Auditing Gig Work Platforms: Fairwork’s Research, Advocacy, and Impact

Abstract

The rise of the “gig economy” poses fundamental challenges to pre-existing social compacts regarding labour relations around the world, with vital implications for Singapore’s workforce, economic growth, and its tripartism framework. While some see an inevitable trend towards digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platforms dominating workers, others seek to find solutions through state intervention and/or corporate self-management. Both latter approaches, we contend, would be incomplete without hearing the voices of gig workers and considering their experiences in light of relevant platform policies and government regulations. Can gig work platforms be subjected to labour audits? If so, how? This paper introduces the Fairwork project as a case in which labour audits are conducted to assess ride-hailing and food delivery platforms across five continents in 30 countries including Singapore. We aim to discuss the project’s background and its five main principles, its methods of research and advocacy, the promises of auditing gig work platforms, its social and policy impact, and its limitations. We also present findings from focus groups and interviews involving ride-hailing drivers and food delivery riders in Singapore, which were conducted in 2021–2022 using the Fairwork methodology. In so doing, we discuss the lessons learnt from the case of Fairwork and similar projects of labour-auditing gig work platforms, which deserve more attention and exploration in Singapore and elsewhere.