Qwork has completed its pre-series A investment from its strategic investors to enable its growth beyond Malaysia & Indonesia and possibly expanding into Singapore and launch its new product, Qwork SaaS.
“This round of funding will enable us to grow bigger and further to helping gig workers around the region and to rethink the way they organise their lives seek more meaningful careers and ask for healthier work environments,” said Muna Munirah, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Qwork.
She further added, “The gig economy will improve in the future to become more sustainable for all stakeholders, including talent, businesses, government bodies, and non-governmental organisations.”
“By harnessing the potential of the gig economy, Qwork’s solution will assist businesses in adopting gig workers in roles that we never thought could be done by gigs before,” said Mr Henry, one of Qwork’s strategic investors.
In the 5 years since its inception, Qwork has paid out over RM10 million to gig workers and assisted businesses in saving up to 60% of operational costs. This is because the Great Resignation has shed a light on the importance of how the gig workforce can be more reliable to businesses.
In navigating the gig economy, Qwork is also encouraging people to rethink the way they organise their lives, seek more meaningful careers & ask for healthier work environments. In this regard, gig work does provide a way forward. Traditional work and its failed promise of upward mobility have upset today’s workers. Now, the gig economy makes a new promise: the ability to control and enjoy one’s life.
Malaysia’s Covid-19 economic recovery has also triggered a nationwide employee movement, according to the 2021 Employee Movement and Retention report released by Employment Hero. 61% of Malaysian workers intend to look for a new job within the next year, with younger employees aged 35 and under being among the most eager to leave their current jobs.
Interestingly, the survey of 1,004 Malaysian employees discovered that 45% of employees like their job. 24% even love their job, with only a minority (4%) saying they disliked or hated their job. This implies that the problem is not with the work itself.
Instead, the most common reasons for leaving are a lack of career development (36%), a lack of appreciation or recognition (27%), and a lack of training opportunities (26%). Other reasons include a lack of pay raises, problems with management, feeling overworked, and a lack of flexibility.
Despite the pandemic, Payoneer reports that the top five fastest growing freelancing countries are the Philippines, India, Japan, Australia, and Hong Kong. What they all have in common is that they are all in Asia-Pacific, where gig economy transactions are expected to grow by >17% CAGR to US$455 billion by 2023 according to a Mastercard report.
