In search of the right balance

by Massimo Anelli, assistant professor at Department of social and political sciences

 

New online platform technologies are redefining what employment relationships look like. Many firms do not offer permanent jobs to workers but employ workers at a “piece-rate” or hourly basis, often requiring workers to work on their own accounts as contractors or "Gig workers". While wages in these positions may be comparable, there are stark differences in workers’ rights, safety protection, and access to a variety of workplace benefits. Efforts to enforce minimum standards for such contract dimensions have received relatively little attention. Many anecdotes document the harrowing working conditions in many low-paid jobs. Large corporations are no exception, Amazon warehouse workers reportedly are discouraged from taking bathroom breaks and use bottles to go to the toilet, in addition, these workers are experiencing extremely high injury rates, reportedly because of the rushed working conditions. At the heart of this debate is the question: How should we value non-wage aspects of work? Can we price the ethical standards of jobs? With the advent of new technologies and the increased flexibility of work, worse working conditions are often not priced into the wage. 

 

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