You can see the Handy Work Model in many companies including Uber, Google and many highly-valued companies. Many companies use the Handy work model, which looks like this:
“In 2015 Uber, the world’s largest taxi company owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate.”[i]
The middle and outer rings of Google’s work model look like this:
“They (project workers) write code, handle sales calls, recruit staff, screen YouTube videos, test self-driving cars, and even manage entire teams – a sea of skilled laborers that fuel the $795 billion company but reap few of the benefits and opportunities available to direct employees …. Other companies, such as Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc., some of the most cash-rich public companies, rely on a steady influx of contractors (middle ring of Handy model).
Investors watch employee headcount closely at these tech powerhouses, expecting that they keep posting impressive gains by maintaining skinnier workforces than older corporate titans. Hiring contractors keeps the official headcount low, and frees up millions of dollars to retain superstars in fields like artificial intelligence. The result is an invisible workforce, off the company payrolls, that does the grunt work for the Silicon Valley giants with few of the rewards.”[ii]
Work Lesson Earned: The big challenge to the Handy Work Model is that automation is shrinking the core further:
“Automation is splitting the American labor force into two worlds. There’s a small island of highly educated professionals making good wages at corporations like Intel or Boeing, which reap hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit per employee. That island sits in the middle of a sea of less educated workers who are stuck at businesses like hotels, restaurants and nursing homes that generate much smaller profits per employee and stay viable primarily by keeping wages low.”[iii]
[i] ‘The Next Big Restaurant Chain May Not Own Any Kitchens,’ TechCrunch, October 7, 2018.
[ii] ‘Inside Google’s Shadow Workforce’, Business Week, July 25,2018.
[iii] ‘Tech is Splitting the US Work Force in Two’, New York Times, February 4, 2019.