The Gig Economy: Leasing Skills to Pay the Bills

Joseph  Fuller; William R. Kerr; Carl  Kreitzberg

Background Note | HBS Case Collection | May 2019

The Gig Economy: Leasing Skills to Pay the Bills

by Joseph Fuller, William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

Abstract

This primer provides a comprehensive exploration into the gig economy and how it is reshaping global business. It shows how the Uber driver, the freelancing programmer in India, and the independent corporate consultant are all different variants of the modern-day gig workers. In doing so, this document addresses the following questions: • What are gigs and who performs them? • What is the size of the gig economy? How big will it get? • What types of gig work are available, and how do they differ from one another? • What are major trends in the gig economy, and how could technology disrupt this space? • What are the key management and legal issues for companies that use gig workers? • What has been the recent legal and regulatory history of the gig economy?

Keywords: gig economy; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Labor; Strategy; Management; Globalization; North America; Europe; United States; United Kingdom;

Language: English

Format: Print

26 pages

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Citation:

Fuller, Joseph, William R. Kerr, and Carl Kreitzberg. "The Gig Economy: Leasing Skills to Pay the Bills." Harvard Business School Background Note 819-146, May 2019.

Irfhan Rawji (MBS 2004) launched MobSquad in October 2018 to help American tech start-ups retain hard-to-find talent, many of whom struggled with U.S. work visa issues, such as software engineers with experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning, or data science. MobSquad also helped companies fill open roles by tapping into its database of pre-vetted foreign tech workers. While there was growing demand for these specialists, the talent supply in the U.S. was relatively constrained and American companies often filled positions with foreign-born workers using a temporary visa called the H-1B. However, U.S. President Donald Trump temporarily suspended immigration in June 2020, including foreign workers on an H-1B visa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rawji contemplated what kind of impact this would have on MobSquad and the tech industry in Canada. There was already evidence that a growing number of foreign tech workers were choosing Canada over the U.S. due to Trump’s immigration policies. Now Rawji suspected that Trump’s latest move would further accelerate this trend, and he wanted MobSquad to be ready to help companies and workers who had been counting on the H-1B.

This case touches on the topics of project-based work, agile methodology, and skill and talent management through Catalant's evolution as a company. Catalant’s journey to becoming a software platform and talent marketplace provides context for students to explore new models of work and ways companies are mobilizing talent internal and external to their organization. This case urges students to contemplate how these considerations might shape the critical decisions business leaders will need to make about how to manage their organizations and use their resources to capitalize on their own vision for the future. This case also provides valuable lessons for technology entrepreneurship, introduces students to important gig economy concepts, and asks students to consider the unique challenges facing companies like Catalant that are selling a gig platform as part of their product or service.

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The Gig Economy: Leasing Skills to Pay the Bills

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