An estimated one-quarter of American workers (roughly 42 million) perform some form of “gig work,” and some economists believe the number of US gig workers may be much higher.

This type of temporary or freelance work has caught hold of American workers who are drawn to the flexibility that comes with contracting for platforms like Uber or Instacart. But there are downsides to gig jobs as well—namely the fact that they don’t typically come with benefits such as healthcare or paid time off.

“The way that our current system in the United States is set up is that all benefits and protections are tied to employment status,” said Regan Parker, chief legal and public affairs officer for ShiftKey, a platform that supports contract workers in the healthcare industry. While workers may value the flexibility and independence that comes along with contract work, they struggle with “no social safety net,” Parker added.

Some companies are seeking to change this dynamic by offering so-called “portable benefits,” which allow independent contractors to access healthcare or retirement savings without being tied to a full-time employer. One such company, DoorDash, recently released promising results from a pilot program offering portable benefits to workers in Pennsylvania.

For more on DoorDash’s portable benefits program, keep reading here.—CV

While cities offer dancing until 2am, med spas on every block, and countless pigeons (obviously the best part), living in them can also feel exhausting and even suffocating.

Now, a village deep in the Himalayas is hoping to lure those workers who are ready to connect with nature and other digital nomads.

Yakten lies in India’s least populated Sikkim state, near Bhutan and Nepal. It claims to be the country’s first digital nomad village, India Today reported. The Nomad Sikkim project is being rolled out to bring more people to the remote area, and is in partnership with Sarvahitey, an NGO that wants to create destinations where remote workers can enjoy nature.

There are roughly 1.7 million Indian digital nomads, and the program hopes that encouraging them to move to Yakten will help the local economy.

For more on this rather unique remote work spot, keep reading here.—KP

More than three-quarters (76%) of finance employees and leaders polled by Workday said they thought AI could help ease the CPA and finance staff shortage.

Workday, which is promoting AI agents on their platform, surveyed 2,950 people described as “full-time decision makers and software implementation leaders” at medium-sized or large companies in North America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The respondents represented a mix of seniority levels, including “employees,” managers, and leadership ranging from directors through C-suite executives, and they represented functional areas including finance, HR, IT, and operations.

Trust me, I’m an AI. Respondents said they trusted people more than AI agents for tasks involving “compliance, risk management, and legal governance.” Around four in ten (41%) said they’d trust humans more, while 22% said they’d trust the agents more, and the rest (37%) said they’d trust people and bots equally.

That’s concerning, given that AI agents are an emerging technology, and one that might not be quite ready for prime time.

For more on AI agents’ role in the talent shortage, keep reading on CFO Brew.—CV