"Gigonomics" Is Here To Stay

The Denver Post recently came out with an article written by Douglas Brown that stated (Death of full-time jobs fosters “gigonomics” trend). People hunting for employment have become fully engaged with adapting with an economy that has become stingy with full-time jobs. Many people have discovered that they can make a living by working two, three or even four part time jobs to make ends meet. Economists and others who wrestle with employment issues have dubbed the trend “gigonomics”.

There is no question more people are working part-time jobs today than when the recession started in December 2007. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are now 4.4 million more workers toiling at part-time jobs for economic reasons than there were 18 months ago. In all, the bureau counts 9 million people falling into this category.

For most people falling into this category find it can be very stressful, but for others it has opened up new doors, flexibility, opportunities and experiences that they never would have had if not for “gigonomics”.

I have been predicting the “gigonomics” employment practice for over 6 months and believe that once “gigonomics” has arrived in the work place, it will never go away. But, it doesn’t have to be stressful. Some companies have taken all the good from the “gigonomics” concept, added sound structure and organization to foster this growth into the future work place.

Some employee leasing companies have developed an employment concept that offers companies the benefits of utilizing professional, mature, experienced workers on a full-part time basis. Companies gain the advantage by increase in production out-put, reductions in incidents and accidents while at the same time reducing labor and overhead costs. This concept is simple, condensing the average work week hours to 20, not 40, eliminates the majority of non productive hours. This does not work for all vocations, but many can fall into this category. Studies by independent organizations reflect these results over an average 8 hour work day:

1. According to the study by the American Management Association, workers spend a day dealing with email. – 1.47 hours
2. Bathroom & water, general brakes, 4 a day x 5 min ea. – .20 hours
3. General conversations/gossip with co-workers – .25 hours
4. Smokers, ? pack a day smoke brakes, 5 min each – .50 hours
5. Talking on phone and cell phone with unsolicited vendors, family and friends – .30 hours
6. Average non-billable hours per employee per day at 77% billable – 1.84 hours

TOTAL NON PRODUCTIVITY HOURS DAY – 4.56 hours

This math indicates that the majority of employees are billing their clients for non productive work to maintain their billability. Program Managers should do the math on their employees to establish their own conclusion.

It also indicates that some positions could be modified to a partial work week and still produces the same results. Marketing, Sales, Estimating, and Consulting just to name a few.

To the best of my knowledge the 40 hour work week was arbitrarily selected years ago as an average work week, with no real means to back it up. So we ask, is the 40 hour work week really necessary for all professions?

Traditionally part-time employees are labeled just what the name means, part time. But, this is changing also. More and more company employees falling into this category are being labeled full-part time, meaning they have the same job, with the same company consistently week after week. Employees gain stability by finding an additional full-part job with another non-competitive company to complete their work week. The employee gets the benefits of working full time and has no need to look for “full time positions”, but is leased out to two different companies in the same week. Most employee leasing companies offer a full benifit package for full-part time workers that they employ.

The companies get the benefits of their professional experience, improved productive and at the same time reducing their burdened overhead cost and increasing their revenue margins, and still consider these employees as theirs while consistently working full-part time.

Our world is changing faster that we can adapt. Markets have expanded globally and competition is greater than it has ever been. Drastic measures have to be made just to stay in business. But, is downsizing the answer? Is reducing cost the only answer? While both will help reduce overhead, they will also contribute to less revenue and will only hurt companies in the long run, including compounding the problems of the economy. Totally eliminating positions is not the answer, but modifying them could be. There is another way without all the doom and gloom of layoffs.

The world is what we make of it and we need to make it right! The same goes for companies. Change can be either bad or good, but change we must.

Edward Ballog

By: Edward Ballog