Ten years later, there is every chance you are working from home, and only when you like to. Employers all over the world are considering a new business model popularised by one company — Uber. ' Uberisation ' of workforce is a new catchphrase that can alter the landscape of employment in just a decade.Uberisation of workforce or a gig economy means a system where talent works on a demand-supply model, moving across projects and organisations as per the demand and their interest areas.In India, information technology (IT) sector could be the leader in Uberisation of workforce. Besides market uncertainty, a high number of young workers in the IT sector could be the reason behind the change. There is an increasing number of workers—the millennials—whose preferences are different from those of the previous generation. Infosys and Wipro are exploring the idea of an Uberised workforce, a strategic blend of permanent and temporary workers. "With a greater influx of millennials into the workforce, all previous assumptions of what works to keep employees engaged and motivated are breaking down," said Richard Lobo, head-HR at Infosys. "More and more, we're dealing with a blended workforce, where full-time and part-time employees cohabit the same space, but whose needs are completely different.""Just as people have become comfortable using shared transport with on demand cars, employers will start looking at on-demand hiring of workforce for specific activities that regular staff cannot fulfil," he said.Last year, when Wipro acquired US-based IT consulting firm Appirio that owns crowds-ourcing platform TopCoder, CEO Abidali Neemuchwala had told ET, "We believe that the future of work in the IT industry is going to get Uberised to some extent."Uberisation of workforce is already a popular trend in the US. As per a study done by Intuit and Emergent Research, the number of on-demand workers in the US is expected to double in the next four years to almost 9.2 million.So far, IT sector doesn't figure among the top five sectors that hire gig workers. According to a Teamlease survey, in India the sector that hires the most gig workers is hospitality since a lot of work in this sector involves promotions and events. Transportation & logistics comes next, followed by educational services and media & entertainment. Ecommerce & startups is at the bottom in the list of top five sectors that hire gig workers. Apart from preferences of workers, cost rationalisation is a big reason behind companies choosing to hire gig workers.In India, the number of contract workers is currently pegged at 2.5 million, and may go up to six million over the next decade, according to TeamLease.Uberisation of workforce is not the same as a freelance economy. Indian IT workers have been taking up freelance projects in their spare time for a long time. The new trend is about Indian companies opening up to the idea of working with a large number of contract workers or consultants.In the IT sector where many jobs are getting redundant due to emerging technology, Uberisation could be a solution. Sudeep Sen, assistant vice-president at TeamLease Services, says, "With technology rapidly changing, the cost of reskilling employees is fairly high. With margins under pressure, it's easier for a company to reskill 90% of their people and let go of the rest, filling those positions through contract workers as and when the need arises."To start with, companies are using freelancers in areas where it is easy to carve out work like UI/UX, design, high level architecture and voice/email-based support.While Uberisation of workforce caters to the vogue among millennials, it also saves costs for companies and empowers them to compete in an ever-shifting tech scenario. As Indian companies enter more challenging times, Uberisation could become a preferred strategy.