Workers at GE Appliances say they love app-based gig work despite no benefits and lower pay

Manufacturing titan Georgia-Pacific is among a number of companies that have started using hours-on-demand platforms (2) like MyWorkChoice for select positions at some warehouses, providing the option for employees to sign up for shifts through an app. They get to choose not only the days, times and total number of hours they want to work, but also the specific role.

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Others in the industry are similarly trying out part-time, flexible timetable, hybrid and fully remote positions. GE Appliances, which already offered four-day weeks and other alternative schedules (3) to address human resource challenges post-pandemic, allows staff to pick up work similar to how an Uber or Lyft driver would, also through MyWorkChoice. HR personnel at one Georgia plant, in fact, called their location "the Uber of manufacturing" while speaking with NPR (4) about the work environment recently.

"The way the [current workforce] has changed, it's not the way that it was 20 years ago, where you come, you stay at a job and you work those hours," they told the outlet. A few of the 900 employees who use the model agreed, telling reporters they "love it" and the wiggle room it allows for life's demands, whether they be caregiving, working another job or simply enjoying semi-retirement while still earning some cash.

But, there is a tipping point where the perks of the format may become less shiny: when you hit the full-time mark.

The average flexible laborer at the facility clocks in for 24 hours weekly, at their own behest.

But there are also some putting in the 40 hours per week that would render them a full-time employee elsewhere — with the salary, stability and benefits that would naturally come with that.

Those using MyWorkChoice are technically W2 employees of the app, but in the case of GE Appliances and its subsidiaries, at least, they can transition to full-time employees of the plant if they so choose. This thereby gives them access to the associated paid vacation time, healthcare, 401(k) matches and other benefits from the appliance giant.

One worker in this situation told NPR that though they have considered the switch, they actually prefer the flexible setup, even if they are presently working five days a week and potentially getting paid less (5) than other full-time employees in the same role.

MyWorkChoice employees (6), no matter how few hours they work, can also opt-in for benefits through the platform for a weekly fee (7) of $13.42 to $50.55, depending on chosen coverage and dependents. The sources that spoke with NPR, though, said that few do.

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GE sold its appliance arm to Haier for $5.6 billion in 2016 (8), granting the Chinese conglomerate rights to the GE Appliances name for 40 years (9). Haier embarked on a major operational and organizational revamp that included investing heavily into US production (3) and adopting a modernized "people-first approach (3)" that it hopes will serve as "a model for the manufacturing sector, especially as labor shortages persist nationwide."

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