(Sponsored Content) -- The COVID-19 pandemic and the shift of workers moving away from the traditional workplace has fueled an increase in gig workers.

Consulting firm McKinsey & Co. on its website reports that among 800 corporate executives surveyed, 70% said they would increase the number of gig workers they employed in the wake of the pandemic.

Gig usually means short-term, temporary, independent contractors who can work for more than one employer.

Ken Howe, a part-time Uber driver in Tampa, Florida, said gig work for now is a stop-gap for him.

"Now, I mostly drive Thursday and Friday,” he told Florida Business. “The rest of the week I'm working in my church. I work because I need some money but I don't need a full-time job right now although the taxes I expect and inflation will likely change that look."

The website Gallup Workplace reported that 64% of gig workers are doing it because they prefer it. Approximately 36% of gig workers participate through main and secondary jobs.  

The report noted that some gig workers are very happy with their work life, moreso than a traditional job, while other gig workers are struggling.

The phenomenon has created what Gallup described as “two gig economies” side by side: Independent gig workers who act as their own boss but receive feedback from their employers, as well as flexible and creative freedom and high work-life quality, and temporary “on-call” workers who receive less performance feedback, less contact with their employers and less control over their own work.

“These contingent gig workers are more similar to traditional workers than they are to independent gig workers,” the Gallup Workplace report said.

The report advised employers to take advantage of the situation by retooling traditional jobs to have the independent benefits of gig work, allowing flexibility, something a growing number of workers want.

A second piece of advice is to train managers to better adapt to the reality of a temporary workforce, and to communicate effectively company values and mission.

Gallup published an in-depth look at the subject with a report titled “The Gig Economy and Alternative Work Arrangements.”