‘Gig economy’ to push demand for workspaces

CEBU, Philippines —  Developers and building owners are told to prepare for the emergence of the ‘gig economy’, which is composed of freelancer talents who only need smaller and temporary working spaces.

Market intelligence experts are the Colliers International Philippines indicated in its latest report that shift to freelancing jobs, which will give rise to gig economy in the Philippines, calls for the development of facilities of this new tenant market profile such as coworking spaces (with strict rules on social distancing), sharing the cost of

space rental a day or other short term packages.

Colliers believes that the Philippines’ rising competitiveness as a gig economy is likely to push demand for flexible workspaces.

Aside from work from home setup, freelance workers also prefer to work outside of their houses and use common infrastructure, such as equipment, utilities, and receptionist and custodial services, and in some cases refreshments and parcel acceptance services, in a coworking facility.

Aside from micro, small, and medium businesses, the growing share of millennials and Gen Z employees to the country’s workforce is also expected to chip in to co-working space demand.

“We are likely to see a rise in demand for flexible workspaces in the near term as businesses implement split operations,” Colliers predicted.

“Going forward, we are likely to see these workspaces implementing social distancing measures, resulting in greater flexible workspace allotted per client.  We also see operators in the Philippines providing better technology as well as improving clients' meeting experience as they aim to differentiate,” it added.

Republic Act 11165, or the Telecommuting Act, was signed into law to allow employees to conduct work at home or remotely outside the workplace.

The shift to telecommuting is a welcome development to the nation’s rising gig economy, which thrives on hiring employees on a flexible and freelance setup through online platforms.

According to Payoneer’s 2019 Global Gig-Economy index, the Philippines currently ranks sixth in the world and is the fastest growing market for the gig industry, with a 35 percent year-over-year growth in freelance earnings.

Cebu IT-BPM Organization (CIB.O) managing director Wilfredo Sa-a Jr. said along with the shift of talent requirements in the outsourcing sector, freelancing jobs are also on the rise in Cebu.

“Part-timers are slowly becoming a practice in the industry,” Sa-a said.

This development will give professionals who have other jobs, or even those stay-at-home mom’s to get part time jobs in outsourcing.

According to Sa-a, Cebu’s adaption to “Gig Economy” is very fast because of the availability of highly-skilled talents here.

A gig economy is a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organizations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements. The term "gig" is a slang word meaning "a job for a specified period of time" and is typically used in referring to musicians.