With the rise of the “gig economy,” more people are doing non-traditional jobs. But how do these compare to regular full-time jobs? A study from the University of New Hampshire looked into gig workers, like freelancers and temporary workers. It explored how they interact with their bosses and found that one thing, trust, has both good and bad effects.

“Millions of workers are now considered gig workers, offering them more flexibility with schedules, working remotely and short-term assignments,” the researchers explain.

“Our research found that with this flexibility also means less traditional workplace interaction and relationship investment by employers which can lead to less trust by workers. But ironically, that’s not necessarily a bad thing because in some cases if something goes wrong, gig workers don’t seem to take it personally, rebounding more quickly and brushing it off.”

Trust at work

The researchers conducted four studies to understand how people in the gig economy feel about trust at work. They asked gig workers to imagine situations where trust was important and then shared how they would react.

Previous studies have shown that trust is important in work relationships. However, this study found something interesting. When gig workers didn’t trust their managers, they didn’t feel as connected to them emotionally compared to full-time employees. Full-time workers took breaches of trust harder emotionally, which affected their performance and how committed they were to their managers.

“Gig workers are such a huge part our economy and it’s not clear how well they are treated or respected,” the authors conclude. “Even though they rebounded more quickly, trust is important in building relationships with not only a manager but also with co-workers and teams and this study shows that it is important to invest in people, no matter their work circumstances.”

The study breaks new ground by looking at how gig workers and traditional workers trust their managers differently. This has effects on how well they perform their jobs. The researchers say we need more studies in this area, especially as work arrangements change for companies and employees.