Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 As an employer, is it better to have employees or independent contractors? There are plenty of businesses out there making it big while relying mostly on independent contractors. Uber has become the fastest growing startup in history, recently ballooning to over $60 billion in 5 years, by using independent contractors to provide their services. There are pros and cons to using independent contractors, however. It’s not always easy to decide which route to go. From the contractor’s point of view, working in the “gig economy” could break you free of the 9-5 grind. You get the ultimate freedom of setting your own schedule and only working when you want to. The flip side of that is you may not make as much money if you aren’t working at peak times. Nonetheless, 71% of those working in the gig economy say they have had positive experiences, though 58% did admit they think employers are exploiting loopholes due to lack of industry regulation. And gigs don’t provide the same benefits as regular employment- kiss your insurance premiums and retirement savings goodbye. There are pros and cons for companies taking advantage of the gig economy as well. Companies can save money on training, payroll taxes, health insurance premiums, and office space. But you’re giving up control over how and when your contractors work, and you could possibly face legal issues if you misclassify your employees. Even if you start off with contractors, many companies are finding they need to transition to a more traditional business model. Startups such as Luxe, Managed by Q, and Shyp all started out using independent contractors but found using employees was more stable and reliable. Learn more about the gig economy and whether it can work for your business from this infographic. You might be surprised how big the gig economy has become! Infographic Courtesy of Self Storage Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article was written for Business 2 Community by James Spillane.Learn how to publish your content on B2C Join our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage Author: James Spillane James is a BSc Physics grad, attending Imperial College London and becoming interested in cryptocurrency shortly after. His previously published work can be found on Rakeback.com and more recently InsideBitcoins.com and DeFicoins.io. Currently James is a content editor and writer covering Bitcoin and DeFi related news, as well as enjoying … View full profile ›More by this author:Metaverse P2E Games Token IBAT Lists Today on Pancakeswap 16:00 UTC / GMTBC.GAME Releases An NFT, The Degen PassWhy is Crypto Up Today? Best Coins to Buy for 100x Gains