Last year I got laid off twenty one (21) times. My longest job lasted six weeks, the shortest one day. It used to bother me, even though I know it is the nature of the business. I have learned through the years to use my time between jobs to my benefit. The first week I busy myself with taking care of appointments and ‘honey do’s’. In fact I often don’t start looking until the end of my first week off. During the second week I remember to use the time to exert extra effort in my spiritual practice, in addition to actively seeking work and everything else. If it gets to be the start of the third week, while my wife has been getting up at her usual early time to go to work, she may look at me and say “Isn’t it about time you got back to work?”.
They now call it the “gig economy”, “shared economy”, or “on demand workforce”, which covers freelancers and independent contractors. Some estimate that 55 million people, or nearly 35% of the workforce do some freelance work. The benefits of this are many, including greater freedom and flexibility to work the job around your schedule or lifestyle. The option to be able to create a work niche that allows you to use varied skills and be open to new unexplored opportunities is also appealing. It sounds odd to say that the lack of a steady job creates security, but exploring and utilizing new skills and contacts certainly can increase ones ability to find work. The primary downside to this new economic model is the lack of a consistent income. Contract work can dry up quickly and unexpectedly. Also workers need to prepare themselves for new costs such as insurance, unreimbursed expenses, and employment taxes. The freedom of not having a boss also removes many benefits and legal protections that many take for granted, such as severance pay, medical leave and disability, and workers compensation protection.
My work does not really fit in this category of gig work because I belong to a private sector union, that ensures that my employers have to provide the benefits. The similarity is that I have to continually find my own jobs, and my future employment depends on my consistent job performance and ability to network. The biggest benefit that I have personally noticed from this type of employment is that it has helped me develop resilience and the awareness that my future employment depends on my current performance. Sometimes I have an off day, for a variety of reasons, but the awareness that I am being evaluated on every project motivates me to almost always give my best effort and find ways to improve my performance. I view that as life training.