The Covid-19 era has been notable for the clear divide between those in relatively stable jobs and those in highly precarious ones.  Pre-Covid, the gig economy was widely cited as being at the forefront of this divide, with many of the jobs in the sector extremely precarious.  Indeed, a  study from the University of Illinois Chicago highlights that the precarious nature of the labor market is largely a continuation of a pre-existing trend rather than something brought about specifically by the pandemic.

Earlier this year researchers from INSEAD spoke to workers in such precarious roles to understand how the pandemic has affected them.

The researchers quizzed a wide range of precarious workers, including nannies, tutors, and warehouse staff, as well as a number of platform workers, who made up around 40% of the overall sample. The participants were quizzed both before the first lockdown in March 2020 and then again after lockdown measures had been introduced.

The initial discussions divided the participants into those who thought the pandemic would have a negative impact on their livelihoods, and those who thought they would benefit from it. Suffice to say, the majority fell firmly into the first camp, although even those more optimistic souls would generally have to take on a greater health risk to reap the expected financial rewards.

When the workers were first spoken to, their average monthly income was just over €1,750 per month, with around a third of them earning below €1,000 per month. This would place them below the official poverty line in France, which is defined by the European Union as €1,065 per month. This was especially so for bicycle couriers, who brought in an average of just €923 each month.

A dire situation

It’s a situation that is equally reflected in a new report from the Oxford Internet Institute’s Fairwork project, which aims to assess both the best and the worst practices evident in the platform economy.

“This report presents the first set of Fairwork ratings for the UK, and establishes a baseline on the country’s platform economy that will be updated on a yearly basis,” the researchers explain. “Eleven platforms in the ride-hailing, food delivery, courier and domestic services sectors were evaluated against the five principles of Fairwork and given a score out of ten.”

Of the 11 platforms under the spotlight, just two, who were Pedal Me and Just Eat, managed to score higher than five out of ten.  The rest largely failed to comply with the basic principles that the researchers believe make gig work fair.

Fair work

“Despite a few platforms achieving high scores, the majority of the platforms we evaluated failed to evidence that basic standards of fairness are met,” the authors say.

These principles outlined by the researchers are:

• Fair pay – as with the INSEAD research, the study found that few gig economy platforms provide a guaranteed minimum wage, especially after the costs of workers are taken into account.
• Fair conditions – safe working conditions have become an especially important concern during the pandemic, but the report found that only half of the platforms were able to provide safety precautions for workers.
• Fair contracts – the authors argue that the terms and conditions of employment should be both understandable and accessible, but sadly just five of the platforms managed to achieve this.
• Fair management – the key to fair management is having clearly identifiable policies and processes.  Sadly, only four of the platforms have formal processes for things like appeals.
• Fair representation – the final principle surrounds the ability for workers to organize themselves and be represented.  Alas, just one of the platforms, actively facilitated the collective voice of their workforce.

Perhaps most damning of all is that three platforms – Ola, Bolt, and Amazon – scored no points for any of these practices.  The likes of Uber, Uber Eats, and Task Rabbit scored little better, with just two points.  By far the most effective platform at providing a fair environment for workers is Pedal Me, which the researchers awarded eight points.

“By raising awareness of the conditions of gig workers in the UK and across the world, Fairwork aims to assist workers, consumers, and regulators in making platforms accountable for their practices, and creating a world of fair platform work,” the researchers say. “These results shows that fair work is possible in the UK, but what we find is that a majority of platforms are some distance from basic acceptable labour standards.”

Platform work can undoubtedly be beneficial, not least due to the ease of access and flexibility it provides, but it’s also increasingly clear that a minimum wage is not guaranteed to most workers operating on them.  Covid has shone a light on the intense vulnerability many workers experience in the labor market, and the Oxford report provides a timely reminder that it doesn’t have to be that way, with platforms like Pedal Me leading the way in providing fair work for people operating on their platform.

The authors ask large organizations, who are often customers of these platforms, to sign the Fairwork pledge to help promote better practices in the platform economy, while also demonstrating the need for better regulation to ensure that gig workers don’t fall through the cracks.  It’s clear that the platforms themselves cannot be relied upon to provide fair work, so more pressure is needed.