The Gig Mindset in 2021 — You and Your Organization

This report, just published, is a three-year perspective based on two gig-mindset surveys in 2018 and 2021. I’ve included occasional references to data from 2014 and 2016 for an even broader perspective. See the details when you download a copy of the report here from my website.

My key observations:

Good but not great

• The 2021 data showed positive movement towards a more gig-mindset work culture, but no fundamental changes. Organizations are still mostly in traditional mode. The pandemic strengthened the gig mindset work culture — but not as dramatically as some people suggest.
• The bottom-up movement that revealed the emergence of the gig mindset several years ago is still active. The top 25% of people already scoring high for gig-mindset behaviors did not evolve between 2018 and 2021. However, the bottom 25% became more gig-mindset in their behaviors. This is more important than the top evolving, because it signals change is continuing throughout organizations.

Slow progression towards putting people in charge of work

• Organizations are inching towards liberating people to do their work as they see best by being more responsive and flexible, but 40% lean to inflexible and bureaucratic practices.
• Individuals are showing willingness to experiment and “dare to do” more than before. However genuine, deeper individual freedomssuch as challenging the status quo have not increased much.
• Individuals reported the impact on the pandemic was that they felt more freedom, able to break the rules and accomplish more. However, in spite of doing more networking, they did not feel “more connected”.

Business-critical warnings becoming more significant in today’s difficult business environment

• Senior management is a “serious concern holding us back” and has been for many years.
• Organizations still prioritize customers over employees. Amazing but true. How can they hope to keep customers?!

See the details when you download a copy of the report here from my website.

Let me know your thoughts. Questions? Disagreements?