digital labour platform

Pontalto Ambra Sbalchiero Anna Sellami Safaa

Digital labour platforms

Gig economy between algorithm control and regulations

The development of digital labor platforms has the potential to provide workers, including women, people with disabilities, and young people with income-generating opportunities, flexibility and skill development.

Workers may face problems regarding the regularity of work and income, working conditions, social protection, skills utilization, freedom of association, and the right to collective bargaining.

Challenges

Digital labor platform: an overview

Opportunities

10 countries

Deliveroo is a British company founded in 2013, it provides a three-sided marketplace that brings together customers who buy food, restaurants who prepare it and riders who deliver it

200.000 partners

180.000 riders

800 locations

For restaurants, Deliveroo represents a profitable opportunity allowing them to reach new customers and boost their visibility without extensive marketing campaigns

For partners

Deliveroo offers consumers the opportunity to have food delivered straight to their homes, making it ideal for busy individuals or those who prefer eating in the comfort of their homes.

For consumers

How does the app work?

Pick up the food

Once an order has been made, it is shown on the rider app and he has the option to either accept or reject it

Accept the order

When the rider gets to the restaurant, he pick app the food and the app provide him with the consumer's address

Having all the information, the rider can ultimately deliver the food to the final customer

Deliver it to the customer

To start working, the rider must enter a "zone" and log in, as a result, the platform can measure GPS positioning and timing

Log in

for riders

Autonomy paradox

Does Deliveroo allow flexibility?

to adjust to changing market conditions

• Company

to choose jobs, working hours and location of work (also through collective bargaining)

• Workers

to obtain longer hours from employees when needed

• Employers

while digital tools offer flexibility, they also blur work boundaries

Flexibility has different meanings:

Softening algorithmic decisions that impact workers' autonomy

Access to management mediation

Workers' autonomy

Freedom to sign up to multiple platforms

Access to the platform

Ensuring fair task allocation to prevent unpaid labour

Access to paid tasks when logged in

Limited control for delivery apps' workers

Control over work conduct

In this app-based management workers' autonomy is based on:

Algorithmic management in Deliveroo

The "Frank" algorithm monitors workers' performance and optimizes delivery times, yet its opaque nature contributes to the black-boxing phenomenon

Deliveroo's policy and regulation

LABOUR AND SOCIAL PROTECTION

‘Use this space to write a quote. And remember, always name the source.’

- Conditions of work unilatery set by platforms - Initiatives from governments and other stakeholders to protect deliveroo riders' rights

Consequences of such take-it-or-leave-it agreement are relevant both in the content and form of the 'terms and conditions' under which deliveroo's users operate

FORM

CONTENT

Contracts of adhesion with little or no negotiation, and lack of bargaining poower leads to unfair terms

Terms of service agreements

Many agreement are not fully accessible, until workers sign for them, neither are redily comprehensible to workersthey are not stastic since Deliveroo reserve the right to amend terms at any timeMethods of dispute resoultion are established by deliveroo

Workers are self-employees and so are denied of any employment entitlements and benefits as well as labour rights. So platforms are unconstrained by any labour protection legislation, identifying the riders as a 'third idependent party'.However, such category identification mostly depends on the type of jurisdiction

What do 'terms and conditions' deal with?

Data privacy

How users data is collected, stored, and used, including any sharing of info with 3rd parties

Liability and termination

Limitations on Deliveroo's liabilities for any delivery issue, and circumstances to terminate users accounts or services

Intellectual property

Rights and restrictions for using Deliveroo's branding, content and intellectual property

Service usage

Guidelines on how users can use the platform

Payment

Payment methods, pricing, fees, and refunds

Orders and Deliveries

Policies of delivering and placing orders, and responsibilities

The Charter of Principles binds the platforms to diversity and inclusion; safety and well-being; flexibility and fair conditions; reasonable pay and fees; social protection; learning and development; voice and participation; and data management.

January 2020, WEF

Standards applicable to all workers irrespective of their contractual relationship: 'decent work' principles because of their action of working

ILO constitution and tools

DELIVEROO is prohibited from impairing freedom of association, it is prevented from discriminating between workers on protected grounds such as sex or race, it is not permitted to engage workers involuntary or below minimum working age, and are required not to expose workers to unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, or to violence.> Elements of 'decent work' are also included in international human rights treaties and other regulatory sources aimed to protect information asymmetry and inequality of bargaining powerHOW TO AVOID THE LIABILITY TO IIMPLEMENT LABOUR PROTECTION STANDARDS? interpose a third party, a customer, between the platform and the worker in order to keep away from any action of that third party.

Law protecting Deliveroo workers' conditions

Consumer Protection laws

Provide protection against abusive or discriminatory behavior from customers. Riders can have legal recourse if experience unfair treatment while performing their duties

Anti-retaliation protections

Protect workers from retaliation by the platform for exercising their rights as well as raising concerns and complaints about working conditions, and the right to unionize

Health and Safety Regulations

The platform has legal obligations to ensure health and safety of its workers, and provide appropriate training and support to prevent injuries

Worker classification

Regulatory initiatives to reclassify riders as employees rather than idependent contractors, entitling them to additional rights and benefits

Labour Laws

Varying between jurisdictions, labour protections such as minimum wage, collective bargaining rights, protection against harassment and discrimination, paid leave, right to disconnect...

General government institutions' regulatory initiatives to counterbalance Deliveroo's regulations and policies regarding its workers, regardless of local jurisdictions and differnt terms of engagemnet

EU member states' labor and social ministers on the 11th of March 2024 agreed on regulations that determine WHEN gig economy workers should be classified as employees

These would apply where the platform supervises workers' performance electronically and controls factors like how much they are paid and their working hours.This is the first-ever piece of EU legislation to regulate algorithmic management and to set minimum standards to improve working conditions for million of platform workers across the EU.

EU Deliveroo workers are now granted employee rights!

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