Platform work: the future of employment?

What are the trends?

The world can be largely defined by a handful of overarching megatrends, explained Iwona Ganko, ETF Human Capital Development Expert. She mentioned globalisation, geopolitics, demographic shifts and climate change. “The biggest one that influences our way of working and learning is digitalisation,” she said. “It impacts practically everyone. It engenders greater flexibility in working relationships and new business models, indeed the work and its future has changed dramatically."

What are the benefits?

Many people may see change as a threat, but there are indeed “positive examples”, noted Tanja Jakobi, Executive Director of the Public Policy Research Centre Belgrade, Serbia. “This is a window of opportunity in many senses,” she said. “Especially for young, well-educated workers from Serbia and our region.” Their skills extend beyond the needs of relatively backward local firms, so national employers have no need for them. International accords have facilitated agreements between these people and foreign clients.

Grey areas

Research with both remote and on-location platform workers “shows that they really value flexibility”, added Branka Andjelkovic, Co-founder, Public Policy Research Centre Belgrade, Serbia. They talk about “being your own boss”, but that “flexibility is very limited,” she argued.

Platform workers are typically independent contractors, but they are still beholden to their clients.

Funda Ustek-Spilda, Post-doctoral Researcher and Project Manager, Fairwork, Oxford Internet Institute, agreed that people like “being their own boss”. But one informant provided a quote that struck her as important, and which became the title for a paper: “Just because you don't see your boss doesn't mean you don't have a boss.”

Independent contractors do not have disability coverage or unemployment insurance. They pay their own taxes, and, in many jurisdictions, they are responsible for their own retirement savings. Since they are not employees, they are not guaranteed a minimum wage. They “ultimately lack the traditional employment protections and benefits that come with full-time jobs”, said Andjelkovic.

“They earn very decent amounts,” she added, but noted that “this can change.”

In addition, platform workers often rely on algorithms to channel work to them. These might be based on elements such as reliability or customer satisfaction ratings. New workers might find themselves at a disadvantage. One of Andjelkovic’s favourite quotes is, “It takes time for an algorithm to start loving you.”

Minimum standards

Even if people are independent contractors with flexible schedules, “this doesn't mean that they can't have minimum standards of fairness,” said Ustek-Spilda. Her organisation has stipulated five such standards:

• fair payment,
• fair working conditions,
• fair contracts,
• fair management,
• representation.

The idea is “to establish basic minimums for understanding and evaluating work practices on platforms”, she said. “This is, of course, not everything.” She advocates more regulation and analysis of “operational models”, “management styles” and algorithms.

Based on the above-listed categories, her organisation establishes an annual league table ranking platforms as best (or worst) at treating their collaborators. But it doesn’t stop there. An “interactive” follow-up process is designed to help platform companies to improve working conditions. Companies are advised about how they can do better.

“Just because work is increasingly happening through digitally-mediated platforms, it doesn't mean that we need to let go of the rights established in the last century,” said Ustek-Spilda.

Questions

Based primarily on audience questions, a number of tangential ideas emerged. Here are a few:

Digital citizens

“Digital savviness is very important in daily life,” said Ganko. “But there is a risk in focusing on digital skills. We need to look at the broader portfolio.” These may include skills related to communication, entrepreneurship, problem solving, career management and more. “We need responsible citizens to help solve global problems like, for example, climate change.”

This includes, but extends beyond, the concept of e-governance, which Serbia and other countries have been promoting. E-governance essentially refers to the online administration of interactions between citizens and public agencies.

If it can be done online, should it?

The Covid pandemic lockdowns pushed sundry practices online at breakneck speed. The discussion during the event raised the question of whether some services might be better moved back offline. “There are a lot of examples from the medical industry or education,” noted Ustek-Spilda. “For some jobs, while the work can be performed online, that doesn't mean that it is as effective.” 

Teach your children well

The prize for the most popular question went to the person who asked: “What is a parent to do?” In this ever-changing world, with a dichotomy between high-level and low-level work, how should parents help steer their children into the best possible career paths?

It was a surprise question, but there were no lack of responses.

“It seems to me that parents are getting more involved in schooling, at least in Serbia, through digital means,” said Jakobi. “They can track how their children are doing. And I think they may have more rights or opportunities to express their concerns.”

She added, “Of course, not all the jobs are well paid. Parents can guide their children, but we need to look at the labour market.” Ganko advocated the addition of professional career guidance.  

Noting that many stereotypically low-skilled jobs, such as hairdressing, in fact, require high-level skills, albeit not necessarily high levels of formal education. “I would say that there are no low-level skills,” she said.