Pay increases, but not time flexibility for Gig Workers: Report
- ByStartupStory | December 28, 2022
According to a report, Gig workers are seeing an improvement in terms of fair pay, but work flexibility in the gig economy comes at a cost.
According to a Fairwork India report, while some gig platforms pay minimum wage to their employee partners, when it comes to work flexibility for employees, citing things like no specific work hours and incentives may not be enough.
The report investigated the working conditions of digital platform workers in India. It assesses 12 platforms in India that provide location-based services in sectors such as domestic and personal care, logistics, food delivery, e-pharmacy, and transportation.
“The promise of flexibility in the digital platform economy raises as many questions about livelihoods as it offers opportunities. Through the report, we try to provide an interpretation of flexibility that allows for not merely the adaptability that platforms seek, but also the income and social security that workers lack”, said Balaji Parthasarathy and Janaki Srinivasan, the principal investigators involved in the report.
As a part to research, Fairwork along with entree for IT and Public Policy (Citapp) at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) conducted interviews with gig workers and analyzed 12 major platforms, including Amazon Flex, BigBasket, Dunzo, Flipkart, Ola, PharmEasy, Porter, Swiggy, Uber, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato.
These platforms were reviewed on the basic criteria like minimum wage, working conditions, declaration of clear terms and conditions before signing up, grievances redressal, management and representation.
Some companies like Flipkart, Urban Company and BigBasket have introduced policies that satisfy some of the criteria mentioned in the report. However, none of the 12 companies showed a willingness to recognise a collective body of workers under the term ‘gig workers’.
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