**5. Findings**

All respondents agreed that Gig working was emerging as a popular mode of employment for individuals seeking autonomy and flexibility in the choice and time of work. The discussions with the respondents provided interesting insights into an internal gig working, as well as enabling and motivation for sustaining the same. Based on the discussion, four broad themes have emerged from the data: motivation to work in an internal gig, client support, and acceptance, systemic organizational enablers, the role of leadership.

#### **5.1 Motivation to work on internal gig assignments**

Thirty-seven percent of the respondents indicated a keenness to adopt this new way of work, contingent on specific enablers. Interestingly, nearly all of the respondents believe that gig work will be a significant part of talent management practices and shape future ways of working. However, concerns were raised about the organization's support and commensurate incentives for taking on additional work.

*The Emerging New Order: Exploring New Ways to Build an Internal Gig Employment System… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96731*

Fifty-nine percent of the respondents preferred not to take on internal gig work and continue with the conventional system of one full-time assignment for the project's duration. The primary concerns were related to people and reward processes such as performance review authority, reporting and alignment, time allocation, and prioritization challenges between projects and their multiple stakeholder requirements. A few respondents felt that this way of working would increase working stress and work hours [23]. Fifteen percent commented on how flexibility in the work schedule could be more burdensome. While gig working enables the worker to work from anywhere, any time, it can lead to a tendency to work continuously [9].

*"Autonomy and flexibility can be acted as a double-edged sword if you ask me, while it enables you to work from anywhere at any time, it might also lead to a position where you work at everywhere all the time, it can actually rub out the line between your personal life and work life."*

*Respondent 21*

*"As it is, there is no fixed start and end of the day in our current projects. We jump when the client asks us to. Imagine having to do this for multiple clients."*

*Respondent 5*

*"If I work 3 hours a day for one project, 5 hours a day for another project, and 2 hours on the third, how would my performance evaluation be done? Some projects may finish in 3-6 months, and some may continue for over a year. How would this be factored into my effort and incentives?"*

*Respondent 8*

For the respondents keen on taking up internal gig work, the reward aspects of faster career growth, cross-domain and industry learning, and financial benefits were reasons for adoption.

*"If a project is on the emerging technology of interest or provides me a great learning opportunity, I would opt for this. It would enrich my resume, keep me relevant and employable."*

*Respondent 27*

Eighteen percent of the respondents highlighted the flexibility and autonomy of gig working as the most appealing factor. Flexibility in location, time, and employment relationships gives the workers a sense of control and power, which they value and appreciate. This reinforces studies on external gig working, where the autonomous nature of gig working helps workers decide the timing, set the goals, prioritize them, resulting in greater autonomy and need satisfaction for workers and retention for the organization [24].

While a few of the respondents felt that internal gig working was likely to enhance work stress and work–family conflict, they conceded the possibility that it may increases- job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance.

The importance of monetary rewards and the emphasis on the financial benefits of being a gig worker were not explicitly said to be motivational factors for working in the I-Gig. Fifty-nine percent of the interviewees admitted monetary benefits would not be a significant reason to enter to I-Gig even though it is an enticing bonus.

*Beyond Human Resources - Research Paths towards a New Understanding of Workforce...*

*"Even though monetary benefits from the internal gig is alluring, to me, the reason I will go for I-Gig would be the excitement of doing something different and more challenging."*

*Respondent 8*

Forty-eight percent of the participants suggested that gig working will enable them to have a mosaic career and leverage their skills and expertise in multiple streams.

*"In most of the projects, we are assigned to the project because we are available and have experience in that skill or domain. I-Gig will allow me to choose what skills I work on, apart from what the organization asks me to do. That way, I navigate my career direction. In a sense, I-Gig allows me to be the master of my fate, captain of my soul!"*

*Respondent 18*

#### **5.2 Client support and acceptance**

All respondents agreed unanimously that client acceptance and support were critical for enabling internal gig working. All the participants pointed out that being at the receiving end of the I-gig, clients might have particular concerns about security and privacy of their data, performance management of critical resources and the project, people management and movement in and out of the project, balancing I-gig autonomy and project on-time fulfillment as some of the concerns [25].

*"In many of the projects, the ultimate client determines who will or will not work on the projects, especially for critical roles. I would imagine that there would be significant challenges in getting a client to agree on either certain roles or a certain percentage of the project team as internal gig workers, not permanently dedicated to the client. Apart from security, compliances, and data privacy issues, clients may perceive this absence of commitment as a project risk."*

*Respondent 19*

Negotiations on the client service agreement and the work scope would require internal gig workers' contractual obligations to be agreed upon by all the parties.

Forty percent of the respondents also raised concern over how the organization and its clients would manage the I-gig employees' infrastructure. They also commented that specific policies and legal compliance should be fulfilled, which is essential to dispel the I-gig's precarious and uncertain nature [15].

*"There should be proper MSA SOW and other policies and contractual obligations to be fulfilled by both the parties. Otherwise, there will always hover an ambiguity, and that will affect every aspect of performance."*

*Respondent 12*

#### **5.3 Organizational systemic enablers**

Like external gig working, which is enabled through a digital platform [9], seventy-four percent of the respondents felt an automated platform was an essential *The Emerging New Order: Exploring New Ways to Build an Internal Gig Employment System… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96731*

enabler to build transparent internal gig working. They highlighted different requirements such as transparency in project and client requirements, baseline skills and expert skill levels for selection to a project, automated and transparent performance feedback system, clear work time allocation and scheduling, virtual training, on-time reward disbursement, as some system enablers.

Sixty-three percent specified the instrumentality of pay commensurate with the effort, and rich reward and recognition schemes would be required for I-Gig's organic growth.

*"It would be great if the talent and demand generation platform could rank expertise levels, average feedback from client projects, just like an Uber platform does. That way, building a good reputation would get me more interesting projects apart from public recognition."*

*Respondent 12*

Eighty-five percent of the participants raised their concerns over reporting and peer relationships. Ambiguity on administrative reporting, how the work would be monitored, what kind of interactions and dynamics may have between the team members were created a foggy view and begot obscurity among the participants [3].

*"While I may have three project managers, who would sanction my leave or my travel approvals and claims? Would I need to get approval from all of them for my leave? What happens when two approve, and the other doesn't?"*

*Respondent 21*

The other requisites were proper training and mentorship, Employee Assistance Programs, and counseling sessions.

*"I anticipate that navigating the work relationships, managing multiple stakeholders, and delivering work across multiple time zones, industries and projects is like juggling 1000 balls all at once. People need to be trained on how to manage this. Additionally, there should be outlets for the stress created due to this. Special counselor and employee assistance programs are critical for employees to feel supported while they navigate this new way of working."*

*Respondent 17*

#### **5.4 Role of leadership**

Leadership support emerged as a substantial factor for enabling I-Gig. The emphasis on the different approaches mentioned earlier and the relevant systems and processes put in place were most strongly influenced by leadership behavior. Seventy percent of the participants remarked that internal gig working was likely to be ineffective and unsuccessful without affirmative leadership action. Leaders have to be prompt and discreet and drive I-gig with affirmative targets. Clear outcome-based deliverables and adequate time need to be allocated by the leaders.

*"Many project teams hoard a critical or niche resource and are unwilling to release them for other projects. If such a person is opting for I-Gig, without leadership* 

*mandating the move, the internal mobility and flexibility to work on I-Gig are not likely to materialize. Senior leaders pushing this objective is the only way that delivery managers below would release people for I-Gig."*

*Respondent 25*

The need for social affiliation and social identity is a big motivator for gigworking [12]. While this is available for permanent employees, thirty-three percent of respondents felt that I-gig employees' autonomy needs would happen only with leadership support.

*"I may want to work on I-Gig, see an appropriate opportunity on the talent demand creation platform, but unless the leader is carrying some target percentage, I may not be released by my immediate manager, my interest notwithstanding."*

*Respondent 1*

Finally, managing the client relationship and engagement was unanimously argued to the top leadership's primary responsibility. Therefore, getting client acceptance, negotiating financial terms, and enabling appropriate security, data privacy, and client compliance requirements were best managed by the leadership team.

*"Clients may agree if there is value appropriation. The leadership team can only decide on this. A project delivery manager cannot persuade the client without leadership support."*

*Respondent 14*

#### **5.5 Framework for developing an internal gig working**

Basis the findings, we propose the model (**Figure 1**) to institutionalize internal gig working within the IT Service organizations. In other words, leaders can increase or decrease each of these activities' effectiveness and impact the alignment among them. The participants highlighted that not only internal fit but also external fit is critical. As a result, we positioned leadership as a link between the organization's desired state and organizational activities. This is consistent with the existing literature. For example, ([26], p. 458) suggested that leaders need to "articulate a vision that focuses on employees' attention on their contributions."

Since IT Service organizations cater to client needs, getting the client concurrence on inducting internal gig workers needs to be navigated. With concerns on the quality of talent, work accountability, data privacy and security, and mandatory compliances emerging as some commonly cited concerns, clients may resist this model. Additionally, if value appropriation is not managed in the service contracts, the clients may have no incentive to allow this model of working to flourish.

The IT Service organization has to set up an enabling ecosystem, including infrastructural support, gig-work internal market platforms, robust performance management, reward systems, career paths for I-Gig workers, and employee support systems to help employees navigate and adopt this. Not all employees may adopt I-Gig, but motivations may differ for ones that may experiment with this new way of working. The organization's HR practices would significantly shape I-Gig's adoption and acceptance in IT Service organizations.

*The Emerging New Order: Exploring New Ways to Build an Internal Gig Employment System… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96731*

#### **Figure 1.**

*Framework for building and internal gig environment in IT service organizations.*

The success of institutionalizing I-Gig in IT/ITeS organizations would hinge on successful change management on multiple fronts. We argue that a weak link in any of these dimensions may derail the entire mechanism within organizations looking to adopt this.

#### **6. Conclusion**

The workplace is changing, and the concept of the employee, employer, organizational relationships are becoming more complex. Alternative work arrangements are increasing, both in various schemas and in numbers of people opting for them [9]. To sustain gig working, all the stakeholders should understand the challenges and constraints of gig working and focus on building more compatible HRM practices [11]. Gig working, as a phenomenon, has seen a significant recent growth trend. This can be attributed to low barriers to entry, flexibility, i.e., enabling workers to work whenever and wherever they like, made feasible by technological advancement [5]. However, the pitfalls of external gig working necessitate the exploration of new models of internal gig working. Internal gig working in organizations helps build connections and provide a broader purpose to individuals, establishing work identities and legitimacy, a sense of self-esteem, and security [4]. While these can be argued to enhance productivity and profitability, there have been studies to understand the challenges of building an enabling ecosystem within organizations.

Our study found that organizations need a multi-pronged approach to build an internal gig environment in the workplace. Internal gig working can emerge as a viable solution since the organizations can benefit from labour cost reduction, increased flexibility, enhanced scalability, and immediate availability of efficient labour [14]. Workers will also benefit from increased work opportunities that were not available before, low barriers to entry, and more flexibility.

The role of leadership in developing and incubating this system and orchestrate the appropriate change management is fundamental to the new order of working.

The three significant stakeholders in accepting and promoting I-GIG in IT and ITeS organizations are the clients, the IT/ITeS organizations, and their employees. We examined the potential concerns and suggest the commensurate mitigation for each of these stakeholders.
