need to form a relationship to make it work. However, there is a whole world of relationship-based jobs that does not easily succumb to Uberification. For example therapist, coach and product managers. These jobs require long-term intimate knowledge of the domain, people and political context. You cannot jump in and jump back on-demand. It takes time for people to open up, for bonds to form.
systems engineer/analyst, "secessio plebis"
8 年What new economy? Upwork is just rebranding of Elance/Odesk (been around since 1998) for example. Anyone remember Rent A Coder in the early 2000s? The only real difference is that technology has allowed an extension into cell phone apps and a better payment system, but the fundamental models are anything but new. Sooner or later there will be so many of these niche target market apps everything will get muddled, one for every single trade in the book. Then what, the dawn of the free lance/temp aggregator apps?