Relational frames of care: Constructing care work in the gig economy

Research has identified ‘personalised risks’ for workers due to changes in the public/private dimensions of care where workers are directly employed or engaged by care users in individualised care systems. Drawing on interviews with workers in Australia’s new individualised disability services market, the research explores personalised risk and the effects of involvement in personalised care relationships of market-based organisations, including online digital care platforms. It finds that rather than having a protective role, both digital platforms and employing organisations can increase risks for workers in individualised care relationships.

Risk Shifts in the Gig Economy: The Normative Case for an Insurance Scheme against the Effects of Precarious Work*

Engaging Communities as Home Care Providers, Utilizing a Social Enterprise Model

In the last few years, the proliferation of digital labour platforms has led to the transformation of business models and labour relations in an increasing number of economic activities, including highly feminized and informal traditional sectors, such as care and domestic work. Drawing on an analysis of 37 digital care platforms in Spain, this research compares the distinctive features and structural power dynamics they engender, and it constructs a taxonomy of business models of these care platforms. By analysing the main features of their operational models, we are capable of distinguishing three main types of platforms: marketplace, on‐demand, and digital placement agencies. First, the paper argues that the distinctive features of each digital platform business model have differentiated impacts on working conditions in terms of access to tasks, remuneration, flexibility and means of control. This differentiation allows us to understand what is transformative and what is continuous in platforms' precarization or formalisation of care work and working conditions of carers, mainly women and migrants. Each business model has its differentiated outcomes in terms of labour control and reorganization of women's and migrants' reproductive work. Second, more broadly, while digital care platforms may have contributed to facilitating workers' access to jobs, reducing transaction costs and standardising processes, this has often been through the creation of more flexible and insecure forms of work and to increased market pressures. Therefore, this study contributes to existing research addressing the degree of formalization of labour relations in digital platform work through a nuanced analysis of their business models.

While on-demand care platforms have recently emerged as a “techno-fix” to the global care crisis and related labour shortages, the associations of the care platform economy with welfare states and social policies remain under-studied. This article presents a qualitative study of 36 workers engaged in care platforms in Hong Kong (HK), an extreme case of productivist welfare in East Asia. Informed by existing institutional analyses of welfare regimes, business systems, and platform economy, this study adopted a relational approach to examine the multilevel configuration of HK’s platform-mediated care. The findings revealed that care platforms, as digital intermediaries, imposed contractual restrictions on workers and generated uncertainty in everyday care work relations. The business models and digitised scalability of the platforms offered fast and immediate care services, yet the quality and reliability of care were not guaranteed under cost-based competition across platforms. Regarding institutional support, the ‘gigified’ care market and care platform work were enabled by HK’s residual welfare regime, liberal labour market, and marketised family care model, with limited social and labour protection. Although the government’s voucher system and outsourcing strategies facilitated the care platform economy, the low-cost policy approach to care also limited its expansion. This article makes two main contributions. First, it examines how the corporate logic of care platforms leads to work and care precarity, challenging the ‘uberisation’ of care. Second, the analysis of multilevel configuration links the development of platform-mediated care to institutional settings, moving beyond a micro focus on digital affordances.

The subject of the article is impact the gig economy to the legal regulation of labor, civil, tax relations.The purpose of the article is to identify the problems of legal regulation of relations between gig workers and digital platforms in the gig economy and suggest ways to improve it.The methodology includes systematic approach, comparative method, formal-logical method, formal-legal method, analysis, synthesis.The main results of the research. The transition from a “classic” industrial employment relationship between an employer and an employee to one based on the gig economy, using digital platforms to link the employee to their job, has created problems in classifying employment arrangements in labor law. In the current situation, the state needs to do a lot of work: (1) the sphere of the gig economy requires the compilation of clear terminology, as well as the analysis and identification of the functions of digital platforms and gig workers, then it requires amendments to labor legislation; (2) it is necessary to develop criteria for gig workers or independent contractors, one of the criteria can be proposed: the performance of work by a gig worker without the control of the hiring firm. The hiring firm's control should be limited to accepting or rejecting the results a gig worker achieves, not how they achieve them; (3) It is necessary to delimit the sphere of regulation of hired labor from the sphere of regulation of gig-employment, to withdraw gig-employment from the regulation of labor legislation.An analysis of the current legislation and law enforcement practice shows that the cornerstone of legal regulation in the field of the gig economy is the issue of legal registration of relations between digital platforms and their partners. Thus, with a rigid approach that identifies these relations with labor relations, the gig economy loses its specificity, digital platforms lose their competitive advantages in many ways, and in some cases, their ability to function. At the same time, the current relations in the field of employment of individuals on digital platforms allow us to speak about the presence of certain differences between such relations and labor relations, which are manifested mainly in greater freedom on the side of the "employee" and less control on the part of the employer – the digital platform, and also the unstable nature of this form of employment and its subsidiarity to more traditional forms. The specificity of the relationship between platforms and its counterparties also raises the question of the need to reform the provisions on civil liability, aimed at formulating special grounds for the responsibility of digital platforms, the distribution of this responsibility between them and their partners. Such provisions may be based on the existing norms on the liability of the employer for harm caused by his employee.Conclusions. The change of labor relations between employees and the employer to the relationship between the digital platform and gig workers predetermines the transformation of tax legal relations, in terms of the following aspects: what taxes should a gig worker pay, should there be any special tax regime; how the issue of paying insurance premiums should be resolved, whether they should be mandatory or voluntary; what role digital platforms will play in tax relations, whether they should act as tax agents or data providers; what requirements for gig workers, as taxpayers, should be imposed by tax legislation in terms of record keeping and reporting; how tax control should be exercised over gig workers and digital platforms.

As demand for privately organized care and domestic work has grown, digital platforms have emerged as key intermediaries connecting prospective workers with clients. Drawing on unique survey data collected in Germany in 2019, this study offers a systematic analysis of the sociodemographic characteristics of platform-mediated care and domestic workers, with particular focus on their family and household compositions and their motivations for using a digital care-work platform. The study’s findings reveal similarities between these workers, traditional care and domestic workers, and other platform workers in the gig economy. This study also focuses on how this work serves as a strategy for reconciling paid work with unpaid family responsibilities. Importantly, a noticeable proportion of the workers have unpaid care responsibilities for children or other family members and friends while pursuing platform work. When asked about their reasons for using a digital platform, the workers mostly name the income potential, job flexibility, and independence that this platform-mediated work provides. However, the motivations of different groups of workers vary: those with children more often value the balance of paid work and family life that this work offers, while financial incentives and professional development are less of a priority.

Digitally mediated care work is a growing segment of the service sector in Australia in the context of increasing demand for personalisation of care and an ageing population. Yet little is known about the experiences of care workers in the gig economy. The growing number of care platforms in Australia indicates a need to better understand the lived experiences of those offering care services via platforms and the implications for the care economy. This briefing paper summarises the key findings from interviews with care workers using platforms to organise care work.

An increasing number of workers turn to digital platforms – such as Fiverr, Freelancer, and Upwork – as an alternative to traditional work arrangements. Digital platforms govern how gig workers join, move through, and leave platforms – often with the help of self-learning algorithms. While digital platforms and algorithms take on HRM practices, we know little about how HRM activities unfold on digital work platforms in the gig economy. The study therefore aims to understand how HRM activities apply to and take shape on digital platforms by studying worker perceptions. We combine supervised text analysis with an in-depth qualitative content analysis, relying on 12’924 scraped comments from an online forum of workers on Upwork. We outline five conversations on HRM practices that pertain to access and mobility, training and development, scoring and feedback, appraisal and control and platform literacy and support. Based on these findings, we build five propositions about how digital work platforms employ HRM activities. Our paper contributes to recent work on HRM on digital platforms by (1) developing a new mixed-methods approach that illustrates how the content of HRM practices may differ from traditional organizations, (2) highlighting the changing role of actors in creating HRM practices by introducing the concept of ‘crowd-created’ HRM practices, and (3) conceptualizing how digital platforms employ a ‘hybrid HRM approach’.

Purpose We investigate how digital care platforms contribute to the marketization of care across the European Union (EU) by analyzing their business models and national variations. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a dataset from the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and extensive hand-coding, we identify 100 care platforms and examine their characteristics using a novel three-dimensional analytical framework: scope of commodification, platform governance and distribution of market risks. Findings Our findings show that while care platforms share features with other digital labor platforms, the intimate, relational and non-standardized nature of care work limits algorithmic control and commodification. Nonetheless, care platforms contribute to marketization by intermediating a wide range of services, including emerging categories like pet care and tutoring and relying predominantly on marketplace models that shift risk onto workers. Importantly, we uncover cross-national variation: the Nordic countries, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands host more regulated platform models with less reliance on market mechanisms, whereas Eastern Europe is dominated by marketplace models. These patterns align with broader care regime typologies and suggest that care platforms both adapt to and reshape national care markets. Originality/value Our study offers the first comparative empirical overview of care platform business models across the EU and highlights the need for more nuanced, context-sensitive research to understand their evolving role in care provision. This complements existing research on platform workers' experiences of precarity and informality by showing that these are linked to care platform business models. Our findings have implications for platform regulation, addressing issues of care provision and (informal) labor.

This article is directed towards addressing the employment related issues encountered by female workers in the gig economy in the EU. It revolves around analysing ‘the switch’ from the traditional labour market to the platform economy. It subsequently explains, by drawing comparisons, that the issues of gender inequality in the brick and mortar world are still prevalent in world of the digital platform. In fact, new challenges have emerged which are specifically related to the gig economy. Female workers are now affected by the inherent bias of algorithms. Moreover, due to the unequivocal propagation of ‘flexibility’ which is used as a weapon to glorify the gig economy; women are even more likely to be pushed into precarious work. The other prominent issues of gender inequality like the dynamics of intersectionality, the gender pay gap and hiring policies in traditional and digital platforms are also examined. Furthermore, the existing regulatory frameworks addressing these issues are discussed with the possibility of catering to the gender inequality issues in the gig economy through policy development. The article concludes with a reflection on the need for the EU to take immediate and efficacious policy measures in respect of female workers in the gig economy.

This edited book examines the gig economy status of India from a critical socio-economic perspective. The rise of ‘Gig Economy’ in India is changing the nature of work for the workforce. The ‘Gig Economy’ offers employment to deliver on-demand service by those who are willing to engage in employment based on internet services and digital technology facilities. ‘Gig Economy’ can be classified as high-skilled and low- skilled economy. When the Gig workers use various digital platforms like Ola, Uber, Zomato, Swiggy, or Urban company to connect with customers are said as ‘Platform workers’. Such category of workers enjoys flexibility and choice of labour, ability to hold multiple jobs, guaranteed payment & heightened earnings etc. But such platform workers suffer a great problem of motivation, lack of socialisation and they also face a problem of having quality interaction with their family members. These workers also don’t enjoy autonomy as they have no role in determining the prize that is charged to the customers and even, they are not allowed to discuss with their managers about various matters like wages, incentives or their nature of the work

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze self-branding strategies employed by women and men in the gig economy, with a focus on how these strategies differ on digital platforms. The research aims to highlight the importance of skill display in framing self-presentations, particularly in male-dominated fields. Design/methodology/approach Using a mixed-method approach, we analyzed 444 public profiles of professionals on digital platforms. The study identifies three key discursive frames – technological skills, creative skills and personal skills – through which self-branding strategies are constructed and compared between genders. Findings The analysis reveals that women and men employ different self-branding strategies, with a notable difference in the emphasis on convergent skills (STEM) and divergent skills (artistic fields). The findings suggest that integrating art and design into STEM could create new opportunities for women in traditionally male-dominated sectors. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to the analysis of public profiles on selected digital platforms, which may not fully capture all self-branding strategies. Future research could expand to other sectors and explore the long-term impacts of these strategies on career development. Practical implications The study provides practical insights for digital platforms and training programs to support gender-specific self-branding strategies. By acknowledging the differences in skill framing, platforms can enhance visibility and success for both men and women in the gig economy. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature by examining the intersection of gender and self-branding in the gig economy, offering new perspectives on how women can leverage digital platforms to succeed in male-dominated fields.

The Gig economy refers to short term jobs, contract or freelance work and flexi timing jobs as opposed to traditional full-time labor, which has witnessed a rapid growth in the last decade across the globe. Digital platforms have largely developed a free market system where independent workers connect with the buyers of the services. The Platform or Gig economy has grown at a much faster pace than ever before from the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. Since the COVID-19 lockdown, the labor market has been affected in a drastic way and a trend towards short-term and temporary jobs has become commonplace. The Economic Survey, 2020-21 highlights the growing importance of Gig economy in India amid the pandemic-induced lockdown which has led to an immense growth in the online retail business. The employers began layoffs and instead engaged freelancers or flexi staff to bring down their overhead costs. Many studies have been conducted now on assessing the impact of the ongoing pandemic on the economy and stock markets, however, very few studies focus on the influence the pandemic had on the Gig economy. The present study attempts to fill this gap by evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on the Gig economy by assessing whether the increase in new COVID-19 cases lead to an increase in the number of gig workers in the Indian economy, or in other words, exerts a significant impact on the Indian gig economy or not.

Abstract. Work in the gig economy is defined as short-term and task-based jobs mediated by digital platforms. In Indonesia, the emergence of an online motorcycle taxi driver platform in 2015 marked the discourse about the gig economy as the future alternative of jobs on the one hand, and as a new form of exploitation of labor on the other hand. This study is the first to define the typology of the gig economy and identify the platforms of the gig economy service providers in Indonesia. Furthermore, this study estimates the number of gig economy workers by using micro data from the National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) released by the Central Statistics Agency. It was found that 0.3 to 1.7% of Indonesian workers participated in the gig economy as their primary job. This study also compares the characteristics of gig workers in the transportation sector and in the other service sectors with the overall demographics of the workforce. It was found that gig workers shared more characteristics with the formal workers than with the informal workers. Finally, this study maps the distribution of gig workers throughout Indonesia at the city/district level. It can be concluded that the gig economy is an urban phenomenon. Most gig workers in the transportation sector are concentrated in the provincial capital and in Metropolitan Jakarta. Meanwhile, gig workers in other service sectors are distributed more in tier 2 cities in Java. Keywords: Gig economy, gig worker, digital worker, labor economics, jobs