Charting the Growth of Hong Kong's Gig Economy

People in Hong Kong are taking the future of work into their own hands.

What do workers want? This question is now vital for employers to answer, as Asia Pacific continues to face record talent shortages. The region is expected to see a talent deficit topping 47 million by 2030 and Hong Kong has been cited as the third most difficult place to find skilled employees anywhere in the world.

Companies who understand what workers want and deliver it will be a step ahead in finding great people and keeping them on board – which is why it’s so important to talk about the gig economy, or “on demand” economy.

Participating in the on-demand economy means working freelance with more freedom, rather than the traditional Monday to Friday, 9-to-5 role. It might mean chauffeuring passengers around town via a ride-hailing app, building websites as an on-the-go digital nomad, or helping a food delivery service get delicious meals to people’s dinner tables. Whatever the role, many people choose to enter the gig economy because it offers control and flexibility; so workers can fit their work around their lives, rather than the other way around. On-demand workers are able to set their own hours, work as little or as much as they like at any given point, and take on multiple roles simultaneously.

The gig economy offers huge advantages for workers with other commitments – whether they’re a student who needs to adjust their weekly schedule based on coursework, a parent balancing work and childcare duties, or an employee who already has a full-time job but wants to make a little top-up income every now and then. On-demand work is also appealing to budding entrepreneurs who need to pay their bills, but still want to devote the majority of their time and energy to working on independent projects or building their own business.

All these benefits and more for gig workers, like those who choose to ride with Deliveroo, are made possible thanks to new technology platforms that put workers in control as never before. In many cases, a self-employed worker has the power to choose whether to work, where to work and when to work. They can reject a job at any time, start or finish work at any point, and even work for multiple companies simultaneously. This represents a fundamentally different relationship than that we are used to between employer and employee in in traditional forms of work. 

Gig work is on the rise around the world, particularly within APAC where 84% of talent managers say they engage gig workers – a full 19% above the global average.

In Hong Kong, we are also seeing a gig economy boom as people increasingly demand more choice, flexibility and control in how they work. Research undertaken for us at the end of 2018 found that nearly nine in 10 people in Hong Kong (87%) think it’s important to have the choice to set their own working hours and nearly half (45%) said their choice of work would be influenced by other commitments such as caring for family, pursuing a hobby or studying . This is the new reality companies have to respond to.

Of course, with the freedom and control offered by the gig economy, it is still essential that appropriate measures are put in place to protect workers, businesses and the public at large. Companies must support their self-employed workers, to ensure appropriate training and safety provisions. Deliveroo, for example, has offered free Red Cross first aid courses to riders and launched a free accident and third-party liability insurance package last year, giving riders in Hong Kong and worldwide accident and injury cover and allowing them to claim for lost income if they are unable to ride because of an on-the-job injury. We have called for a change to the regulation governing self-employment to enable platforms and companies to go even further to offer on-demand workers even more protections.

With the right approach, balancing flexibility and security, the gig economy has the power to transform the world of work as we know it. We are now seeing gig work attract a huge range of people across different industries, ages and experience levels. Collectively, these freelancers are ready to re-shape the interactions between workers, businesses and customers; fueling new business models that provide on-demand services to customers and new ways of working.

The future for the gig economy is wide open and there is no doubt that Hong Kong can be a frontrunner.