Review: Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work

Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work by Sarah Kessler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work, is written by Sarah Kessler, a reported at Quartz who writes about the future of work. Gigged sheds light on a very important change in our world today, the nature of work. Jobs, as they used to be, perhaps 20 or 30 years ago, are not the same anymore. You were hired by a company for a specific skill set, you worked 40 hours a week (or so), you were paid and you received a host of benefits. The nature of work is changing, and while this change was brought upon by the Gig economy start-ups, with AI on the scene and Robotics on the horizon, the momentum of this change will just continue to build up.

A point that has stuck with me the most is the hype and hoopla over "flexibility", "being your own boss" and being a "micro-preneur". Why do we need flexibility? Why can't I work with a boss? Flexibility is a nice to have. And it's nice to not have a horrible boss. But given the certainty, stability and security that usually accompanies a traditional job, is flexibility really that important? Is flexibility being marketed to all and sundry when the need for it is not as urgent as it seems.

While the book is about the Gig economy where employers distance themselves from employees and move to an independent contractor model, the book mentions a few companies that have taken the opposite approach. What do Starbucks, Shake Shack and Managed by Q have in common? They all reap the rewards of the good jobs strategy, espoused by Professor Zeynep Ton, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Operations Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. In the age of the gig economy, these companies have taken the road less traveled, and took pains to create good jobs for their employees.

In Gigged, the author has raised some very important questions about the future of work given in light of of the Gig economy and a wave of "Uber for X" startups. A very logical extension of this book would one where she tackles what might lie ahead given the advancements in AI, Robotics and Bio-engineering.

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