Opportunities in the Web Work Revolution
The web work revolution is changing the way people are employed and how employees think about employers: An increasing number of people are working as freelancers, and employees are switching jobs far more rapidly than they have in the past. How, then, do we migrate the established “rules of work” to this new scenario? How do we ensure that everyone has the same advocacy, the same protection from abusive employers that traditional employees have? And how can employers make sure that they attract and retain the best talent?
These questions were among those pondered at yesterday’s “Future of Work” GigaOM Bunker Series event. None of them have easy answers; it’s a difficult time for businesses as they struggle to adapt to this new reality. However, as companies like Elance and oDesk have shown, there are plenty of opportunities for startups that can help facilitate the shift.
In my wrap-up article about the event for GigaOM Pro, “Opportunities Abound as the ‘Rules of Work’ are Broken” (sub. req.) I provide some examples of some of the opportunities that are presented by the web work revolution, and some of the businesses that are trying to exploit those opportunities, including DoYouBuzz, a “live resume” startup, ClearGears, a startup focused on improving performance reviews, and SayHired, a company that automates phone screening.
You can read the full article here and see the video archives of the event here (GigaOM Pro sub. req.).
What opportunities can you see as the business world struggles to adapt to the web work revolution?
Reading posts like this make me want to quit reading GigaOm sites. I can hardly consider you doing more to promote companies like Elance and oDesk, beyond running an ad pro bono.
If WebWorkerDaily readers want to hear about the future of work, we want to hear about opportunities for Web workers. Not how businesses are going to exploit the growth in remote workers and freelancers.
I know you’ll think I’m biased since I work here at GigaOM, but I’m speaking as a regular reader of Web Worker Daily (I read it because I like it, not because I work here), I think Simon’s piece was interesting. The discussion at our in-office event yesterday was a lot about how services are evolving to enable lifestyles pioneered by web working folks, even within corporate jobs. As someone who benefits from a single-employer lifestyle with a web-working approach to where, when and how I do my job, I think its cool to see ways companies/startups (many started by web workers, it seems) are helping (maybe my future?) employers cater to those of us looking for these work environments.
Opportunities for web workers and companies exploiting the changes in the way we work are pretty deeply intertwined, though, Steven. As more companies rush to fill this space, there will be even more interesting opportunities created for web workers.
As for the comment on Elance and oDesk, many web workers use their services; it would be wrong to ignore them.
I agree with Steven. This article told us nothing except we need to subscribe to the premium service so we can read more articles about the subject. There was zero meat to this article. WWD could really set itself apart by talking about where the web worker jobs are and what the future for them is. I have evolved into one by accident, and want to develop some sort of career along this path.