Conflict and Shifting Boundaries in the Gig Economy

An Interdisciplinary Analysis

Rebecca Page-Tickell, Elaine Yerby

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781838676056
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Labour Economics
• Index: Economics

Using an interdisciplinary lens, this book innovatively explores the conflicts and shifting boundaries in organisational, professional, legal and economic structures, caused by the rise of the gig economy. The dynamic structural model of the gig economy is introduced to interrogate the inner workings of the amorphous gig economy at the Macro, Meso and Micro levels of analysis.

Conflict and Shifting Boundaries in the Gig Economy examines a range of tensions and issues, including;

• The future of trade unions in the gig economy
• Employment status and contractual arrangements
• Talent management in the gig economy
• Employee voice and whistleblowing
• Career choices and organisational attractiveness
• Trajectory and impact at macro economic levels.

Organisational examples and a focus on the perspective of those engaged in gig work introduce new insights and research questions on the current and future challenges posed by the gig economy, alongside using the structural dynamic model as a tool to understand actors and organisational experiences and build appropriate interventions.

Chapter 1

Understanding Conflict and Shifting Boundaries in the Gig Economy Through the Dynamic Structural Model

Rebecca Page-Tickell and Elaine Yerby

Introduction

The growth of the gig economy is evident across the globe and is often presented in the media, as a simple phenomenon characterised by conflict due to the upheaval of well-worn organisational structures and employee relations. This interdisciplinary and multilevel text seeks to expose the multifaceted nature of the gig economy and the granularity of experiences of key stakeholders operating within it. Conflicts as well as shifting boundaries are addressed to demonstrate the variety of forms the gig economy can take and how it creates tension and enhanced precariousness within existing global legal, economic and organisational structures and frameworks. Core to this analysis is an appreciation for what the gig economy actually is, as there is no singly agreed definition. The gig economy has been defined in encompassing terms as ‘a work context comprised primarily of short-term independent freelance workers who contract with organisations or sell directly to the market’ (Ashford, Caza, and Reid, 2018, p. 2) and people having non-permanent fixed hours of work and doing individual, separately paid pieces of work (CIPD, 2017, p. 4). Others have sought to focus more exclusively on the technological features of gig work and management by algorithm, as the defining characteristics of the gig economy (see Duggan, Sherman, Carbery, & McDonnell, 2019). In this chapter we will explore the benefits and inherent diversity in each approach and provide a working definition and also Dynamic Structural Model through which to study the various elements of this contested domain. Policy recommendations for the gig economy are not straightforward given its heterogeneous nature, spatial dimensions and how new forms of work impact individuals differently dependent on the skill set required (Johnes, 2019). This book seeks to contribute to policy debates on the future of work that recognise this complexity through applying an interdisciplinary and multilevel analysis to the gig economy.

Our premise in the book is that the range of platforms and types of ‘gigs’ available in modern labour markets are disrupting established borders of worker and employee status, organisations, professions and labour markets, and have created conditions for conflict and shifting boundaries in both negative and positive ways. These conditions are created by the new global professional and working landscapes, which poses questions around the power balance between client, platform and worker, and if there can be trust and fairness when work is in a constant state of flux and the nature of work is always insecure (Graham, Hjorth, & Lehdonvirta, 2017). This book is written concurrently with the development of the gig economy itself and wider economic conditions, which make it difficult to see the outcomes of existing and future relations within the gig economy. For example, evidence is mounting that the current use of platform-based technology allows a concentration of wealth into fewer hands (Dachs, 2018). This may propel a response at governmental level, to enable a longer-term more stable and equitable economy. As explored in the book the pace of governmental response to the gig economy has varied across legislative regimes, types of economy and social welfare agendas (Johnston & Land-Kazkluskas, 2019). Arguably in the UK the preoccupation and dominance of Brexit in the political and economic psyche has meant legislative attention to the gig economy has been left wanting (Bell & Clarke, 2017). Economic uncertainty and slow growth since the EU referendum result has meant a continued reliance on the flexibility afforded by the gig economy and conditions of precarity to be tolerated (Sisson, 2016). Whereas in the United States the first legislative protection for gig ‘workers’ will come into force in January 2020, in part due to the strength of the economy and growth of job opportunities in the traditional labour market (Irwin, 2019).

The apparent lack of appetite for legislative change in the UK was evident in the findings and response to the government-commissioned independent review of modern employment and working practices. Good Work: The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices (Taylor, Marsh, & Broadbent, 2017) came out against a wholescale shakeup in the law and extending protection to a wider range of workers. These findings and the main recommendations of the review for more responsible corporate governance, good management and employee relations within organisations were endorsed by the Conservative government of the time. It also addresses the macro perspective of the neoliberal context within which this ‘modern’ form of work takes place. The change in focus from labour to work is seen as part of the neo-liberal discourse. (Wright, Wailes, Bamber and Landsbury, 2017). This book provides an analysis of the realities associated with platform companies and organisations engaged in gig-based work to voluntarily reform in these areas and the risks associated with the UK lagging behind legislative change, to both productivity and good work outcomes, for individuals and organisations.

Exploring different governmental responses raises important questions concerning the lifecycle of the gig economy as a permanent phenomenon. There are already claims of the gig economy contracting to just a niche arrangement for particular industries and those looking to ‘side hustle’ (Irwin, 2019). Healy, Nicholson, and Pekarek (2017) describe the gig economy as ephemeral and reports that in 2016 less than 1% of Australian adults were doing regular platform work. And in the UK the CIPD (2017) highlights:

The gig economy has not, as yet, fundamentally changed the nature of work in the UK. Over the past 20 years the share of people in permanent employee jobs has remained high by international standards and has not greatly changed.

This picture needs to be understood against the backdrop of the significant problem of measurement in the gig economy. It is particularly difficult to identify the number of people engaged in the gig economy, due to the hidden, precarious and short-lived nature of the work. Governmental surveys of labour and employment where designed for a world of work based on traditional employment practices and are only now catching up with the fast pace and trans-global nature of the gig economy (Abraham, Haltiwanger, Sandusky, & Spletzer, 2017). As the number of dedicated large-scale surveys of the gig economy has started to grow an alternative picture to decline emerges. McKinsey & Co. (2016) published, what was at the time, one of the first global and large-scale surveys exploring the backgrounds and motivations of people working in the gig economy. Independent Work: Choice, Necessity and the Gig Economy revealed a burgeoning gig economy. The category of independent workers were not solely represented by those on low-incomes, doing one off jobs out of necessity. The survey revealed that whilst, approximately 45% of low-income households engaged in gig work, this made up less than 25% of all independent earners in all countries surveyed, with the exception of Spain. This survey and subsequent studies in the United Kingdom and the United States also revealed the high number of people engaged in gig work to top up salaries gained in traditional labour markets (see Broughton et al., 2018; CIPD, 2017; The Edison Report, 2018). The McKinsey Report (2016) described conditions whereby ‘casual earners’ supplement their income through choice, compared to the ‘financially strapped’ that do this through necessity. Demonstrating the uneven distribution of the benefits and costs associated with enhanced digitalisation and changed labour markets due to the skill-based nature of technological and role reforms (Dachs, 2018).

Hence, the aim of this book is not to provide definitive answers on its lifecycle trajectory but rather to explore the new interfaces taking place between traditional work and the gig economy and localities of enhanced precarious versus flexibility and lifestyle freedoms. In doing so we also contribute to debates, as to whether the gig economy is a substantive change of kind from previous forms of non-standard working, or whether there is a change of degree engendered by the involvement of platforms. Facey and Eakin (2010) suggest that the main difference in the pattern of what they refer to as contingent work is its expansion into occupational categories which had previously longer-term working patterns. To ascertain the impact of these changes and boundary spanning issues in organisational and professional domains, a range of questions are posed and addressed in the book including: if more legal changes will be forthcoming to protect individuals against the precarious nature of the gig economy? Can trade unions have a valid and valuable role in this economy and has organisational and individual decision-making in relation to the management of people and careers fundamentally changed, as a consequence of the growth of the gig economy?

In addressing these questions macro economic experiences and sources of conflict are examined, as well as meso organisational responses and solutions and micro level issues and disagreements between gig workers, employees and managers that occur from the blurring of role boundaries and how benefits are divided in the gig economy. In this respect, the book seeks to keep a balance between overly positivistic and negative accounts, of both the organisational and gig worker perspectives, on the realities of modern working practices. Including an analysis of a range of stakeholder perspectives and experiences from industry and organisational settings in the exploration of case law and empirical research supports this ambition. The emphasis lies in the nature of trust and fairness and the extent to which there are opportunities or growing hidden problems, and if existing mechanisms for conflict resolution are still viable in the gig economy. In doing so, visibility of the gig economy and its accessibility for trade unions and human resource management (HRM) are also considered.

Thus, throughout the book connectivity is made to the ongoing people management challenge of the possibility of effective engagement and involvement of those working in the gig economy. The spatial dimension of the gig economy and the different skills sets, talents and motivations that are required in relation to different forms of gig work are examined in this context. In this respect conflict and blurred boundaries between gig workers, employees and the wider goals of the organisation and, in particular, strategic HRM become evident. As such the book considers the practitioner perspective and makes recommendations for managing organisational level conflict that is created by the gig economy.

In sum, the different chapters of the book each undertake a review of current literature, case law and empirical research on sources of economic, legal, institutional and organisational and individual level conflict and shifting boundaries in the gig economy and provide provocations, insights for future research and policy recommendations. The conclusion provides a synthesis of these emerging trends and issues but there is no false integration to provide a seemingly clear conclusion, simply because at this stage of its development the gig economy remains too amorphous and rapidly changing for definitive conclusions or judgements to be made.

Defining the Gig Economy

A key challenge associated with producing an interdisciplinary text on the gig economy is the application of one singly agreed definition that can account for the divergent author perspectives and subject specialism. As explored above analysing and measuring the gig economy is problematic due to its amorphous nature and the lack of precise classification of gig work (Duggan et al., 2019). These debates are tied into the number of terms that are used to refer to the gig economy and have contributed to some of the confusion around the boundaries of this type of work. References to the ‘on-demand’ economy focus attention on the temporary and unpredictable nature of the gigs. Stewart and Stanford (2017) make the point that the terms used are chosen to communicate something of the desirability of this form of commerce. Commentators can create a positivity around the various terms for the gig economy ‘using rose-coloured euphemisms to make the phenomenon sound exciting and positive’ (p. 421). Facey and Eakin (2010) comment ‘it is framed negatively when discussed in relation to workers and positively when viewed in relation to the economy’ (p. 372). This section outlines our perspective on a range of definitional debates and issues that impact the way in which the gig economy is understood and examined and provides context to the working definition applied in the book.

Definitional issues within the gig economy are inherently complicated by the existence of non-standard and informal workplaces for a very long time. The gig economy may be understood, as a new development in employment or a circular development, in which the opportunities for work have returned to a previous era of low pay, protection and tenure as the employment market becomes fractured in a reinformalisation (Juravich, 2018). Precarity is synonymous with the term ‘gig economy’ as it came into common usage around the height of the financial crisis and unemployment levels in early 2009. Yet, Gleason (2006, p. 1) notes discussions of an increasing prevalence of non-standard employment practices during the 1970s in the private sector in the United States and contextualises this as part of a broader shift in the economy following World War II. Non-standard and temporary work was discussed as early as the 1980s under the term of contingent work by Audrey Freedma...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Chapter 1. Understanding Conflict and Shifting Boundaries in the Gig Economy Through the Dynamic Structural Model
• Section I. Macro Analysis
• Section II. Meso Analysis
• Section III. Micro Analysis
• Index