By: John Whelan, CEO of My Digital
The pandemic highlighted the instability of permanent work and many people turned to temporary work to get by, resulting in a boom in the gig economy. The temporary labour market includes one in seven UK workers, which is up 25% in the last two decades and this is expected to surge to almost 300% in the next three years as the need for flexibility with work prevails following the global pandemic.
It’s clear that ‘jobs for life’ are a thing of the past. The economy is opening back up and vital industries, like hospitality which has been hampered since March 2020, are opening their doors to busy crowds. Temporary labour will be crucial to the country’s economic recovery.
However, this flexible workforce needs to be accurately paid and taxed for their labour. Today’s accounting processes are too slow to keep up with this fast-paced market and the growth of the temporary labour market supply chain from end client to worker adds to the complication. Therefore, all parties need accurate, real-time information for payroll, from ID checks to timesheets, to cash matching and accounting ledgers.
The boom in the gig economy has triggered the need for payroll to be brought into the 21st century and undergo a digital transformation, as accountants and HR personnel are currently being let down and losing potential business through outdated systems.
Technology has powered the growth of the gig economy, look at Uber and Deliveroo, two of the fastest growing companies this decade, yet the technology needed to power this market financially isn’t up to speed.
The ‘new norm’ calls for a flexible workforce
The world of work has changed from traditional 9 to 5 office working to a more flexible working environment, with employees demanding home working and possibly even different working hours. Employers have had over a year to get used to this and are now more open to this way of working, utilising technology to connect workforces.
Therefore, employers are now embracing the idea of using temporary labour to fill gaps in the workforce, instead of taking on permanent workers. This new way of working is called Quantum Employment, where work is broken down into its smallest components to minutes on a timesheet. Both employers and employees can benefit from this as the temporary labour market flourishes over the next few years.
The Quantum Workforce is made up of temporary workers which harbour industry-specific skills and can be employed to fit businesses needs, as and when they need a job completed. Not only can cafes, bars and restaurants hire waiting staff but employers who may need a coder in a specific coding language or a marketing department who needs a temporary social media expert, can now access the Quantum Workforce to seamlessly integrate resources into their workforce. However, with the growing supply chain supporting this way of working, a number of challenges have appeared.
Digital transformation in the form of Quantum Employment Design
This multiplying workforce still needs to be onboarded, paid and taxed. Although recruiters, Professional Employer Organisations (PEOs) and umbrella companies offer solutions to this, they are still challenged with legacy, on-premise systems themselves. These make it difficult to keep up with the fast-paced Quantum Workforce. Full transparency is essential to keep and accurately process up to date information and also, for workers to be paid on time.
Quantum Employment Design (QED) offers a solution and speeds up the processes which are needed to manage the growing Quantum Workforce. QED is a cloud-native platform designed to support the flexible workforce. It reduces the time and man-power needed to administer the new world of work.
Today’s payroll and accounting services need to be able to handle thousands of onboarding experiences for Quantum Workers, as well as process thousands of payments on a weekly basis and on-premise solutions are not up to the task.
QED accelerates these processes significantly, by understanding and adapting quickly to changes. It also integrates with third-party systems to automate timesheets and invoices, taking away the manual processes and reducing the need for extra man-power in financial departments.
The new era of digital accounting
Technology has been an enabler for many throughout the pandemic, from video conferencing to accessing files, and many incumbent industries have now realised their systems and processes are out of date.
QED is pioneering the way for the accounting industry. By utilising cloud-based technology which evolves in real-time, flexible employment, taxation and accountancy can drive the future of work and ease the administrative burden placed on accountants. It will transform the way the temporary labour market is managed.
It’s time to get the digital transformation ball rolling.
