Gig workers face hard reset after best-ever festive season

After record seasonal hiring during the festival period, gig workers stare an unusually lean period thisnew year.

- SowmyaRamasubramanian & Devina Sengupta

By the end of December, short-term contracts of thousands of gig and temporary workers hired by e-commerce, logistics, and consumer goods companies to handle the festive season demand will end. They will find themselves without jobs, struggling to secure their next opportunity.

Hiring agencies predict that from January onward, the market will see an unusually large pool of gig talent available for recruitment. Many may have to accept lower pay or less favourable terms to stay employed.

“Barely 5-10% of the temporary staffing will get absorbed in the same company,” said Neeti Sharma, chief executive officer of staffing and talent solutions firm Team Lease Digital. “The gig workers move across platforms and after the festive season, the remuneration will see a 15-20% drop for them.”

According to Team Lease’s data, 3-7% of such temporary and gig workers were absorbed by client firms last year.

Temporary workers are on the staffing vendor's payroll and deployed at the client company, with their contracts typically lasting 3 to 11 months. Gig workers are often hired for shifts that are limited to a few hours a day.