Partner Article

The gig economy

Employer - Employee: Redundant Terms in the gig economy

It may seem odd to quote a neo Marxist at the start of any article on the major issues facing employers in the UK, however, Antonio Gramsci accurately identified the state of play when he wrote in the 1950’s, that “the old is dying, the new has yet to be born and in the interim state there is a period of great confusion”. This is a pertinent starting point in looking at the current employment and labour law matrix in the UK as employers (or more accurately given the increasingly out-moded term “work providers” ) face a changing economic arena and new attitudes towards work and what the concept of work actually means.

We have identified three major questions and sub-issues facing work providers, namely:-

• How to ensure that the workforce is flexible and adaptive to meet the demands of customers and consumers. Concurrently, how to utilise the talents available to the work provider whilst satisfying the requirements of sophisticated work deliverers as they seek an effective work-life balance.

• How to engage with work deliverers to ensure aims, objectives and standards are met. This opens a plethora of issues from performance management to workplace consultation.

• The range of emerging responsibilities work providers have, or will be expected to have, towards work deliverers going forward. This raises issues such as the Living Wage and aspects of discrimination legislation that are beginning to take shape and have greater prominence most noticeably issues in relation to age discrimination and religion and philosophical belief. So, how have we reached this point?

Putting the issues raised by Brexit slightly to one side, there are a number of variable factors including:-

• The changing nature of work given the advance in technology how it is defined and the requirements of work providers now challenged and stretched due to the growing needs of the service economy, customers, the increased role of technology and greater global reach of potential opportunities.

• Changing needs of work deliverers. Undoubtedly, global economic factors have led to growing social and economic instability forcing people to have a more realistic view on their work-life balance. Across the EU we have seen a subtle rise in pressure for family friendly rights and an interest in how the Nordic models seek to balance work and family responsibilities.

• A recognition that there are log-jams in the UK and wider global economy namely entrenched unemployment and under-utilisation of talent in three sectors namely younger workers; women and older workers.

Looking at the concept of flexibility it is clear that it is not only the on-demand companies such as UBER, TaskRabbit and AirbandB, who operate in what has been termed the gig economy, who are seeking to maximise the level of flexibility in the relationships with work deliverers. US tech leader and unions are also looking for ways to ensure that such workers are given greater protection and at the same time can embrace flexible working which can be beneficial to a number of work deliverers. The concern is the level of exposure to exploitation of the workforce and concerns that this has on social stability and long-term productivity. For example a recent report in the New York Times highlighted concerns in the Obama administration that the number of “missing workers” had increased - namely those not in work and not receiving benefits.

Flexibility in the working relationship can take a number of forms including multiple relationships with work providers; flexibility in how work is provided to one work provider and, flexibility in how the actual work or function “work” is performed. Therefore issues such as homeworking, accountability, use of technology, delivery and managing of targets and objectives are rising up the agenda. However, flexibility in its broadest sense does not have an entrenched tradition in the UK workplace. A recent report by “Timewise” for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that up to 1.5 million part time workers are over-qualified for the job functions they perform with women (unsurprisingly) more adversely affected than men. There is therefore an argument for work providers to look more closely at the whole issue of flexibility.

An inter-related theme is the broader macro debate that there needs to be a recognition that the traditional tags that we use in relation to employer/employee are no longer relevant and need to be redefined. This debate has been taken up in the US particularly by Andrei Hagiu of Harvard Business School who argues that there is an intermediate option of categorisation between employee and self-employed namely a “dependable contractor” who should have protection within the legal framework in relation to some rights and responsibilities owed to them, but perhaps tax liability resting with the work deliverer. Seth Harris and Alan Krueger have also taken up this argument by proposing the notion of the “independent worker”. They argue that there should be no minimum wage set for such workers but at the same time they should be free to unionise and collectively bargain. In relation to the UK, could this model work? Some would argue that such a framework is already in operation via consultancy agreements but this is not a relationship available to the vast majority of the workforce.

One option would be to provide greater contractual protection and quick enforcement of contractual rights via a designated Labour Court coupled with the right also to be protected under discrimination legislation via the broad concept of “worker”. If this is the way forward then there should be a mature debate amongst the social partners as to the parameters of the new model and the range of rights and responsibilities. In the interim what immediate practice steps can work providers take to promote and encourage flexibility vis-à-vis their relationship with work deliverers.

• Look at the talent pool within your organisation. Too often, work providers will set up annual performance reviews. They are looked at once a year. Ultimately, how effective is this? An option would be to sit down with work deliverers and seek to see what talents they can offer and how you are utilising it. Could more flexible approaches to work be considered?

• See if the business case could be put forward for more compacted working hours (Swedes work six hours a day). • How do you manage absence? Why are people absent? Is it because they are actually using sickness leave for other matters? How can you work around that situation and scenario to tackle long term absences?

• Are all jobs open to jobshare? If not, why not?

• Are there peak demands that are easily foreseeable that can be factored into any flexible working arrangement?

The time is now right for work providers to look at the world of work, how it has changed and how work deliverers can provide services in a new and innovative way, which do not lead to social instability or exploitation.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by david gibson .