The HR Challenge- Navigating Gigifications Impact on Workforce

The HR Challenge- Navigating Gigifications Impact on Workforce

Digital Disruption, Gigification, and Public Policy

The consequences of digital evolution on the management of the economic sectors are inevitable. Digital disruption will significantly impact employment, productivity, consumption, and inequality, among other determinants of social welfare. The effect of digital disruption on society will depend on the nature of public policies on the management of digital transformation. To that end, governments, firms, and workers need coherent and comprehensive policies to leverage the positive impacts of digital disruption and avoid the adverse effects. As digital platforms expand, a new sector of platform-mediated work activity, gigification, has emerged. Gamification allows firms to look for a worker to perform a specific task on demand. Digital disruption and signification have work and tenure-related consequences, hence the need for public policy intervention to enhance social welfare.

Analysis

Worker Status

The gig economy, a relatively new development, is a significant weak point for most labor unions. Public policy should facilitate labor unions to stay attuned to changes in the gig economy to protect workers and their employment statuses (Larsson & Teigland, 2020). Also, the government should allocate enough funding to the respective labor market enforcement agencies. Once well-funded, labor enforcement agencies can seek out companies engaging workers in dubious contracts or those keeping substandard records of their employees (Larsson & Teigland, 2020). Most importantly, labor enforcement agencies should be strategic by employing place-based enforcement to target hotspots where companies are likely to ignore the country’s laws on employee status.

Intellectual Property

There is a need for policies to protect intellectual property and facilitate innovation and development in the era of digital disruption. To that end, public policies should prevent new sectors and firms from gaining excessive market power that limits competition and innovation to the detriment of social welfare. The specific public policy interventions to facilitate this objective include diffusing new technologies and patents to encourage new entrants. Other measures to ensure fairness in the intellectual environment include financing startups and facilitating small firms to access big data.

Benefits

The best way for online platforms to ensure gig employees receive commensurate benefits is by classifying workers. It does not mean underlying geographical regulatory frameworks should be ignored just because online platforms exist to link clients and workers (Larsson & Teigland, 2020). As such, public policy should ensure that compensation in online platforms aligns with applicable minimum wage requirements (Larsson & Teigland, 2020). For instance, since the minimum wage in the US is $15 per hour, a worker using platforms to access a client should enjoy similar benefits. It is worth noting that some tasks, such as programming, may not be compensated based on time due to their complexity. In such cases, a piece-rate framework is applied to ensure every worker, regardless of their geographical location, receives commensurate compensation based on their tasks.

Security

Another major issue resulting from the platform-mediated work is cyber threats. Hackers may use social engineering to target workers’ critical information, which may be used later for financial fraud and other related cyber frauds. For instance, through pishing, hackers may lure workers into providing critical data, which will later be used to commit fraud (Larsson & Teigland, 2020). The best public policy intervention to prevent this is implementing regulatory frameworks that ensure platforms allocate their IT departments sufficient resources to avert data theft, as well as providing education to platform users.

Onboarding

New occupations require new analytical skills, emotional intelligence, creativity, and social influence. New workers should gain technical skills and necessary languages to make them effective performers on online platforms (Charles et al., 2022). Thus, public policies should facilitate high-quality programs that ensure workers have the requisite skills as they join and throughout their careers.

HR Recommendations on Assessment of Laws That Impact Online-Mediated Work

The first step to assessing laws in the signification era is understanding local labor laws and regulations within a specific geographical location. For instance, in the US, one should focus on minimum wage laws, among others. There is also a need to pay attention to global trends as they profoundly impact how HR management is online-mediated. Also, there is a need to understand data privacy compliance and communicate policies to workers, especially if they work with sensitive data. Additionally, reviewing employment contracts and ensuring they comply with laws and regulations will be useful.

Conclusion

In summary, the digital revolution has led to digital disruption and the emergence of platform-mediated jobs (gigification). These changes pose positive and adverse impacts on social welfare. As governments, firms, and workers leverage the benefits, there is a need for public policy interventions to bolster social welfare. Public policy interventions should target workers’ benefits, status, intellectual property environment, onboarding experiences, and security. Clients or firms planning to issue gigs should assess the external and internal environment to ensure compliance and enhanced social welfare.

References

Charles, L., Xia, S., & Coutts, A. (2022, August 26). Digitalization and employment, A review. International Labour Organization (ILO). https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_854353.pdf

Larsson, A., & Teigland, R. (2020). The digital transformation of labor (p. 372). Taylor & Francis.

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As an HR leader, consider the impacts of “gigification” on employee status, intellectual property, benefits, security, and onboarding.

Identify ways in which public policy attempts to address issues such as digital disruption and signification. In your response, address the following areas:

Worker status
Intellectual property
Benefits
Security
Onboarding
If you were in a leadership role at an organization, what steps would you take to assess the laws and policies (internal and external) that impact HR in the areas identified above?
Be sure to analyze the questions posed and provide supporting rationale. Organize your paper into sections using the following headers: