Would you consider going back to having one job or having a traditional job?
Wow. At this moment of time I wouldn't consider to get back to where I used to be. I would like to be a slashie.
Would you consider returning to a regular full-time job?
Definitely not.
Not everybody can be a doctor, an astronaut and
a Navy Seal all rolled into one, but with the rise of the gig economy, and as more people
work from home, the traditional 9-5 job is no longer the only option.
Whether by choice or necessity, more people are now opting to take on side hustles.
I’m here in Hong Kong and I'm goint to find more about this phenomenon, also known as slashie culture.
So, what is a slashie?
A slashie is a person who chooses to develop multiple careers concurrently instead of focusing
on just one at a time.
This is also known as a portfolio career or diversified employment.
The term "slash" was coined by American author Marci Alboher, who wrote about people who
had “slashes” between their multiple and concurrent job titles.
It describes a new mode of working that prioritizes work-life-balance and job satisfaction.
And while this may sound like a trendy new culture bubbling up amongst 20-somethings,
44-year-old Gary Chung from Hong Kong is proof that it is age agnostic.
He's a Taekwondo instructor slash sports product sales trainer. That's after he quit his full-time job in 2014,
where he worked in finance and product management.
I decided to be a slashie because working in Hong Kong, the overtime work,
the intensity I couldn't stand it for quite a long time.
So I decided to jump out from a traditional job to be a slashie.
31-year-old Hugo Ho is a former athlete who has two slashes to his name as a personal trainer,
social entrepreneur and financial planner.
I enjoy being a slashie because I can have my flexibility on the job choice, and I feel
so refreshed that I can have my time reset all day long and I can choose whatever I want
because this is the freedom I can have.
What potential risks are there in being a slashie?
Actually, holding different positions can also mean various failure at the same time.
So, make sure they have the preparation on their income, they may lose all their income.
But if they are passionate about one thing, I think they can handle the risk.
The stakes are higher for Gary, who is a father of two.
As a staff in a traditional company and traditional firms, I've got benefits like medical, insurance,
monthly based income, but as a slashie, I have to lose all this.
It's quite a big risk.
Can you tell me what is the biggest difference of being a slashie and holding a regular job?
What would be the biggest difference between the two?
I cannot tell one single main difference, but I'll say there will be a lot of differences.
First of all, as a slashie, I have to be disciplined because there is no boss, no management to
ask me to chase deadlines, and secondly, I really have to know my business inside out.
Because as a slashie, I'm mainly an army of one.
I've no colleague, I have to handle everything all by myself.
There is really no backup.
As the staff of a company, I always got backup right?
Does this mean that the slashie generation will be a jack of all trades and master of none?
Or does it improve their employability?
For many employers, old habits die hard, and their willingness to hire a slashie depends on the role.
Vicky Fan, CEO of professional services firm Mercer Hong Kong, has seen this first hand.
Having a resume or a CV that is from a slashie versus a number of other CVs where people
are available full time will just make the recruiter question whether or not that person
can commit and dedicate on a full-time basis.
So employers, in order to really use gig workers and slashies more fully, employers need to
look at jobs from a task and process base, an hour-base, time-base to output base.
The pandemic has forced employers to be more flexible with work arrangements.
More than 80% of firms globally said that they will implement flexible working at a
larger scale even after the pandemic.
But are employers willing to continue hiring slashies once things have settled down?
If the employer does not need employees on a full-time basis, so we spoke about certain
sectors that were harder hit, like retail and hospitality, if their need of that employer
is pulled back, there will be more openness to those roles or individuals in those
roles exploring other avenues of income.
But if you're in a, if you're in an organization where it's still working as pre-pandemic work levels,
we are not seeing employers opening up the options for their employees to look for other
part time jobs on top of that.
These jobs are not your traditional professions either.
From becoming an e-commerce seller to even podcasting, many people are in it for the
flexibility and the passion.
We can all see that it is a very prominent trend with the advance in information and
communication technology, people can easily seek different career opportunities at little cost.
But unlike those who make a living only because they have to, like doing as a casual workers,
slashie actually do it, have to choose their job, paid or unpaid because it's related to their
choice and their interest.
To me, it is not just changing angle to life, it is a lifestyle choice rather than changing
their jobs only.
Do you think that there's going to be more people that do what you do and this will become
a trend and slashie will become a trend around the world?
Yes, I do think so, especially.
Nowadays there is a lot of people who want to be a YouTuber, internet influencer and, like I said,
people are looking for work-life-balance a lot more than it used to be.
So, I do think that it will be a trend.
The slashie culture also plays well into another so-called millennial trait: FOMO,
or the Fear Of Missing Out.
While it allows slashies to commit to different passions, not everybody is cut out for it.
What kind of advice would you give to people that want to take on more than one job?
You've got to have some money, financially ready.
Because at first, I remember in 2014, once I quit my job to become a slashie, I think
I was earning only 1/3 of my salary, so that I've saved some money to feed myself and feed
my family during that period of time.
After one year, I was getting better.
You really have to know your business inside out.
Discipline is the key because you're the boss of your own, you contain your schedule, you work all by yourself.
While it is likely that the slashie work culture is set to stay, questions remain about how
sustainable it is in the long run.