Trust and Transparency are what will define the New World Of Work : Daily Current Affairs

Date: 11/10/2022

Relevance: GS-3: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Human Resources.

Key Phrases: Flexibility Of A Hybrid Working Model, Employee Flexibility, Flexibility Of Business Variability, Gig Economy, Platform Workers, Re-imagining models of work

Why in News?

While the pandemic has opened the gates to newer models of how the world lives and works, it has also made us re-imagine the employee engagement strategies.
Organizations today are recalibrating their approach towards employee engagement, built on providing the flexibility of a hybrid working model redefining future models of work, workplace, workforce, and a work culture that is borderless and inclusive.

Key Highlights:

Encouraging employee flexibility is important for firms to move up the value chain and remain competitive, however, flexibility must be built on the cornerstones of trust and transparency.
According to data released by The US Census Board in 2019, about 13 million US workers had more than one job, mostly gig-based, outside of regular working hours.
In India too, the concept is not new and there have been instances of professionals from industries such as healthcare and the creative sector experimenting with the idea.
The Niti Aayog has predicted that the gig workforce across sectors and industries in India will expand to 23.5 million workers by 2029-30.

Do you know?

Gig Workers:
- A gig worker is an individual who is engaged in livelihoods outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement, both in the formal as well as the informal sector.
- These workers can be broadly classified into platform and non-platform-based workers.
Platform workers:
- These are those whose work is based on online software apps or digital platforms, while non-platform gig workers are generally casual wage workers and own-account workers in the conventional sectors, working part time or full-time.
What Is A Gig Economy?
- The rapidly burgeoning economy is bringing forth a new economic revolution, globally.
- The gig economy includes self-employed individuals, freelancers, on-call workers, and other temporary employees.

Need for Hybrid Working Model:

Today, the gig workforce has emerged as an important talent management strategy for organizations and is helping countries and industries close a talent demand-supply gap.
A hybrid work model provides employees with greater flexibility and the option to work from home or anywhere they can be productive.
With hybrid work, the workplace is no longer inside the four walls of the corporate office—it’s an ecosystem of employees working from home, in coworking spaces, and the office.
Team members can migrate between various locations depending on the work they need to get done.
Startups most often have a much higher proportion of gig workers, as this offers them the flexibility of business variability.

What are the issues with the Hybrid working model?

There is no scope for any disagreement if a full-time employee engages in side projects post-official work hours while being fully transparent to his/her primary employer.
However, the issue arises when other employment opportunities are pursued without informing the employer and thus, breaking the boundaries of trust and transparency.
Dual full-time employment is a breach of contract and therefore, should not be equated with gig working.
In contrast, gig workers normally have contractual agreements with one or more firms and undertake specific projects based on skill sets.
Gig roles for employees that have a full-time job must be based on the principles of trust, disclosure with the employer, ensuring no conflict of interest and data security.
However, not all full-time roles may lend themselves to this flexibility due to client contracts and confidentiality agreements.

What is moonlighting?

When one works for an organisation, while simultaneously taking up additional employment roles and jobs or does a side business, typically without the employer's knowledge, it is called moonlighting.

Is moonlighting prohibited under the Indian law?

Under the Indian Law, there is no restriction regarding moonlighting.
There is absolutely no restriction, as to the number of places an employee could work, except if the employee is working in a factory.
Section 60 of the Factories Act, 1948 restricts factory employed from any second parallel employment.
So technically, as long as the employment terms do not prohibit employees from moonlighting, it cannot be stopped.

Issues with moonlighting?

It is unethical to work on moonlighting projects using company time, or even calling up sick, to focus on the moonlighting project and/ or using company resources, like office premises, laptop and stationery.
One aspect of multiple work priorities is failing to stay committed and doing justice to the primary role.

Approach to be followed to enable these models of work:

Re-imagining models of work:
- Companies would need to collaborate, share best practices and learn from each other to create optimum and alternate models such as identifying certain internal gig roles that can incentivize and at the same time provide flexibility at work.
- When employees are given the freedom to pursue their passion beyond work hours, they feel valued and learn new skills.
- However, such instances must be clearly communicated to the employer and there should be a mutual agreement from both parties.
Building trust as a shared responsibility:
- There is a need for reimagining the workplaces of tomorrow, although in a trusted working condition that is flexible and transparently recognizes performance and skills.
- A symbiotic relationship between an employee and an employer will be the key that helps create a work culture, improve productivity and encourage collaboration at work.
Clear communication on non-competing clauses and conflicts of interest:
- Human resource teams should make clear communication on the company’s code of conduct and data privacy norms to employees.
- Newer employees must be clear on what they are signing, read through the contractual obligations mentioned in the company offer letter and adhere to them.
Foster a culture of open and transparent communication:
- Open conversations between employees and managers on any possible gig-work offers taken by the employee will help in identifying certain data breaches and client confidentiality issues, maintain productivity at work, and will go a long way in balancing trust at work.
Shape the hybrid workplace:
- As work models evolve, organizations are shaping hybrid work models that enable employees to connect with the organization, enhance collaboration, imbibe values and culture and enhance learning opportunities.
- In an ever-evolving age of limitless possibilities and uncertainties, the enormous learnings from the past two years alone show that flexibility and agility are important to navigate this uncertain environment.
- Shared advocacy and trust between the employer and employee will shape evolving models of work.