This PwC report states that more than half of financial institutions say they expect to have more ‘gig economy’ based employees over the next three to five years. Could this be a result of the Coronavirus pandemic?
More than half of financial institutions say they expect to have more ‘gig economy’ based employees over the next three to five years. The second iteration of PwC’s productivity research, that surveyed over 500 financial services businesses globally, and received over 60 percent of responses from C-suite leaders, looked at some key workstreams implemented by financial services businesses and evaluated its impact on productivity.
The upskilling of the workforce is a key element to improving productivity within financial services, the report claims. This includes better understanding of the workforce, embracing the platform economy and gig workers and making sure employees are equipped with the right digital tools, specialist knowledge and soft skills to navigate in the new normal of the business world. Firms need new capabilities – both in-house and through outsourcing – as technology solutions increasingly involve collaboration with third parties.
Despite increasingly available on-demand talent, most institutions still rely primarily on full-time and part-time employees. Among respondents, contractors comprise just 9 percent of the workforce, and gig-economy talent makes up just 5 percent.
PwC believes that gig economy employees will likely perform between 15 percent and 20 percent of the work of a typical institution within five years, driven by continuous cost pressure and the need to access digitally skilled talent.
However, there are challenges for financial services businesses taking on gig economy working, which will require overcoming several obstacles. The survey shows that the most common issue cited by respondents include confidentiality concerns (44%), a lack of knowledge (43%), regulatory risk (42%) and overall risk avoidance (37 %).
Click here to read the full report