A recent annual study has found that, despite negative sentiment from the public and politicians on the whole, attitudes towards and engagement with gig work from millennial and Gen Z workers is extremely positive.
Deloitte’s latest
Millennial Survey found that 57% of millennials and 67% of Gen Z have already or would consider the gig economy ahead of full-time employment, whilst 78% and 77% respectively would also work or have worked a ‘gig’ job as a supplementary income stream on top of full-time employment.
The survey, which quizzed nearly 10,500 millennials and 300 Gen Z workers from across the world highlights the growing trend of younger workers to opt for flexible work ahead of full-time positions.
Why does this age group go the gig route?
There are a number of key reasons why workers within the millennial to Gen Z age bracket favour the gig economy.
Most important was the ability to earn income or as an additional income stream, followed by the ability to work the hours they want and achieve a desired work-life balance.
And whilst gig work is often thought of as driving a taxi or delivering pizzas on a bike, the gig economy also takes into account freelancers and those who short-term contracts, which is why another one of the big draws of gig work for this age bracket is the ability to be your own boss and work independently.
Further cited benefits include the challenge of working in a new type of work, as well as being paid on a performance basis as opposed to a set salary.
Interestingly, just 10% of millennials and 11% of Gen Z said the work in the gig economy as it's their only option or way to earn any money.
The challenge for traditional employers
With an average of 46% of responders in the millennial to Gen Z age bracket saying they would consider the gig economy for future work ahead of future employment, there lies an issue for traditional employers offering full-time positions that they may be losing out on talent, or losing their own employees to a more flexible way of working.
This can be especially prevalent in high-value sectors such as technology, financial consulting and digital sectors where some employees may feel an unquenchable urge to strike it out on their own.
And the top four reasons for why employees would enter the gig economy are also prevalent reasons for why millennial workers, in particular, would be looking to move jobs - to earn more money and have the ability to increase income, work the hours they want to work, achieve a better work-life balance and also be their own boss.
A study by the Work Institute found that 22% of those who recently quit a job cited the lack of career development as the primary reason, followed by the desire to improve work-life balance (12%), management behaviour (11%) and to increase pay or benefits at 9%.
That’s the top four reasons why staff quit correlating exactly with the top four reasons why millennial and Gen Z workers are looking to the gig economy as a work alternative to traditional employment.
Potential solutions for employers
The good news for employers is it’s clear why staff are or could be considering leaving full-time work for a go at the gig economy, and all of them are workable.
For example, the desire to improve compensation and benefits can be addressed by ensuring internal promotions are a key feature of any new hire, as well as implementing new
employee recognition programmes which are rewards and benefits based.
When it comes to staff wanting to be able to set their own hours and achieve a better work-life balance, this is again something which can be offered as a company perk for staff, such work-at-home Friday’s for long-distance workers or flexi-time to allow staff to work around school drop-off and pick-up times or when required be able to come in later or start earlier to allow more free time in the day to follow pursuits that interest them.
And when it comes to management behaviour, a lack of positive communication could be one of the driving negative factors that sour attitudes to and relationships with team and company leaders. Addressing internal communications and also the frequency with which constructive and positive employee feedback can be given can look to address this, as well as empowering employees to give recognition amongst each other as a means to improving workplace engagement overall.
Highly engaged employees are far less likely to be looking for a new role, either with a competitor or within the gig economy itself.
So whilst the trend amongst millennial and Gen Z workers may be shifting towards a truly fluid and flexible way of working within the gig economy, that doesn’t mean to say that employers can’t enact changes within their organisations that directly address the real drivers why workers in these age groups may want to move in the first place.