Page 69 - UDYAMA FINAL final for web

How does the gig economy content creations etc… platforms
operate? such as Fiverr.com and Upwo-
rk.com allows the virtual gig
The gig economy operates via worker to undertake low to high-
digital platforms. The digital plat- -value contracts with different
forms such as Fiverr.com, Mtu- time frames. The second category
rk.com, Upwork.com, Handy. co- is the on-demand offline work
m, Uber.com, Airbnb.com, and where the gig worker engages in
many more platforms create a on-site working for the client. The
triangular network instead of bip- models of Handy.com, Uber.com,
olar connectivity of client and and Deliveroo.com are some of
provider in a conventional econo- the platforms providing on-de-
my. Platform organizations con- mand offline work.
nect many gig requesters/buyers/-
clients/organizations to millions Also, as shown in Table 1, there
of gig workers/providers through are two types of gig workers
digital platforms. Therefore, in according to income source, whe-
the gig economy, a platform org- ther primary or secondary. The
anization performs as an interme- first category of gig workers is
diary between clients and provid- those who have chosen gig work
ers by connecting them via digital as the primary income source.
platforms (e.g., Uber connects They can be full-time gigs or
millions of drivers and passengers part-time gigs who do not have a
through their app and transformed regular job (e.g., students and
the conventional taxi industry. retired persons). The gig that they
Upwork connects talented cre- complete is the primary source of
ative and professional service income. The second category is
providers around the globe and the gig worker who engages in the
millions of previously inaccessi- gig as the secondary source of
ble clients). As such, platform income. They have a regular
organizations are a different bus- traditional job but complete gigs
iness model and they are the heart after work. For an instance, a
of the gig economy. teacher who works for a school
has signed up with Uber or
The gig providers are generally Pickme and engages in taxi
termed as gig workers and labeled service after work.
in many variations, such as free-
lancers, contingent workers, digi-
tal nomads, and lean entrepre-
neurs. Importantly, can gig work-
ers be treated as employees? Int-
erestingly, though we use the term In the gig economy,
gig workers, they are not employ-
ees but independent contractors a platform organization
who provide a service for some-
one else (the client) for a fee. The performs as an
major two categories of gigs can intermediary between
be seen. First, crowd-work or
virtual gigs where gig worker clients and providers by
who performs the task remotely
as a virtual work. Typically, virtu- connecting them via
al gig workers engage in graphic
designing, digital marketing, cre- digital platforms
ative writing, translations, ani-
mations, software development,