Do your full-time flex employees have side jobs? With the sharing economy offering so many opportunities to earn extra income, workers are cashing in. Meanwhile, employers are left wondering if they are getting the hours they are paying for. Gig workers are a growing sector of the workforce, making the case for implementing an employee time tracking system even stronger.
The sharing economy is upending the traditional workplace experience and magnifying the need for accurate employee time tracking. For the roughly 45 million Americans who work within the on-demand workforce, the 40-hour work week spent behind a desk is an antiquated notion.
With so many businesses heeding the request for work-life balance, their employees may be experiencing newfound flexibility and freedom. While working from home and putting in non traditional hours, entertaining jobs within the sharing economy –offering easy money for sporadic work – can be tempting. Employers are then left wondering whether their full-time employees are driving for Uber, posting their condos on Airbnb or actually putting in their salaried hours. A study published in Information Age revealed that nearly half of gig workers surveyed have logged side job hours during their (regular job) workday.
The sharing economy, in its many forms, isn't going away. Employers must adjust to this changing workforce, short of giving full-time employees a hefty raise to ensure they won't take on side jobs. Although more money isn't likely to sway employees – particularly millennials – as flexibility is much more valuable. Implementing a smart employee time tracking system to monitor on-the-clock locations and ensure communication allows employers to let employees be flexible, while protecting the bottom line.
