HRMS and gig economy workers: three potential challenges

A gig economy employs freelance workers on a temporary basis, often tying their pay to deliverables. Gig workers are found in a variety of jobs from IT development through to skilled trades and delivery drivers. Gig workers are becoming a major component of the working population and are estimated at 34% of the US workforce when counted together with freelance and contingent workers. An HRMS is the best tool to manage employees but gig workers can involve a new level of complexity. Here are three challenges to keep in mind as you ready your HRMS for this new group.

1. A diverse and varied landscape of IT devices

Gig workers often use their own devices when they need to interact with your systems. Many may never set foot inside one of your offices but will attend an online orientation session and then be on the road. It is critical when you are not issuing standard laptops and mobile devices that your HRMS can offer secure access via different options and operating systems.  

2. Training and compliance requirements

Many companies track their training in a learning and development module of an HRMS. Some companies have strict standards due to their industry or customers and tracking compliance is a necessity. When you bring gig workers into your HRMS it may challenge your configuration and reporting.

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Gig workers may be exempted from training or certification as they are entering your company as skilled and certified resources. You may need to design an alternate business process to manage and track these exceptions. Your audit processes may also need to be adjusted to allow for previous work experience of gig workers to be taken into account in lieu of in-house training.

3. Timekeeping is an essential tool

Gig workers are often remote and not working on a 9 to 5 weekday schedule. Your time and attendance module in your HRMS needs to be intuitive and easy to use without extensive training. It should accommodate workers who need to login multiple times a day as they charge hours to projects.

Overall system maintenance timing can start to become a consideration once you employ gig workers. Many companies look to minimize system downtime and to perform system maintenance when there are few employees using the HRMS, like late Friday or on weekends. If you have gig workers that perform restaurant deliveries that may be their busiest work time of the week. As you start to incorporate gig workers into your HRMS review how and when they will log time to reduce the impact of system administration tasks.