The festive season of Diwali and the surrounding months have always been a gold rush for the gig economy. E-commerce platforms, logistics companies, and quick-commerce giants go into overdrive, desperately hiring thousands of temporary workers to manage the insane spike in shopping and delivery volumes. If you were working in the gig space then, chances are you enjoyed better pay, richer incentives, and maybe even a longer contract than usual. It felt like an economic party, but now that the music has stopped, the industry is facing a "hard reset," and the workers are feeling the pinch.
The Rise and Fall of the Festive Bounty
For many, the last quarter of the year was a welcome period of financial buoyancy. Recruiters and industry experts noted that the hiring frenzy was unusually large this time around. Companies like Amazon, Flipkart, and their delivery partners—TeamLease, for instance—were competing fiercely to secure labor. The demand was so high that many gig workers were actually in a position to negotiate better terms and were hired on slightly longer contracts, sometimes lasting up to six months. They were the stars of the show, earning well, and providing the backbone for the nation’s consumption binge.
But here’s the brutal truth of a seasonal economy: what goes up must come down, and fast. As soon as the last remnants of the festive sales clear out, usually the temporary demand evaporates. The current scenario is a stark reversal. Companies are dramatically scaling back their temporary workforce, leading to a massive drop in available opportunities and, more painfully, a steep correction in pay and terms.
Reduced Contracts, Reduced Pay: The New Normal
The immediate result is that many gig workers—from those in warehouses to last-mile delivery partners—are now having to accept significantly less favorable contracts just to stay employed. The competition has suddenly flipped. Instead of companies chasing workers, thousands of workers are now chasing fewer, less desirable jobs.
Recruitment firms are projecting an "unusually large drop" in temporary gig roles. While during the festive surge, the temporary workforce might have been a sizeable chunk of a company's staff, the trend is now shifting towards a lower baseline, possibly around 3-7% of the total workforce, indicating a significant consolidation. Furthermore, the contracts themselves are shrinking. Where a worker might have secured a 3-6 month contract during the peak, they are now being offered tenures as short as two to three months, often with fewer guaranteed working hours and, crucially, lower incentive payouts. The financial sweet spots that made the job lucrative in October and November are gone.
A Shift Towards Stability Over Seasonal Spikes
From the employer’s perspective, this isn't simply about cutting costs—it's about a strategic pivot towards stability. Companies have fulfilled their short-term sales targets and are now looking to manage their year-round operations more efficiently. They are focusing on permanent roles and regularized wages for their core workforce, rather than relying on an expensive, massive temporary pool.
As the industry matures, the focus is less on frantic, high-cost seasonal hiring and more on building a stable, trained, and efficient logistics infrastructure. This means the gig economy is entering a phase of maturity where the rewards are lower but perhaps more predictable. The casual, high-paying, short-term work is being replaced by lower-paying, longer-term employment, often demanding more specialized skills and dedication.
For the working professional watching this space, the lesson is clear: the gig economy offers incredible flexibility and great short-term financial boosts during peak season, but it is highly volatile. The earnings spike is temporary, and the inevitable hard reset that follows requires workers to be financially prepared for the lean times, or to strategically position themselves for the shrinking pool of higher-value, year-round roles. The industry is normalizing, which is good for business stability, but tough for the thousands of gig workers navigating a sudden, sharp downturn in their earning potential.
