Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

September 5, 2018 Published weekly by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. CUSTOMER SERVICE Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com www.thomsonreuters.ca One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Media Solutions, Canada: Karen Lorimer Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Todd Humber todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com (416) 298-5196 Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7896 News Editor: Marcel Vander Wier marcel.vanderwier@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7837 Sales Manager: Paul Burton paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9928 Circulation Co-ordinator: Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 Art Director: Dave Escuadro david.escuadro@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9358 ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Thomson Reuters, Media Solutions, Canada). Shift away from traditional work continues across Canada: Survey How should human resources respond to the gig economy? BY MARCEL VANDER WIER As many as 22 per cent of Canadian professionals are now employed in precarious positions, accord- ing to a survey of 1,000 workers. And while the gig economy crosses all industry sectors, it is most heavily concentrated in three: ed- ucation (28 per cent), business, finance and admin- istration (19 per cent) and health care (18 per cent). e trend is balanced across the country — no region is immune, according to No Safe Harbour: Precarious Work and Economic Insecurity Among Skilled Professionals in Canada by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. "We tend to think of precarious work as some- thing that happens in low-wage, low-skill jobs… but even highly educated professionals are experienc- ing economic insecurity and unstable working con- ditions," said Ricardo Tranjan, a senior researcher at the Ottawa-based think tank. Most gig workers go from contract to contract (37 per cent) or work part-time (34 per cent), though 26 per cent are employed full-time, accord- ing to the survey. Sixty per cent do not have access to a pension plan or other retirement savings, and do not receive sick pay. e blame can be laid squarely at the feet of em- ployers, said Tranjan. "e drive behind (insecure positions) is man- agement trying to cut costs, management trying to accommodate austerity, and policies that have been imposed on them because of the public sector," he said. "With precarious work around low-skilled, low-wage jobs, usually the discussion is around 'Well, it's the nature of the service economy… Noth- ing can be done. It's just how jobs are nowadays.'" "It helps to move away from the notion that there's some sort of invisible hand out there making jobs this way and then we have to learn to live with it. No — there's decisions that are made every day, all throughout the various sectors and industries, that are driving this." Creating good jobs For HR professionals, cutting positions in favour of contract work is a short-sighted approach, es- pecially when it comes to employee satisfaction, productivity and turnover, said Tranjan. "Precarious work is bad for the economy," he said. "From a broader economic perspective, what we want to avoid is sort of this race to the bottom where everyone's just trying just to cut costs, and then just send all the profits out." "Instead of that, we can think about a more positive economic cycle where good jobs lead to good wages, higher consumption power, and then higher revenues for the very business that's gener- ating those good jobs. is is the kind of positive economic cycle that we want in our cities and our communities." e majority (57 per cent) of professionals with- out full-time work prefer better job stability, ac- cording to the survey. ree in five public sector gig workers blame their predicament on government policy to slash funding or privatize jobs. "People would very much like to have a good, stable job, and if some firms out there have that sort of more self-enlightened way of looking at this and offered those jobs, I think they will be attracting the best professionals out there," said Tranjan. "It will be good for their own bottom line if they have a more long-term understanding of what em- ployee satisfaction can bring to their firms, and it's good for the economy more broadly." Precarious by choice But many professionals are gig workers by choice, said Marion McGovern, author of riving in the Gig Economy in San Francisco, Calif. "A lot of people just think of gig workers as folks in the on-demand economy — the drivers, the de- livery people," she said. "But the truth of the matter is there's a lot more than that. ere is a very large professional cohort (of ) people who are doing inde- pendent work because they choose to do it." A large number of workers choosing the gig route are able to enter companies for strategic contract roles, she said. And it would be in HR's best interest to become more involved in this process, said McGovern. "What happens in a lot of organizations is that the hiring manager says: 'You know, this temp stuff that we've got going — that doesn't work for me. I'm going to find this person on my own and I'll just figure out a way to bring them in.' You end up with kind of rogue spend — if you will — on work that is almost untracked." As the number of non-traditional workers grows across the continent, companies will need to adapt more quickly to the changing nature of the work- place, with those in remote areas likely to be hardest hit, she said. "For companies, there are many things at stake here — not the least of which is getting the right talent that you need," said McGovern. "e future of work is changing and we've got to figure out ways to make it suit the workers and protect the work- ers, too."

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