ShiftPixy: The Gig Economy Disruptor

How You Can Leverage a Gig Workforce Compliantly and Effectively

In a recent survey, 60 percent of Human Resource professionals said that gig economy workers make up a larger percentage of their workforce than it did three years ago, and 42 percent said they plan to hire more “gig” workers in the near future.

This on-demand workforce presents significant opportunity for businesses by allowing companies to have ready access to a pool of talent while cutting costs from the traditional full-time employment structure.

However, as more companies leverage the gig economy, various challenges have come to light, most commonly related to worker misclassification disputes and a loss of brand control when “outsourcing” work to non-employees.

This is exactly where ShiftPixy comes in, letting companies leverage the many benefits of a gig workforce but without compliance concerns or potential brand damage.

As seen with recent lawsuits against traditional gig economy companies such as Uber and Grubhub, most gig platforms classify their workers as independent contractors rather than employees.

This relieves them of the expenses around providing benefits, healthcare and other protections, but workers have responded by filing suits as they strive for W-2 status in order to receive the benefits needed to survive in today’s economy.

The gig economy is now at a crossroads. How can companies still benefit from an on-demand workforce while ensuring those workers still have gig economy-like flexibility and are treated fairly and protected appropriately?

Enter Irvine, California-based ShiftPixy, which has offices across the country and a growing footprint in New York. Leveraging its staffing agency roots to match employers searching for part-time employees, ShiftPixy harnesses the gig economy concept but without the concerns of misclassification.

ShiftPixy takes over employment status to a company’s workforce, who are then considered employees – not contractors – and eligible for health coverage, unemployment and other benefits.

ShiftPixy creates a best of both worlds scenario by letting companies enjoy the benefits of an on-demand workforce and reduced employment costs, while also allowing the workers (or “shifters”) to have their own gig-like flexibility with the option to fill shifts at other establishments within the ShiftPixy ecosystem.

ShiftPixy takes care of over 50 essential and regulated aspects of the job provider’s human capital management demands, such as paid time off laws, insurance and workers’ compensation, minimum wage increases, and the Affordable Care Act.

In addition to the misclassification concerns, loss of brand control is another main challenge for the gig economy, especially when it comes to food delivery. For example, when restaurants partner with third-party aggregators, they surrender their brand and customer relationship to an independent contractor. In just one case of a third-party delivery experience gone wrong, a couple ordered pizza from a nearby shop using UberEats, but received two moldy sandwiches and a wilted salad instead. These kinds of experiences run rampant and can have a detrimental impact on the restaurant itself.

ShiftPixy is unique in that it allows restaurants to avoid tapping third-party aggregators and use their own team members to self-deliver the brand-intended experience to avoid risking food presentation, continuity, reliability, accuracy and delivery timing. In addition to relieving businesses from administrative and regulatory demands, ShiftPixy’s scheduling and recruiting platform automatically identifies gaps in workers’ schedules, enables the company to access a contingent workforce in real-time, broadcasts open shifts to a qualified pool of workers, caps and decreases escalating workers compensation costs, and ultimately, maximizes growth strategy and liberates their business.

These capabilities are all possible with ShiftPixy’s disruptive technologies, which includes a “micro-metering” approach to incremental payment transactions and related insurance coverages based on real-time use and exposures, a private, centralized blockchain ledger to record and track critical human capital validation, and IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence engine to achieve a uniquely personal experience for workers and employers alike.

As more and more businesses tap the gig economy for its flexibility, cost savings and accessibility to a qualified workforce, ShiftPixy creates a solution that is both advantageous to companies and ensures workers are compensated, protected and treated fairly.

Learn more at shiftpixy.com.

ShiftPixy co-founder and chief executive officer Scott Absher brings 30 years of experience in organizational development, capital development and employment industry expertise to the company. He has built and trained many national sales organizations and independent agent forces to deliver predictable growth in the business service industry.
ShiftPixy co-founder Steve Holmes has nearly 30 years of experience in human resources services, and an established a track record for helping small and midmarket businesses through Fortune 500 companies drive efficiency in human capital management initiatives and has successfully founded and sold five human resources services businesses.

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