Innovation in the Gig Economy

High-pressure, fast-paced work environments are like hot sauce on the brain—they keep everything on fire. While leaders might thrive on this continual state of excitement and ambition, expecting all employees to sustain this intensity is unrealistic. Such an environment can lead to: → Burnout → Disillusionment → High turnover But what if you’re on a mission to change the world or accomplish big things? How can you cultivate a culture of innovation that also supports a sustainable workforce? ⦿ Flexible Schedules: Foster innovation with flexible hours and remote work options, as demonstrated by Google. ⦿ Clear Boundaries: Limit after-hours work and communication to avoid burnout, a strategy championed by 37signals. ⦿ Promote Well-being: Invest in wellness programs and mental health resources, like those offered by Asana. ⦿ Create Innovation Labs: Set up dedicated spaces or times for experimentation and creativity, like 3M's famous 15% rule. ⦿ Encourage Regular Breaks: Implement mandatory downtime, similar to Slack's "no meetings" Fridays, to boost creativity and reduce fatigue. ⦿ Mentorship Programs: Pair employees with mentors to nurture growth and support, following the model used by Pixar Animation Studios to encourage creative collaboration. wearemotto.com

Calling my 2025 predictions — saying the things out loud that a lot of us are thinking: 1. The "full-time vs freelance / consultant" divide will disappear. Top talent will flow between both freely, own their time. 2. Location becomes irrelevant for expertise, timezone alignment stays crucial. Asynchronous work will make work more efficient. Less avoidable live meetings 😅 3. Super-specialized nano / micro agencies emerge, tapping into trusted networks. Think 3-person teams doing what 30-person agencies did, or 30-person teams doing what 300-person agencies did. 4. Portfolio-based hiring overtakes resume-based. Show me, don't tell me becomes the norm (including during interviews!) 5. AI doesn't replace intelligent jobs. It replaces tasks, and transforms roles. How good are you at using AI tools matter more over many old-school skills. 6. Reputation becomes currency. Personal brands, peer reviews, and public feedback will play a larger role in career growth than traditional titles or tenure. 7. Skills > Degrees. Next-gen companies will not care for degrees, they will prioritize demonstrable expertise over formal education. 8. Work-life blur becomes the norm. As remote and hybrid work mature, the separation of work and personal time will fade. Success will hinge on personal boundaries and intentional downtime What else will change in work in the next 1 to 5 years? #2025trends #futureofwork

By 2028, independent workers will dominate. And according to Runa's latest data, 70% will quit if you miss just one payment. Nearly half of gig workers cite payment delays as their biggest challenge, while 31% struggle with excessive fees eating into their already thin earnings. When payments are late, the damage goes beyond simple frustration. - 40% of workers face real financial strain when their money doesn't arrive on time. - 29% experience significant emotional stress, and a quarter can't even pay their bills or are forced to dip into their savings just to survive. For business owners, this directly impacts your bottom line. Nearly a third of workers will switch platforms entirely over persistent payment issues. Content creators are even more brutal - 44% would jump ship immediately. For businesses that recognize this early, there's a massive opportunity. The businesses that actually fix their payment systems gain powerful strategic advantages: 1. They attract top talent when competitors can't 2. They demonstrate execution excellence that extends beyond payments 3. They position themselves as innovators in a field full of followers What these workers actually want isn't complicated. 45% want instant payouts. 37% want lower fees. And 60% prefer digital wallet options like PayPal or Venmo over traditional methods. There's also a hidden opportunity almost no one is capitalizing on yet. When you offer instant payouts to digital gift cards with just a 2-5% bonus, nearly half of workers will take part of their payment this way. For direct sellers, that number jumps to 70%. The solution comes down to 3 actions: 1. Prioritize speed and reliability above everything else 2. Give workers complete control over payment timing 3. Minimize fees while making them transparent In today's fierce talent competition, payment innovation isn't just operational efficiency. It's your competitive differentiator. ♻️ Repost if you believe the future belongs to businesses that pay people properly. 🔔 Follow for frameworks on building systems that scale without compromise. 💡 Want the full research? Download the complete report at: runa.io/research

Most companies claim they embrace failure. But walk into their Monday meetings, and watch people scramble to hide their missteps. I've seen it countless times. The same leaders who preach 'fail fast' are the first to demand explanations for every setback. Here's the uncomfortable truth:  Innovation dies in environments where people feel safer playing it safe. But there's a difference between reckless failure and strategic experimentation. Let me show you exactly how to build a culture that genuinely embraces productive failure: 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 Stop asking "Who's fault was this?" and start asking: "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨?" "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘴?" "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯?" 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 '𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬' Monthly meetings where teams present their failed experiments and the insights gained. The key? Leaders must go first. Share your own failures openly, specifically, and without sugar-coating. 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 "24-𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞" After any setback, give teams 24 hours to vent/process. Then require them to present three specific learnings and two potential next steps. This transforms failure from a dead end into a data point. Most "innovative" teams are just risk-averse businesses in disguise. They've mastered innovation theater, not actual innovation. Don't let your people think they need permission to innovate. Instead, start building systems and a culture that make innovation inevitable.

Hourly workers don’t just care about their finances - they care deeply. They’re worried about retirement and making ends meet, and they’re actively working on improving their credit to achieve these and other financial goals. But many employers don’t share this same level of care for their workers’ finances… as reflected in their outdated worker pay schedules. These late paychecks aren’t just a harmless error; they’re a deliberate choice. The reality? Large employers get interest-free loans from their workers’ unpaid wages. Think about that. Walmart doesn’t need a working capital loan from its associates. When it comes to solving this problem, the gig economy leads the way. Companies like Uber and Lyft are offering solutions like streaming pay, which allows drivers to get paid after each ride. For workers, this model is a game-changer - because it's equitable. You work, you get paid. Simple as that. Faster pay isn’t just a convenience - it’s crucial for helping workers buy gas, cover dinner, and avoid predatory practices like check-cashing services and late fees. (Imagine having to pay a late fee because you’re paid monthly. It’s not just inconvenient; it’s unacceptable.) That’s why, at WorkWhile, we pay within 24 hours. We’re also launching a prepaid debit card that lets workers access their pay right after a shift - a change that’s making a real impact on these individuals’ lives. The future of work needs to include timely, accessible pay. Let’s make it happen.

Our next installment of Ascen's Staffing Industry Spotlight presents Atif Siddiqi, Founder & CEO of Branch, a leading workforce payments platform enabling faster, more flexible pay. Branch has rapidly become one of the top ways to pay workers in the gig economy and frontline workers. It makes sense - they have a great app, give workers a full bank account, and have done a ton of work making their APIs and integrations powerful for gig platforms and HRIS systems. But it didn't happen overnight; Atif went through the entrepreneur's journey of learning what the market wanted to eventually land on product market fit with Branch. Here are four key insights from the conversation: 1️⃣ Faster Pay = Stronger Retention When workers know they can get paid instantly after a shift, they take more shifts and stay longer. Instant payments are a significant competitive advantage in high-turnover industries. It's now table stakes in the gig economy to have same-day, instant pay. 2️⃣ Banking Barriers Are Real Many workers struggle to access traditional banking, whether due to KYC issues, a lack of credit history, or past financial setbacks. 3️⃣ Tips Need Modern Solutions Atif shares stories of restaurant managers running to ATMs for tip payouts and armored cash trucks delivering bags of cash. Now, digital tips are paid instantly with apps like Branch, and it's a massive win for frontline restaurant workers. 4️⃣ Embedded Finance is the Future Employers are realizing that slow, costly payment methods hurt hiring. The future is seamless, digital, and worker-friendly. Many gig platforms have embedded apps like Branch into their infrastructure, making seamless experiences for workers. Enjoy!

Creating a culture of innovation starts with making space for it. I learned that innovation requires time that is untethered from the daily grind. In my latest initiative, we instituted "innovation hours"—a set time each week when the team could explore new ideas without the pressure of immediate deadlines or deliverables. During these hours, the usual hierarchy flattened. Everyone, from interns to executives, had an equal voice. The diversity of thought led to some of our most creative projects. It wasn't about forcing creativity but providing the right conditions for it to flourish. Encouraging this practice showed me that when you give people the space to think creatively, they will. Make innovation hours a part of your company's routine and watch the seeds of creativity grow into something extraordinary.

My research lab has a new CSCW scientific paper on creating culturally-aware AI tools for digital labor. We introduce CultureFit, an AI powered tool designed to adapt to diverse work styles (monochronic vs. polychronic), improving worker well-being & productivity across 24 countries. 🌎 👷♂️ 💡 Key Highlights: 🌟 Through a controlled user study we identified significant earnings boost for underrepresented workers 🔨 We are open-sourcing and sharing our tool, which is one of the first designed to accommodate the diverse cultural work styles of gig workers. 📊 We share a dataset on culture & digital work 🔮 We discuss the future possibilities for culturally-inclusive design Curious about how culture can transform digital workspaces? Read more: [Link in comments] 📖✨ This work was done with the awesome Carlos Toxtli, Christopher Curtis at Northeastern University Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Clemson University, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México #ArtificialIntelligence, #AI, #MachineLearning, #DeepLearning, #AIInnovation, #NeuralNetworks, #TechInnovation, #AIFuture, #AITechnology, #DataScience, #Automation, #AIResearch, #AIApplications, #EthicalAI, #AIEthics, #GenerativeAI, #NaturalLanguageProcessing, #AIForGood, #SmartTechnology, #AIInAction, #AITrends, #FutureOfWork, #AICommunity, #HumanCenteredAI, #AI4All, #ResponsibleAI, #AIRevolution, #AIInBusiness, #CognitiveComputing, #AIDevelopment #GigWork, #GigEconomy, #Freelancers, #GigWorkers, #FutureOfWork, #DigitalLabor, #PlatformWork, #FreelanceLife, #OnDemandWork, #GigJobs, #WorkFlexibility, #Freelancing, #SideHustle, #GigCulture, #RemoteWork, #IndependentWorkers, #GigOpportunities, #WorkFromAnywhere, #DigitalWorkforce, #PlatformEconomy, #WorkerRights, #GigWorkerSupport, #FreelanceCommunity, #WorkInnovation, #GigWorkLife, #IndependentContractors, #FairGigWork, #PlatformLabor, #WorkerEmpowerment, #GigEconomyInsights

Instant Pay: The Game-Changer for Staffing & Gig Workers in 2025 💰 The gig economy is soaring—projected to reach $1.2 trillion globally by 2027, with 59 million Americans freelancing (36% of the workforce). Yet, 49% of gig workers say delayed pay hurts their financial stability (Upwork, 2024). Traditional payroll’s weekly lags don’t cut it for nurses, drivers, or freelancers who need cash flow now. 🚀 At Everee, we’re revolutionizing payroll with instant payouts. Our embedded solutions let staffing agencies and gig platforms pay workers the moment a shift ends—76% of workers say this boosts loyalty (Paychex, 2024). In healthcare staffing, where 56,000 jobs were added in April 2024 (BLS), same-day pay is a talent magnet. Our Flex Suite slashes admin time by 40%, automates compliance across 50 states, and delivers detailed pay stubs in seconds. Why does this matter? Real-time pay isn’t just convenience—it’s a strategic edge. Companies offering flexible pay cycles see 33% higher retention (G2, 2024). Whether it’s a nurse covering a bill or a driver fueling up, instant pay builds trust and keeps workers coming back. 💡 What’s your view? How can payroll innovation reshape the staffing and gig industries? Share below or DM me to explore the future of pay! #PayrollRevolution #GigEconomy #EmbeddedPayroll

My latest in Forbes, How Freelancing Is Becoming The New Leadership Path: https://lnkd.in/eqCiWDCU Nothing makes me happier than remembering whose most valuable in our space - freelancers. This piece highlights an incredible freelancer while showing an important problem we all need to solve for - enabling a full career lifecycle for freelancers. There’s a beautiful thing about the career path from entry, to management, to executive. Riley Kaminer shows that freelance can have this career progression while staying a freelancer. In Riley's case, he does this through ClearCritical, a freelance network that enables him the execution, leadership, and scale that Executives or Agencies produce at. In his case, rather than individual articles, and rather than doing all the work himself, his freelance network enables him to provide clients a full content department while maintaining the benefits of speed and flexibility that freelancers provide. We’re seeing incredible solutions for this level of freelancing throughout the industry. Platforms like Wripple, CodeMonk, and We Are Rosie are just a few that can spin up freelance teams. Fast growing startups like Upside are monetizing peer to peer referrals. And established startups like Wethos enable freelancers to scale freelance studios, while financial platforms like Collective automate the back office finance and accounting functions that bog down freelancing at scale. We're also seeing companies lean in. Microsoft’s freelance leader Nuri Demirci Lopez recently published the book Leading The Unknown: Strategies for Leading Remote or GIG Teams. Unilever launched an Open2U Talent Community. Salesforce uses a Culture in a Box Process that onboards both employees and freelancers together. Johnson & Johnson has a freelancer portal in their Careers Page, along with "Sponsors" who have a supervisory relationship with freelancers. According to Peter Fasolo, Ph.D., chief human resources officer (CHRO) at Johnson & Johnson, having roles that build a bond between freelancers and J&J prioritizes broader professional development. It’s an exciting time to be building in the freelance economy!