In this approach, the staffing agency typically acts as the employer and manages benefits while providing the flexibility of gig work. Workers are paid as W-2 employees, not as independent contractors. That means workers continue to be protected by federal labor law and elements of social safety her net, including workers’ compensation in the event of injury.
Hourly wage platform Snagajob says those shifts will triple from 2020 to 2021, and likely quintuple in 2022.
Matthew Stevenson, CEO of Sunagajobs, said: “If they were getting ultimate flexibility and all the compensation they wanted from a full-time employer, I think shifts would probably be less necessary. “But the reality is that the vast majority of companies just can’t offer you that much flexibility. It’s like, ‘I want to do something special with my family, or I need to pay my utility bills.’ For a reason, if you want to add $150, this is the way to go.”
Not only gig jobs online, but also a stepping stone to other opportunities.
it worked for Silvia Valladares, the 24-year-old began taking shifts at Snagajob a few years ago to support her life as an art college student in the company’s first market, Richmond, Virginia. Washing dishes and catering at various locations allowed her to work between her classes. But while working at her events venue called Dover Hall, she honed in on hospitality and decided to make it her own career.
“I got to know the full-time employees and management, and they got to know me,” Valladares said. “I eventually asked if I could work here and was hired as a full-time employee.” Now, as her director at Bed and Breakfast, she’s one of her gigs posted on her Snagajob.
Worker advocates say allowing many competing employers to post shifts at the last minute through intermediaries would allow them to change rates at will and remove many of the legal obligations employers must meet. But they say it still pushes workers to the limits of the labor market. Research on labor outsourcing shows that agency workers are generally poorly compensated compared to their directly hired colleagues.
