What do the plumber who repairs your broken drainpipe, your babysitter, your cleaner and the young man who delivers your dinner have in common? You are increasingly likely to hire them via a platform. Construction workers, beauticians, designers, and even teachers, engineers and architects are increasingly engaged via digital employment platforms. For you as a customer or employer this is both cheap and convenient — but for employees, it is quite a different story.
These jobs are generally risky, insecure and one-off gigs. Income is not guaranteed, unpaid work is widespread, and employees do not have access to social security, maternity leave, occupational safety and union representation. In addition, they often have to deal with prejudice and discrimination on the part of the platforms. Most of those performing services for you are subject to such work conditions. The gender-specific dimension is particularly problematic. Platform jobs generally performed by women – such as housework, care and beauty services, as well as microtasking – generally remain out of sight, take place in private spaces and are therefore exposed to additional risks such as discrimination, violence and harassment. They also encounter higher barriers when it comes to accessing social protection and being formalised as proper employment.
Now that the EU has tackled a series of problems with its Platform Work Directive, a new global initiative is in the making.
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