Digital technology in the workplace is often associated with increasing precariousness of work and worsening working conditions. This is perhaps most visible in the platform economy, where online platforms control in detail how workers carry out their tasks, while the latter often lack access to social protection and collective bargaining.
And yet, this is part of a broader trend. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, digital technologies and algorithmic management are being deployed across the workforce, risking to further limit worker autonomy. Many of these issues can and should be addressed by applying, tweaking and flexibly interpreting existing labour, social security and data protection rules. But policymakers should also look beyond regulation alone: could they use public platforms to provide more tailored and effective public services to those citizens who need it?
The Covid pandemic has drawn new attention to the key importance of personal services for household survival, ranging from food delivery to care services. But all too often such services are provided by precarious workers, often employed via online platforms. Platform work is widespread across Europe and growing rapidly, research funded by the European Foundation for Progressive […]
The labour status of people working in the online platform economy is key to their socio-economic protection. But it has proven a difficult issue for courts and regulators. The EU is considering introducing a ‘rebuttable presumption of employment’ to help address this problem. What could this entail exactly? For some time now, one of the […]
All managerial functions are now entrusted to algorithm-powered tools, raising large expectations and new risks. This trend is not confined to platform work. No economic sector is immune to the adoption of such systems. The EU institutions are engaged in a promising process that may lead to new regulatory solutions, but social dialogue and collective […]
Europe faces a foundational moment, as it debates how to put the digital transition onto a path that is in the interest of citizens and society. Regulatory efforts focus on reigning in Big Tech, reducing potential harms, and increasing market competition. This is a necessary step. But if Europe wants to develop its own, sovereign […]
