The growing gig economy is fundamentally altering the way in which some organisations use the HR function to create value and sustain competitive advantage from human capital. This presentation examines the complex nature of gig work while examining why the use of ‘on demand’ labour has become so popular. Using contemporary HR strategy models this presentation focuses on the impact of gig work in the knowledge economy and demonstrates how the emergence of digital intermediaries facilitating ‘transactions’ between clients and sellers of labour is eroding the strong connection between high commitment HR systems and high value workers. As a result, some organisations are making strategic HR choices to capture value from high skill workers by ‘transacting’ rather than engaging them as employees. This has resulted in workers being subject to terms of work associated with ‘low road’ or low value HR systems. Later parts of this presentation explore how some workers are responding to this shift away from high commitment HR systems by forming worker cooperatives. In conclusion, it will be suggested that these alternative worker collectives will further complicate the process of making strategic HR decisions which deliver organisations a sustained competitive advantage in an increasingly digitised world.