The development of the Gig Economy and its entry into the legal market

The fourth industrial revolution has changed business modelsthe way people prefer to develop their work and the labour market. In the latter sense, has contributed to the emergence of what is known as "gig economy," "freelance economy," or "collaborative economy".

The Gig Economy is a global phenomenon that was born in the United States a few years ago, spreading around the world, and that is the current trend to work for projects with start and end date. In this model, the worker called freelancer is independent and autonomousand provides all its resources: knowledge, experience, time and materials. There is talk of economy, as it is considered an environment in which temporary jobs or freelance work is common, and companies hire independent workers.

According to the results of the study "Freelancing in America: 2017" in the United States, 36% of the US labour force works independently and contributes to approximately US$1.4 billion a year to the economy. And this will continue to increase, it is expected that by 2020 the freelancers will be more than 43%, and even some analysts indicate that by 2030 they will make up 80% of the world's workforce. Chile is not left behind, and we hope that with the current draft law amending the Labour Code in the field of distance labouralso increase the number of independent workers in our country.

Also, according to the report EY-Contingent Workforce Survey Study -Spain 201650% of companies have seen an increase in the use of the Gig economy, while 40% were planning to increase the contracting for the next 5 years.

The legal culture has not been excluded from this change and flexible work is already being introduced into industry to adapt to the expectations of lawyers calling for a better balance between work and personal lifeas well as from companies that have seen in the alternative of working with lawyers per project, a the possibility of having expert professionals for specific cases, reducing costs of contractingwithout reducing the quality at work. This modality has already been consolidated in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, reaching a 30% increase in freelance lawyers in recent years. So, both companies and lawyers' studies must understand this new scenario as both a benefit and the key to retaining talent.

What has motivated so many professionals to choose this form of work? One of the great attributes of Freelance work is the job flexibility, allows to work where and when desired, to set working hours and pace, at the same time freedom to choose projectsand finally gives the the possibility of an increase in income.

Freelance workers, are deciding voluntarily to choose this model in consideration of the benefits they see in thisand are developing it by thinking proactively about market trends, taking advantage of the advances that technology is delivering to them for their productivity and connectivity, and updating their skills more often than traditional workers.

Let's be careful, the Gig Economy comes with strength and to stay.

Jimena Altuzarra, Communications Coordinator at Alster Legal.