Covid has transformed the talent landscape, and enabled firms to tap into the gig talent pool.Hiring gig workers provides access to a larger talent base, while saving on additional recruiting costs. Anshuman Chaubey, a freelance techie with five years of experience, exemplifies this trend. He began taking up gig roles after completing internship at an MNC and now has a team of four developers assisting him with the increased workload.
Job portal foundit.com reports that IT-related gig work makes up 30% of the job market, up from 12% at the end of March. Software development, data analytics and UI/UI design are the most sought-after skills in the gig space.
According to a Nasscom Aon report, India’s tech gig workforce is projected to reach 23.5 million by 2030 – up from 7 million in 2021. This means gig workers will constitute 4.1% of the total workforce in India by fiscal 2030, compared to 1.5% in FY22.
Manpower Group, an HR solutions firm, has observed a 10% increase in demand for IT gig work compared to the previous year. Sanju Ballurkar, president of Experis, a subsidiary of Manpower Group specialising in tech staffing, said, “Gig is becoming accepted from a customer’s perspective as it is a more efficient way for non-tech companies to get tech work done without investing in a full-fledged IT team.”
Pharma companies, oil and gas firms, and tech firms are the primary users of gig workers for accelerating their tech road maps. Troogue.ai, a gig working platform, said 85% of the projects on their platform are outsourced by GCCs seeking gig workers or contractors. As companies aim to reduce costs, more opportunities for gig work are expected to emerge.
Gig work is primarily available for those with specialised skills in cloud, data, and cybersecurity, where firms require expertise to work on hybrid cloud strategies bound by data governance and compliance frameworks.
