In the article, “Are Gig Workers Employees?” (Upfront, Grise, 2021) I learned that people who worked jobs such as Uber, Lyft, and similar jobs are starting to want to be considered employees and not just as temporary workers. These types of jobs rely on independent workers who choose when they want to work. Although some of these independent workers enjoy the flexibility that comes with working these types of jobs, more than half of these workers were worried about not making ends meet. The reason for this is that these independent workers don’t receive all of the benefits that most employees receive. Now workers are fighting for these benefits, and want to be treated as real employees and not just as independent workers. The reason why this has become a big issue is that nearly 50% of Gen Z was reported taking on freelance work in 2020.
My take on this issue is that it depends on how dedicated these workers are to taking on these types of jobs. If someone just does it as a side hustle and only works every now and then, then I don’t think they should receive the same benefits as an employee would, such as sick days and all that type of stuff. This is because it would make it harder for the companies to keep track of when they start and stop working. However, for the people who are dedicated and actually take on these jobs as full-time jobs, I think that they should receive the benefits that employees receive, because it is their full-time job, and would benefit them more.
Do you think gig workers should be considered employees?
