According to Collins dictionary, the gig economy is “an economy in which there are few permanent employees and most jobs are assigned to temporary or freelance workers”. Although there has been a recent Irish Supreme Court decision “found that delivery drivers for a pizza restaurant should be treated as employees and not contractors in a decision which has important implications for workers in the gig economy.”
In 2022 Trinity College Dublin and Connect Plus launched Ireland’s Project Economy 2022, an annual report looking at the project economy. Their results said “The highly skilled independent contractors earn more than equivalent employees and those working in the project economy earn 73% more than similar occupation employees.“
In addition to the gig economy, there are a number of freelance and short term contract positions that allow their target audience to work at a schedule that suits them and some can let people earn extra income on top of their current job. Some of these companies include:
With freelancing comes the added benefit of remote working, this not only gives employees the access to companies around the world it gives employers extra headaches of complying with HR, legal and tax obligations.
Started in 2019 by Dee Coakley and Emily Castle, Boundless is an Irish company that is helping to solve these issues. “Boundless was born from a simple, yet powerful belief: people should have the freedom to shape their work lives without forfeiting their right to secure employment.
Our founders had somewhat struggled to deliver on that belief in previous organisations – either for their workers or for themselves.” their website says. Their specialist area include:
- Compliant Employment
- One click payroll and taxation processing
- Always on customer support
- Flexible global payments
- Automated payments in a local market
By telling employers about the company, freelancers can help to automate their payments more quickly and get paid faster
Buymie is a grocery delivery platform based in Ireland, providing gig work opportunities for personal shoppers who pick up and deliver groceries to customers. The firm was acquired by Dunnes Stores in 2023. According to this article in the Irish Business Post by Charlie Taylor “Buymie currently employs around 50 employees as well as a team of more than 300 personal shoppers.
CEO Devan Hughes, co-founded the company with Artavazd Sokhikyan in 2015. The firm was ranked as the fastest-growing Irish tech company in Deloitte’s Fast 50 awards last year, having recorded growth of more than 6,900 per cent in the past four years. Having raised around €18 million to date from backers, Buymie hired Goodbody stockbrokers to help it raise an additional €10 million to €20 million. The fundraising efforts ran into difficulty as a result of the weakening economic environment, rising interest rates and the collapse in sentiment in the tech sector.”
The firm is still looking for delivery drivers to deliver in selected counties in Leinster, Cork and Galway. They currently have the likes of Dunnes Stores, Lild, Tesco and Woodies DIY on board to name a few.
Codú is an open-source business in Ireland that’s all about helping developers grow their careers.
They do this by hosting free online and in-person events where devs can learn new things and meet others in the field. These events cover everything from the latest tech stuff to skills that help you work better with others. Topics that range from beginner to advanced, the events are as inclusive as possible to bring the most value to attendees.
There are free weekly online mentorship sessions that anyone can join online simply by signing up for a free account, along with monthly in-person events in Ireland.
You get to meet all sorts of people from the tech world. It’s a great chance to make friends, find mentors, or stumble upon new job opportunities.
But it’s not all about events.
Codú also has loads of online resources, like tutorials and forums, so you can keep learning at your own pace, anytime.
In short, Codú’s really into making Ireland’s tech scene more skilled, connected, and fun for everyone.
The company that co-conducted the research above, Contracting Plus is one of the oldest companies on this list. It started in 2002 by friends and former colleagues Michael Dineen and Fergal Lennon. Their website states “The company focused on the specific needs of Professional Contractors in Ireland and developed valuable accountancy solutions to meet these needs…Contracting PLUS now employs over 150 people with offices in Cork, Dublin, London and India.
Our service offering has expanded: we now offer a range of company structures (in Ireland, and in the U.K.) to professional contractors, along with payroll services, tax consultancy and tax return services, invoicing, annual company returns, pensions and investment advice and wealth management.
We currently provide accountancy solutions and services to over 4,000 contractors in industry sectors such as IT, Engineering, Pharma, Medical and many other professional services. We work with and are trusted by all the leading Irish recruitment agencies to provide our suite of contracting services to their professional contractors spread across the globe.”
They offer a range of different tax and other services that corporations may need and they have a number of additional resources on their site for their contractors such as calculators that can assist them in calculating their tax
The Education Grinds Sector
Whether it’s school or college if you’re a subject matter expert in a particular area then grinds can be a great way of earning extra income. Particularly for those in the education sector. Companies such as Home Tutors, SuperProf and Tuition Farm are all for profit companies that offer Junior and Leaving Cert courses and need tutors to meet students either in a face-to-face setting or online. While JumpAGrade is a social enterprise that’s mission is to “reduce the inequality in education and they provide affordable grinds” to “Local Development Companies, Third Level Access Programmes and DEIS schools who want to support the students in their local community to access our service.”
Additionally many schools and colleges are looking for exam invigilators. It can be a great way to bring in some extra cash during Christmas or Summer
Extras for TV and Film
Companies such as castingireland.ie, movieextras.ie or celticcasting.ie all require men and women of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities to appear as extras in their TV or Films. While it helps to have a background in acting modelling or performance arts, most accept no formal education or experience. Their requirement include extras to just have headshots and be able to appear as and when they need you.
For example casting Ireland said “Casting Ireland is a Dublin based team of casting professionals with over 15 years of experience behind the scenes. They specialize in collaborating with creative teams across Ireland and abroad to match exceptional talent with their creative projects. Casting Ireland are committed and prepared for collaboration with creative teams that have projects to fufil, while offering emerging talents a helping hand to start their career in an industry that is starting to comprehend that anywhere in this world, diversity is power. Last year Casting Ireland was nominated for Micro-lean Business of the year of the Lean Business Awards in 2023.
Others such as movieextras.ie are based in a specific location (such as Admore Studios) but as they state on their website “After registering, you fill in a detailed CV, including your availability, experience, hobbies skills etc. You should attend one of our monthly photoshoots where you will get professional photos. You can upload further photos directly onto your account, especially important if you change your look at any stage. These photos should be clear and updated every 12 months maximum.”
Rates of pay may vary depending on your experience or how long you’ll be needed on set
According to their website “Gigable is a platform that connects local freelance workers with local businesses. The gig economy does not have to be a race to the bottom. At Gigable, we truly believe there is a better way. It is possible to have a positive, hard working community of businesses and flexible workers, who both benefit in
kind from an open platform that builds on the values of independence, equal opportunity and transparency.”
Now operating across the UK and Ireland their 14 person team based in North Wall quay in Dublin are constantly looking out for gig-workers to fulfil roles in the hospitality events, security, delivery and logistics positions. All positions are clearly marked with wages expectations and years of experience required. They also have a range of additional benefits such as insurance cover, fuel cards to save money on petrol or deals and discounts with some of the companies that they work with.
They already have the likes of Base Pizza and Eddie Rockets as clients in addition to many more local companies throughout Ireland.
Often being a freelancer can be a lonely place. So, in 2018, a small but dedicated team of volunteers initiated a WhatsApp group with the aim of providing support to individuals engaged in remote work within local and rural communities. This quickly began to blossom and after creating a website, holding in-person meetings in different chapters throughout Ireland, creating a social enterprise, training employers on the benefits of remote working or posting the job adverts of those who are already involved in remote work.
Today, Grow Remote has undergone a remarkable transformation, boasting a workforce of 10 full-time employees and fostering the growth of over 50 local ‘chapters’ not only in Ireland but also extending its influence beyond national borders.
Their three goals are to build local communities, to land remote jobs in local communities and to support companies to transition to a remote-first model – and our services are all designed to achieve one or more of these impact goals. Our core services fall under two main categories – training and events. They say “to build local communities, to land remote jobs in local communities and to support companies to transition to a remote-first model – and our services are all designed to achieve one or more of these impact goals.
A company born out of the Covid-19 pandemic, Indielist was created soon after the pandemic began as many freelancers in the advertising, PR and marketing industries struggled to get employment as there was a recruitment freeze on. Una Herlihy and Peter McPartlin came together to create Indielist. According to adworld.ie “There are nearly 3,000 people offering freelance services in Ireland” and this website allows those freelancers to meet with the indielist.ie team, upload their portfolio, and describe their specialist areas.
Employers can upload their available projects for freelancers and then they match the correct candidate to the specific position. They take specific care in ensuring that both the freelancer and employers credentials are up to market expectations and both can be trusted to deliver the project on time and pay the freelancer on time
They state on their website “We charge a search fee of €300 (ex. VAT) to cover some of the time involved in assessing and sourcing a range of suitable candidates to match the requirements. If we don’t find anyone, then we don’t charge. If you engage or book one of the Indies, we apply a mark-up on their fee. We look after all the billings and payment, and we ask to be “paid within 14 days so that we can pay the freelancer promptly for the work they do.”
The company now has 1400 specialists on their books working with thousands of businesses in Ireland.
Having spent years researching the growing gap between writers and businesses, CEO Grata Dunne says on her website “to us, this just didn’t make sense. Whilst businesses were losing valuable working hours creating content already in existence, writers were struggling to connect their work with businesses in need. You could say that creating a bridge between both needs was our calling, and now, the content call has been answered!
With a shocking 85% of blogs going unseen, Marker Content is a place where content needs are met with total ease. Think of us as content problem solvers on a mission to make content accessible to all, whilst hard-working contributors get to reap the rewards they so deserve.
Marker Content is where content flourishes, and accessibility for both contributors and buyers takes precedence. Marker our words, a new generation of content has arrived.”
With 100,000 freelancers currently signed up to the service the service has put a pause on asking for new content for now, but this is expected to reopen in 2024
Another serial entrepreneur Garret Flower Launched ParkPNP in 2016 with co-founder Daniel Paul. According to their website “Parkpnp’s first offering was the Parkpnp marketplace, a one-stop shop which allows all types of parking space owners to connect with motorists in need near them. Our unique approach allows local governments, parking companies, hotels, real estate companies, local businesses & homeowners to make money from their parking space. By providing motorists with the widest selection of spaces in the market, ParkPNP ensures drivers the best value & most convenient parking choices.
Saving drivers up to 70% on the cost of parking and valuable time they would otherwise spend driving around looking for a spare space”
The company now has more than 8000 spaces from all around the world available to rent,saving the user money on parking in a carpark and earning extra income for the renter.
Polling Staff
June 2024 will see the European Elections, The Local Elections and in March 2024 there are 2 referendums in The Republic of Ireland. For this to take place there needs to be Pollings Staff in place in every polling station and election count in the country. According to this article in Thejournal.ie “The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government estimates there will be 6,500 Presiding Officers employed for General Election 2020. That doesn’t include staff employed as ‘counters’ from Sunday onwards.
Anyone is free to apply once an election rolls around, said Bourgoise. This year, over 1,000 people applied for election work. “It’s the biggest [number] we’ve ever had,” she said. it’s generally a first-come, first-served scenario. The earlier you apply, the likelier you are to get election work. Successful applicants are then trained up by The Returning Officer staff.
Polling clerks on election day are paid €367 for their 16 hours. For Presiding Officers, it’s €485 per day. Counters at count centres are paid €272 for the first 12 hours each day and €26 per hour after that. Rates of pay are set down by the Department of Finance and apply to election staff across the country.”
Having spent one too many hours on the M50, CEO Ciara Garvan decided she needed a more flexible approach to work. Long before the Covid-19 pandemic began, Ciara and her growing team of recruiters specialised in “newer” ways to work, i.e. remote working or flexible working in terms of part-time, 3 day weeks and to start and/or finish work at different times of the day. Having received support from the likes of Enterprise Ireland and having clients such as
Dell Technologies amongst their client base. According to their website “At the moment WorkJuggle is focused on IT, Finance, HR, Management, Marketing, Project/Programme Management and Sales roles. We hope you find what you are looking for, whether it is a contract position or something more permanent. We are just at the start of our journey. We hope you will join us.”
Another company looking to match job seekers with temporary and flexible work opportunities is WrkWrk App. The job seekers get to pick a time and place that suits them and the employers get to increase the number of (temporary) employees they currently have because 60-70% of employers are having issues filling positions. Their website states that “All our shifts are paid within seven days and We’ll never force you to take a shift you don’t want, or punish you if you fall off the grid for a while”
They have employers looking for positions in more than 12 areas of the economy and they are currently looking for staff for their clients in Dublin Kerry, Galway, Limerick, Cork, Kilkenny and Kildare. As with others in this sector the hourly pay is clearly signposted and they currently have positions available all around the country.
They have won an impressive range of awards from the likes of The Irish National Start-Up Awards, Businesswoman of the Year Awards and the Irish Women’s Awards.