This has been the year of Uber. “Everyone is starting to worry about being Ubered,” Maurice Lévy, chief executive of advertising group Publicis, told the Financial Times this week. The sharing economy in which online platforms co-ordinate hundreds of thousands of freelancers to drive cabs, rent rooms (Airbnb), clean laundry (Washio) and perform other services has arrived.

As companies recognise the threat, governments and regulators are struggling to adjust and consumers are unsure whether to trust the new type of business. The greatest uncertainty, however, faces workers. As self-employment, start-ups and one-person “micro-businesses” comprise a larger share of the workforce, workers are becoming more free and more at risk.

Instead of working nine-to-five on long-term contracts, with benefits such as training, pensions and healthcare, they employ themselves. Full-timers moonlight, part-timers drive cabs for cash on the side, managers leave jobs to become consultants, people juggle skills.