Gigged Out

Sandra had been with YouGigUp since its inception nearly nine months ago. In that time, she and the core team had developed the YouGigUp concept, which not only involved both the cloud AND blockchain, but also resulted in a successful funding round that appeared to guarantee that expenses would be covered for another nine months.

As the number three person in YouGigUp, Sandra was proud of the part that she had played in securing funding, and looked forward to greater contribution opportunities in the future.

As it turned out, the investors had some ideas about that also, as Sandra discovered when she was summoned to a meeting with the two lead investors.

Charlie started the conversation. "So, Sandra, I see that in the pre-funding round, you've done well for yourself, but not that well. Sure, you have a nice salary, decent stock options, a nice health plan, and a 401k."

"Well, I'm almost 23," Sandra replied. "I'm not getting any younger. That health insurance will come in handy someday, as will the 401k."

The other investor, Brad, interjected. "That health insurance and 401k are holding you back."

"I don't follow," Sandra replied.

"Sandra," Charlie said, "you know better than anyone that 20th century compensation plans are killing productivity, opportunity, and flexibility. The whole concept of YouGigUp is based upon this irrefutable fact."

Brad continued, "And we want you to take advantage of 21st century organizational trends." He took an envelope out of his pocket. "Starting today, you no longer work for YouGigUp. You work WITH YouGigUp. As you choose."

As he handed the envelope to Sandra, Brad got more excited. "This new arrangement will give you the flexibility to create six YouGigUps, or none at all! You are in complete control of your schedule, and can contribute to YouGigUp when and where you wish! You can see the maximum hourly rates here; pay attention to the surge pricing on Fridays and Saturdays! And note that even if you clock in only fifty minutes in an hour, you get paid for the entire hour! Such a package allows you to create your own benefits plans as you wish! This page includes the link to the Covered California website."

Sandra quietly looked over the papers before asking a question. "Is there a guaranteed number of hours?"

"That's the beauty of it!" replied Charlie. "It's completely flexible. The company will contact you if you're needed for an hour or two. You can submit a bid, and others can do the same, and one bidder will be selected to work with YouGigUp for the hour!"

"Subject to the hourly rates here?" asked Sandra.

"Well," replied Brad, "these are the MAXIMUM hourly rates. If someone wants to work with YouGigUp for a lower rate, they can certainly do so."

"So we wish you luck on your new adventure!" said Charlie as he and Brad left the room.

Andrea, rather than thinking of new adventures with YouGigUp, was trying to remember the name of her grad school friend who just got a job at In-N-Out.