The Death of the Full Time Job
From experience working typical part-time and full-time jobs like at a grocery store before, you start to realize how much a company can save by going full automation especially when it was something I was doing. Those jobs can easily be replaced by robots which unfortunately deems the workforce obsolete. Whether it’s stocking shelves at a grocery store or working fast foods restaurants the point is that redundant jobs can be overtaken by machine and turn would be cheaper for a company to do long term, people cost money including benefits and union dues if there are any those things when you have many workers working under you cost thousands, if not millions. Machines, on the other hand, would cost a hefty chunk of the companies revenue but that would be short term, after that it’s just maintenance, this would allow for example grocery stores to maximize their effort in delivering goods better than with a person. Amazon has already opened a few grocery stores in the States that allow customers to link their cards to their accounts and seamlessly buy food without having to “pay” for it at the store but rather get charged on their credit card. The sad truth is that traditional full time and part-time jobs time of being important or necessary is quickly coming to an end, no one knows when exactly that will be, but some point to the end of the decade.
COVID-19 or coronavirus has shown how weak the full-time work is, while more companies like Walmart are hiring temp workers, it should be noted that many of these positions are contract-based like gig workers but without the benefits of being a gig worker. This global pandemic that has claimed nearly thirty thousand lives which have damaged the global economy, has expedited that end of the workforce causing many people to join the gig workforce to earn some money. The virus has brought the traditional 9 to 5 and full-time work to a halt while freelancing, in contrast, seems to be surviving at the moment for reasons like the whole stay at home policy. Temp work can be a form of freelancing like what Walmart is doing could be a new norm where companies don’t have to pay into benefits or salary to pay the worker force but rather pay for the duration of their contract which can save the company tons of money.
Right now companies are in saving capital mode and they do that and meet the demand of the pandemic by hiring temp work which is cheaper at the end of the day. They’re able to meet demand and hire more people at a fraction of the cost.
Freelancing or gig work, however, is something that is becoming more and more prevalent, companies are starting to notice this and capitalizing on it, it’s both cheaper and effective to outsource the workload to a freelancer who has specialization in a specific field. Industries like the creative, engineering, medical and technological ones that need human touch would survive the impending machine taking over the workforce world. These jobs rely specifically on the people like journalism and game developing, the machines are programmed to certain tasks like stocking a shelf not create an essay — they could but it wouldn’t make sense. The difference between freelance and traditional jobs is that a job requires you to the same thing day in day out and come back the next day for fix amount money and time, freelancing is a contract based work so you have a set time and set amount of money but do different things and aren’t expected to come back next day but contracts can last from weeks to months so it depends on what the type of job. Freelancing can be supplemental income, a gig worker could have a part-time or full-time job but still freelance to earn extra income on the side and now it could mean someone’s full income. As gig work and freelancing become more and more popular, the job market for gig work is at an all-time high, while full-time work is not. Companies like Uber, Airbnb, DoorDash solely rely on freelancing and their revenue stream is more than many other jobs, these companies give full freedom to their employees but they still take a cut of the earnings.
Even though the workforce is changing so do the people that make it, people are adapting, workshops that are funded by the government are appearing more to train workers that can help expand their skills. New types of jobs are popping up especially in the renewable energy fields since oil is becoming a thing of the past and more countries are putting climate change on top of their priority list. The idea of going to a job and staying at the same job for years was dying even before the virus hit, it was once favorable because of the security it offered and long terms gain but those things are gone, this generation prefers making their money outside of an office and enjoys what they’re doing without the stress that comes with a full-time job. Gig work can be harder and requires more patience because it’s all on one person, they don’t have the benefit of a big company doing all the leg work for them but now that leg work falls on one person. Two key benefits amongst several others are that it’s highly rewarding and flexible; those two things give the worker more options and allow them to fully utilize their skills without big brother breathing down their necks. There will be a generation born without knowing full-time work but rather gig work, while full-time work will still exist in some capacity but it’ll be much smaller and more automated but in contrast gig work or freelancing will be the go-to jobs.
