“Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, job markets around the world have taken a 360-degree turn.”
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, work and job markets around the world have taken a 360-degree turn. With life disrupted and business paused, the roaring job market immediately ground to a halt. But with darkness comes a glimmer of hope and remote working comes as a savior for all sorts of things. The changing dynamics blurred the age-old barriers to flexible working arrangements. As work became disconnected from the office, organizations began to see the global talent market rife with freelancers and gig workers. Working from anywhere and for everyone is now possible. Millennials love the freedom of choosing when they want to work, where they want to work and who they want to work for. The flexibility that comes with freelancing is worth leaving your full-time job, and the pay is equally fruitful. Freelancing is just getting started and has yet to fully blossom in Indian workspaces and even in its early stages it has worked wonders. FinancialExpress.com spoke with Unigigs co-founder Devaansh Bhel and discussed the freelance scene in India and his freelance startup Zero Commission. fragments:
How UniGigs is improving the gig economy?
The pandemic has not been easy for workers and businesses alike. We witnessed companies laying off resources full time to reduce operating costs and on the other hand, workers were insecure in their 9-5 jobs. This led to a paradigm shift in the mindset of both employees and employers. The employees began to explore and develop alternative earning opportunities in order to survive and grow, while companies wanted to stay lean and still function effectively. Many people started moving to multiple short-term freelance jobs and were now comfortable with the idea of working remotely, in a distributed team environment. The pandemic has changed the workforce, workplace and work culture. We are witnessing an increase in the number of freelancers.
Will 2022 be the silver lining for the freelancer community?
According to global industry reports, the total freelance market size is $1.5 trillion, growing at a CAGR of 15%. It is indicated that countries with fewer opportunities for domestic work are seeing a surge in freelance professionals. In addition, freelancers also appear to be game-changers for SMBs: ~70% of SMBs in the US have worked with freelancers at least once. This trend is catching up in other developed and developing countries of the world. In addition, the pandemic has accelerated the growth of freelancers and also led to a paradigm shift in the mindset of both workers and employers. The employees have begun to explore alternative earning opportunities to retain and grow, while businesses want to stay lean yet function effectively. Based on industry reports, India is likely to have 350 million gig jobs by 2025. The Indian gig sector is expected to grow to US$455 billion at a CAGR of 17% by 2024 and has the potential to expand at least 2x pre-pandemic estimates. At present, India has about 15 million freelancers working in IT, HR and design projects.
How has the freelance community diversified as a result of the pandemic?
In addition, the pandemic has accelerated the growth of freelancing and also led to a paradigm shift in the mindset of both workers and employers. The employees have begun to explore alternative earning opportunities to retain and grow, while businesses want to stay lean yet function effectively. This is validated by India’s 46% growth in new freelancers from Q1 to Q2, 2020 according to a recent industry report from Payoneer.
What are the unique features of Ungigs that make it different from the other freelance platforms?
How we’re different: We believe the following are our biggest competitive advantages:
Making in India; Global Audience: The platform built for Indian sellers and global buyers offers the advantage of affordable talent.
Zero Commission: We believe that India is a very price sensitive market which is why we decided to be a zero percent commission platform. This incentivizes merchants to interact and transact more on the platform. Other platforms charge 25-30% commission from buyers or sellers or both.
Post-pandemic, early movers: The post-pandemic era has acted as a growth driver for the entire freelance industry, so early movers will have the advantage to grow and scale the business while capturing a larger market share.
This post The pandemic has accelerated the growth in freelancing: Devaansh Bhel, co-founder of Unigigs
was original published at “https://www.financialexpress.com/jobs/the-pandemic-has-accelerated-growth-in-freelancing-devaansh-bhel-co-founder-of-unigigs/2466922/”
