TaskRabbits employees may soon have expanded options on the platform. IKEA purchased 100 percent of the company stock last week. While experts expect TaskRabbits to continue to operate as normal, some hope the change in ownership will open new business opportunities for its freelancers.
While neither TaskRabbits nor IKEA announced a dollar amount for the deal, TaskRabbits as a company has risen in value. The company’s worth now nets at over $50 million nine years after its founding.
TaskRabbits has moved into being a profitable company (unlike certain other gig economy platforms we can name). The company also managed one highly desirable partnership with Amazon. Hopefully, having a high-profile stockholder that will likely pour more capital into the company will lead to more such partnerships—and more opportunities for workers.
Other interested parties that IKEA assumedly beat out included Yelp, IAC and Google. The deal is expected to be finalized in October.
Why did IKEA buy TaskRabbits?
IKEA’s choice to purchase should help TaskRabbits, but what interested IKEA at all? The Swedish company bought the platform in hopes of expanding its digital presence. It needs to have the online customer service capability to compete with major rivals—like Amazon. Amazon has recently stepped on IKEA’s toes, moving into easy-installation furniture more.
This is IKEA’s first move into the gig economy, although not its first in the tech world. It has been expanding its use of online and software capabilities for its main platform (furniture and housewares). They said their goal is to also be able to allow more varied and flexible services to their customers.
What’s ahead for TaskRabbits?
Current TaskRabbits CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot said she believes the ownership change will provide greater opportunities for Taskers. Because the ownership is not a power shift, she and her leadership team will stay at the helm of the company.
At the very least, Taskers may find a stream of readily available jobs putting together the notoriously difficult to assembly IKEA furniture. Think of it as outsourcing of much-needed customer service on IKEA’s part.
A changing gig economy
Exciting opportunities aside, TaskRabbits may also face changes out of its control. GrubHub is currently facing a lawsuit regarding its classification of workers. GrubHub, like most gig economy platforms, classifies its workers as independent contractors. It is this classification that gives gig economy workers their flexible schedules (and the ability to work for competitors simultaneously). It’s also the classification that means they don’t receive benefits, holiday pay, or insurance. The GrubHub lawsuit will go a long way toward determining whether the gig economy platforms are allowed to continue this system of classification in the future.
Gig economy platforms aren’t thrilled at the prospect of having to treat their workers as regular employees. On top of labor laws (including minimum wage requirements) and benefits packages, they would also have to manage taxes. This would include taking deductions from employee paychecks each month, and contributing to government programs like Social Security and Medicare.
