Desk bound: Why gig workers are returning to the 9-to-5 grind
9-to-5 jobs used to seem like a bore. Gig work looked like more fun. But as startups struggle, the tables are turning. Is the desk job cool again?
Gig workers, how’s life treating you, these days? Ten years ago, tearing down big companies and corporate jobs was the ultimate flex. Nine-to-fivers? They were just office drones, clocking in and out, sitting through meetings, laughing at the boss’s lame jokes, forever fearing layoffs, never creating anything meaningful. Start-ups, freelancing and consulting were the escape hatch. You could work from a cottage in the hills or a shack on the beach, you called the shots, you built your own path. You didn’t serve a master, you were the master.
Now, most consultants and freelancers are realising that even freedom comes with fine print. Sure, start-ups dress casual – but everyone notices what you wear, anyway. There’s a ping-pong table at the office – only the 11 unpaid interns use it. There are no meetings – just quick huddles, 8am strategy calls, late-night pitches and four update checks a day. It’s not a 9-to-5; everyone’s logged in 24x7. Each project is a hustle, and because there’s no fixed schedule, there’s no proper log-off, no overtime, no recovery period between projects. The CEO makes lame jokes -- and he’s being investigated for fraud.
Turns out, most jobs are just variations of the same grind. Those at the bottom of the chain – any chain – bear the brunt of economic swings. At least office drones don’t have to follow up on payments and be their own marketer, receptionist and coffee-maker.
In 2019, Shikha (27, who does not use her last name) started out a gemstone assorter in Mumbai, and worked for a year before going freelance. “The plan was to eventually go back full-time,” she says. But once she tasted freedom and a higher earning potential, she leaned in. “I started working as a writer for jewellery brands and eventually got into strategy and brand management.” She had more free time, she could “visit an empty museum on a Tuesday morning,” she says.
But it also meant putting up with untimely calls, erratic pay, and a never-ending work day. “It’s not okay to text us at 11pm and expect us to hand you work by 1am,” Shikha says. And while being lowballed seems fine when you’re starting out, there’s always someone out there, willing to do what you do, for less. “What clients don’t consider is that I am paying for the design software subscription, my insurance, retirement fund, devices and workspaces,” Shikha points out. She also misses having a mentor. She’s had enough, she says. She’s going back to a full-time job.
A Niti Aayog report from 2022 estimated that India had nearly 7.7mn gig workers in 2021. The Economic Survey 2024 predicts that we’ll have 23.5 million by 2030. The cracks are showing. Janpahal, a Delhi non-profit, surveyed 5,220 gig and platform workers in 32 cities last year. It found that 85% of them worked more than eight hours a day, and 21% of those worked 12 hours a day. Global studies on the subject show that gig workers tend to work though injury or illness due to financial pressures. Their lack of job security exacerbates anxiety and depression.
In Delhi, 31-year-old Sumer Singh Rathore quit journalism in 2020 to become a freelance photographer, videographer and writer. He’d worked full-time for four years by then and wanted to travel. Gig-life meant reaching out to new clients, hustling for the next project, being endlessly available and doing it all alone.”The travel was largely in spurts,” he says. Rathore is also an introvert. “Meeting and trying to get along with new people every single day is exhausting.”
He’s back to full-time work, with a job at a publishing house. “It gives me time to meet my friends and go to plays, films, and concerts because I don’t have random work hours anymore.”
From HT Brunch, March 01, 2025
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