WorkDesq Finds A Seat In On-Demand Economy

Much of the ink spilled — in print and virtually — is on millennials and how they have changed, and will continue to change, the way technology is used.

But they’re also making a significant impact on another front, namely the labor market, with the proliferation of what has been termed the “gig economy,” where a career is made up not of a long stint over several years at the same firm but is instead defined by short tenures at various outfits, perhaps even with some transience in job functions.

Intuit has estimated that the number of on-demand workers in the United States alone will double from current levels to more than 7 million workers within the next four years.

Small wonder, then, that a startup would look to ease the transition of those workers from gig to gig. Enter WorkDesq, which is readying its fee-for-service online platform launch for February (previous iterations have been free) and is based in Pittsburgh, tracing its genesis to 2013.

WorkDesq aims to complement businesses of all sizes, CEO Mike Embrescia told PYMNTS, as it enters nascent markets beyond technical functions, focusing “on the small to medium-sized businesses that prefer to hire 1099 providers, as opposed to bringing on a W2 employee.” And, he added, the preference of those businesses is no real surprise, as “our economy is in a renaissance of sorts, and the manner in how people obtain work is different than it was in years past.” It is the process of obtainment that will be the focus of the firm’s new platform, with services ranging from questionnaires to videoconferencing.

Just as employers may be shifting their preferences, so too are the employees themselves, noted Embrescia, who said that “generations evolve, and it is no secret that the Gen Y and millennial workforce seek, and obtain, work differently than previous generations. But that is just one variable. Market conditions themselves are driving the phenomena … and simply, there’s the individual’s preference for flexibility and income potential.”

The lure of the temporary staffer may especially hold sway over accounting functions or as cash flow management sees ebbs and flows.

But the emphasis here is that such flexible hiring may impact cash flow in a positive manner, cautioned Embrescia, with the hiring of temporary or part-time workers being a case-by-case decision for every business. WorkDesq, continued Embrescia, does not seek to be a wholesale evangelist for 1099 or part-time workers as a catch-all solution, rather the firm seeks to simply link those firms who do want that option with the workers who do want that designation.