For many who have lost their jobs full time, resorting to entrepreneurship tends to be a way to maintain their livelihoods, even though it is one of the most risky. At the other end of the spectrum are those who join the concert economy, which has been a welcome pillow for unemployment.
Great work can be found in almost any industry modeling a medical work. However, since the pandemic, the term has been more commonly associated with Grab drivers, Lalamove drivers, and warehouse classifiers, to name a few.
Qwork, a Malaysia-based platform that combines workers with companies and vice versa, has seen a 300% increase in users registering during the pandemic. “To date, we have 20,000 workers and employers in our concert community,” Muna, its co-founder and CEO, told Vulcan Post.
Reduce unemployment
After participating in accounting and finance, Muna has also delved into the film industry. In the latter position he developed his recognition for those who held part-time jobs to cover the shortcomings available in a project.
As a millennial, she believes she is part of a generation with a myriad of skills, talents, and interests; saw concert work as an opportune place to explore more flexibility in the workplace.
“New-generation talents (millennials and Gen Z) are often associated with derogatory traits such as‘ easily boring ’,‘ disloyal ’and‘ lazy ’, but all this is not true,” Muna elaborated.
“It’s just different perspectives and different ways of doing things. To bridge the generation gap, Qwork serves as a means to manage the expectations of both ends. ”
This was Qwork’s immediate goal when it launched in 2016. Since the pandemic, the platform has become beneficial to the problem of unemployment and the heavy reliance on essential services on concert workers.
“Giggifying ”the workforce
Malaysia is by no means lack of job search platforms for concert work. We have TheKedua, an online “Yellow Pages” for concert work, Go and get it, i Task2bid, for example.
Qwork works similarly to GoGet, but perhaps with a more agency-oriented approach to recruiting, training, and matching its concert workers, called “giggers,” to companies with available sites to their knowledge.
“At the same time, entrepreneurs and businesses can reap the benefits of having them flexibly,” Muna shared. “The training we offer serves to educate ours [giggers] as to the work they will do, how to perform the gigs and their KPIs. In short, training manages the expectations of our stakeholders. “
The type of training differs depending on the job; to become a food delivery pilot, you will need to take courses on road safety, food hygiene, and the use of a company’s respective systems. In the meantime, your KPIs will consist of fast order pick-up and delivery times, as well as high scores to show customer satisfaction.
Great work tends to cater to the unskilled workers segment. But as society moves towards a digital economy where drones and robots are used food delivery and packages or warehouse classification, concert workers should adapt or risk being redundant.
Still, Muna has prepared for it. “I believe that, as human beings, we are built to adapt to the ever-changing reality. Undoubtedly, manual and practical concerts will be replaced by robotic tasks. Therefore, we also provide training for our concert community, which will allow them to prepare for future concerts or for more technology-focused or “highly qualified” concert-focused concerts.
Assuming SEA
5 years ago, the startup has supplied giggers to large companies, including Zalora, Lazada and DHL. While registration and inquiries are free for both companies and workers, Qwork charges employers a fee that includes workers ’salaries and service fees that vary by concert type.
In early 2020, Qwork was able to expand its operations in Indonesia. Muna expects to further expand Qwork in Singapore in the first quarter of 2022 before scaling to the rest of SEA.
It will be important for the Qwork team to have a good understanding of overseas markets and their regulations when working in concerts. For example, Singapore tends to consider concert work, especially travel types, as last resort options. Meanwhile, the government has been steadfast in helping its economy maintain jobs measures such as the Employment Support Program (JSS).
But Muna is confident it is already preparing for Qwork’s expansion into Singapore, having just graduated from Singapore’s 500th startup global launch accelerator program. “This program has helped us unlock the potential of the Singapore market by introducing ourselves to key market players and agents and being guided by a very successful veteran entrepreneur,” he concluded.
In general, companies that serve the concert economy sector are more resilient to the economic recession. They have benefited both companies and workers to keep payroll costs light and allow individuals to earn full or partial income easily.
Qwork, if it is also able to supply even highly skilled workers to the technology industry, will be a valuable asset for both companies and job seekers.
- You can learn more about Qwork here.
- You can read about other articles related to the concert economy we’ve written here.
Featured Image Credit: Muna Munirah, CEO and co-founder; Dini Dalilah, OSC; Mimi Aminah, technical director of Qwork
