Gig economy requires adaptation, not avoidance

IN HIS now-classic The Age of Unreason, the organisational behaviour and management writer Charles Handy described a scene out of the General Synod of the Church of England in the 1980s. The controversial topic of women priests was being debated, and a speaker from the floor made a desperate and heartfelt plea: "In this matter as in so much else in our great country, why cannot the status quo be the way forward?"

In a similar vein, we see the natural conservatism of bureaucracies everywhere coming to the fore in dealing with the "gig economy", or an economy characterised by many more freelance or independent contract workers. This process has already been described as the "uberisation" of the workforce - named after the ubiquitous ride-hailing app that has enabled hundreds of thousands of drivers worldwide to offer rides directly to customers.

TWO CONCERNS ABOUT THE GIG ECONOMY