Independent work: choice, necessity, and the gig economy

Organizations need to think strategically about how to utilize 
independent providers
Using independent workers can allow companies and other organizations to become more 
agile, efficient, and productive by focusing on what they do best and hiring the best talent 
exactly when it is needed. This could expand opportunities for the many more people in our 
survey that indicated a desire to join the independent workforce. 
But large organizations cannot simply make this shift and hope for the best. They need 
to consider the trade-offs involved in converting in-house functions to independent work, 
including the possibility of greater churn. Not every role lends itself to being parceled out 
to an external provider. Some organizations have decided that regular employees provide 
better customer service and greater stability, and they are important keepers of institutional 
knowledge. Those that transfer in-house work to contractors face the risk of internal 
knowledge leaks, loss of in-house competencies, and quality control issues. Organizations 
will need to ensure that the use of external providers makes their organization more agile, 
healthy, and high-performing rather than destabilized and dispirited. 
Digitization may open the door to a greater use of external resources, since it tends to 
disaggregate jobs into more discrete tasks that can be more easily hired out. By breaking 
some jobs into components and using technology to virtualize others, employers can 
deploy labor more efficiently. This may involve creating mix-and-match project teams that 
combine traditional full-time workers in the office, remote part-time workers, and temporary 
or contingent workers who can help meet spikes in demand or perform specialized 
functions.
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 The use of digital talent platforms within organizations can help with the 
challenge of putting together optimal project teams and coordinating how they work 
together.
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