The report said that Generation Z (61 per cent) across APAC region agree contract-based roles are more popular amongst jobseekers than permanent full-time roles.
The attraction of having a flexible work environment is slowly pushing individuals towards a gig economy.
A recent survey report, ‘Gig Economy: How Free Agents Are Redefining Work’ by Kelly Services, showed that in India, 39 percent of the surveyed candidates and hiring managers favour freelance roles.
Gig economy refers to short-term contract work and freelance projects as opposed to permanent jobs.
The report said that Generation Z (61 per cent) across APAC region agree contract-based roles are more popular amongst jobseekers than permanent full-time roles. Gen Z is usually defined as those born between 1995 and 2014.
Hiring managers in APAC also reflect this view as 47 percent of them agree that workforce preferences are shifting away from traditional permanent full-time roles.
The acceptance levels for contract-based roles among other generations is much lower, Generation Y (40 percent), Generation X (42 percent) and Baby Bloomers (41 percent), the survey shows. Also, the survey found that across the region and industry, technological, demographic and market forces are driving these changes and they are more likely to accelerate than slow down.
Similar headwinds were noticed in other Asia Pacific (APAC) countries, in Hong Kong, 55 percent of those surveyed are willing to embrace the gig economy trend while in Vietnam it is 50 percent.
The survey, commissioned across Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, obtained 9,295 responses.
The survey said that candidates in Malaysia are least open to gigs with 37 percent agreed to working on freelance or contract jobs. So, what forces are driving candidates to choose gigs?
Across APAC region, the top reason candidates prefer gigs is because they value flexible working (60 percent). Besides flexible working, in India, the other top reasons are more money (47 percent) and role and skill alignment (47 percent).
“Gig economy is gradually percolating across sectors, including the traditional sectors. Employer organizations need to align to these changing times and integrate contingent workforce strategies into their hiring models,” said Thammaiah BN, Managing Director, Kelly Services India.
The report also studied the positive and negative impacts of gig economy from both employer and employee perspective. Interestingly, only positive impacts were cited by the respondents in India – gig economy saves money and results in increased employee satisfaction and productivity.
In Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore, negative impacts of gig economy outweighed the positive effects of it. Respondents in these countries cited that organisations face workforce integration challenges.