Studyportal

Preview text

Running Head: GIG-APP DRIVER WORKFORCE VERSUS COMPANIES
GIG-APP DRIVER WORKFORCE VERSUS COMPANIES
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Authors Note:
1 GIG-APP DRIVER WORKFORCE VERSUS COMPANIES
Introduction
Conflict Of Interest between Gig Worker and Company
In todays day and age, there are many different meanings of the term employee.
With the recent pandemic having the entire world shaken and in a crisis; especially when it
comes to work and finding a job; one of the more well-sought modes of jobs was gig-
workers. In laymans terms, gig-workers are independent contract workers that are hired by
large companies, businesses and corporations are looking for temporary workers on a
contract. Also known as online workers, on-call workers and contract-firm workers, gig-
workers and employees come into a mutual agreement with a larger on-call company to hire
them for a certain period or as their contract dictates (Lobel, 2020). One of the more defining
traits of a gig-worker is the fact that, although they are hired by a company or corporation,
they are still not legally a part of the corporation (Healy, Nicholson and Pekarek, 2017). That
is they are labelled as independent workers and are not employees of the hiring company.
One of the main conflicts of interest between gig-workers and companies that hire them are
the way in which the companies differentiate between the independent contract workers and
their own full-time employees. This conflict of interest is in the direct understanding of
radical structuralism which dictates that change in society is bought about through such
conflicts. The bringing about of change in the way companies treat their employees and gig-
based contractual workers will help foster a sense of universality which follows in the steps
of the paradigm of radical humanism (Burrell and Morgan, 2017). This would result in the
abandonment of the perspective of society as to mechanical or organic and rather fosters the
understanding of society as a network of individuals. The conflict of interest between
different workers within the same company can be seen to be a result of a lack of diversity of
thought on the part of the hiring company. The entire premise for the theory of diversity of
though is based on the simple fact that there is more than one way of looking at things. In
2 GIG-APP DRIVER WORKFORCE VERSUS COMPANIES
laymans terms, it is the looking for new and different solutions instead of limiting to a single
perspective. The avocation for the bringing about of change, both through changing of
policies and organisational perspective is crucial in the overall benefit of both the hiring firm
and the gig-based workers (Nair and Vohra, 2015).
Discussion
Current Condition of Gig-Based Workers
A major impact that has caused a shift in the environment for gig-app work for
workers has been the global pandemic. The pandemic had resulted in the loss of jobs for
people as the world was forced into lockdown and home quarantine (Flanagan, 2019). With a
majority of people out of jobs, many have begun to look for an option. This includes part-
time jobs and especially gig-app based work. The same has also been applied for the larger
companies that had to let go a large percentage of their workforce. With the economy slowly
recovering, these large companies like Amazon and Uber are relying on contract-based
workers to help them fortify their workforce. But even though big companies are dependent
on gig-based workers, they fail to treat them as official employees that are officially related to
the company. The extent of the relationship between the company and such workers is strictly
limited to the contract between them (Spurk and Straub, 2020).
Currently, the working conditions of gig-app workers causes them to face certain
challenges which come from being independently employed. The biggest challenge faced by
such workers is the steady stream of income and having a predictable salary. This is because
that the only thing that secures the payment of a salary, whether it be fixed or based on a
commission, is based on the contract they and the hiring company agrees on (Stewart and
Stanford, 2017). That being said, it is clear to see that employees of the hiring company have
the benefits of higher pay and employment stability which gig-workers do not. The families
3 GIG-APP DRIVER WORKFORCE VERSUS COMPANIES
of such workers depend on them to be able to provide and gain financial support. In order to
do so, the workers need to have a conducive and beneficial working environment in the form
of fair treatment and assistance from the hiring company. Unfortunately, companies and the
law, both do not consider gig-based workers to be the same as company based employees and
as a result does not consider them a part of the company in the long run.
Company Support for Proposition 22
Companies like Door Dash, Uber, Amazon and many more have a large percentage of
their ground units being gig-based workers who are affiliated with the company on a
contractual basis. With contract workers raising their voices for the bringing about of radical
change due to the conflict of interest that they and the hiring companies, the companies
themselves defend the distinction between employees and gig-app driven workers.
Companies maintain their support for laws like Proposition 22 in California which dictates
that gig-app driven workers as an independent contractors who are considered to be different
from employees of a company (Cherry, 2021). Due to this, companies have the right to be
able to deny the rights, services and protection given by the company that employees enjoy;
despite utilising the gig-based services. Such laws actively differentiate between employees
of a company and individuals who the company pays for their efforts and services.
Companies defend the ruling of Proposition 22 based on the understanding that such a
ruling would allow for independent contractors to gain a worker-like experience while
retaining their self-employment (Didlake, 2020). The companies retain the claim that the
following of Proposition 22 will not only allow gig-app driven workers to be protected but
also let the companies be safe from collective bargaining. The merits of such a claim allow
the companies to have more authority over the influence gig-app driven workers have. This
also allows companies to limit their protection to only their employees thereby removing the
risk of liabilities that might come from caring for the contractual workers. Even though this
4 GIG-APP DRIVER WORKFORCE VERSUS COMPANIES
proves to be beneficial for the companies that hire, it is not as lucrative and advantageous to
the contract based workers companies make it out to be (Kost, Fieseler and Wong, 2020).
This goes against the perspectives of radical humanism which dictates a sense of universality.
It is the presence of such laws and dominating ideologies that is preventing companies and
businesses from being their true selves. The understanding that the removal of such laws
will only allow for both parties to reach greater potential is what radical humanism dictates.
This paradigm is one in which theorist are concerned with the releasing of the social
constraints that is limiting the human universalness. As such, this can be seen as an anti-
organisation and is the embodiment for the thirst for radical/ revolutionary change in society.
Companies are able to avoid excess risk-bearing and can focus only on their employees and
objectives without being liable to any faults that may be caused on the part of the gig-app
driven workers.
The benefit of Breaking the Status Quo and Accepting Radical Change
The breaking of the status quo is something gig-app driven workers are working
towards on the claim that as it stands there exists a great imbalance of power between the
companies and them. As it stands, the companies that hire gig-app drive workers have the
greater power of influence over the workers. This means that the company can decide
whether or not the efforts of the workers are beneficial for the company (Paul, 2020).
Similarly, the workers have little to no impact in being able to gain assistance and aid from
the company in times of need. Often workers who are under contract with larger companies
come under unprecedented situations where they need assistance. In such cases, the
immediate authority that would be contacted for a response would be that of the company
that hired them in the first place. But the promise for assistance is not a guarantee as if the
situation is to lie slightly outside the clauses of the contract between the company and the
worker, the company would not be liable to provide any assistance to the worker. By
5 GIG-APP DRIVER WORKFORCE VERSUS COMPANIES
breaking and dismantling this status quo there can be the equalising of power where both
parties are able to benefit from each others services. Additionally, the breaking of the status
quo would be in line with radical structuralism which demands the bringing about of radical
change through the emergence of conflict of interest (Hirschheim and Klein, 1989). The
paradigm of radical structuralism is based on the notion that structural conflicts that occur
within society are the cause for the generation of constant change. The change is brought by
both economic and political crises where there is a collision of two ideologies. Some of the
major theorists of radical structuralism was Karl Marx, Lenin and Engles who used this
paradigm as a means of explaining the evolution of society itself.
The bringing about of radical change in the contractual relationship between large
companies and gig-app driven workers can result in the unification of the people and the
employee force both internally and externally to form a universal network. This would help
foster a sense of radical humanism or neohumanism within the social community of the gig-
app driven workers and also the large hiring companies (Pillay, 2020.) The mutual assistance
would then depart from a mechanical and/ or organic form of functioning to an
interconnected one where both the contractual worker and the employee of the can equally
benefit from providing their services to the company. Additionally, it would better serve in
the interest of the companies to be a le to have a better rapport with gig-based workers as fair
treatment and though diversity would help in the increased participation and efficiency of the
contractual workers. This, in the long run, would help the company save on costs and also
increase its brand image and production value at the same time.
Conclusion
When seeing the case study through the lens of the two conflict paradigms of radical
structuralism and radical humanism coupled with the theory of thought diversity, it can be
6 GIG-APP DRIVER WORKFORCE VERSUS COMPANIES
seen that the conflict of interest between the contract-based workers and the companies can
yield the change to bring about a diversity of thought which in turn would lead to the
fostering of radical humanism within the organisation (Rodino-Colocino and Kumanyika,
2021). By understanding the impact of the paradigms companies will be able to better realise
the demands and requirements of the workers that they hire. All companies have the intrinsic
aim of increasing their sales while reducing costs. At the same time, companies also aim to
increase the efficiency of their workforce. By adopting a more neohumanitarian approach and
being open to radical change, they will be able to achieve them. Additionally, this would
greatly help the gig-app worker community especially in the aftermath of the pandemic
where people have been opting for more job options that give them increased flexibility
(Graham, et al., 2017). Overall the added benefit from the incorporation of radical change is
something that can allow for the duration of a new perspective where all employees of a
company, both external and internal, can be considered a part of the company. Even though
the gig-app driver workers would still be able to retain their status as independent contractors,
they would also be able to get the recognition of being officially affiliated with the hiring
company (Smartphone). The incorporation of a radical perspective and inculcation of through
diversity can aid in the repealing of laws like that of Proposition 22 and advocate for their
amendment to a more universally accepted law. With more and more people opting for a gig-
based jobs, the amount of stress and responsibilities individuals are having to bear is also
increasing. Where in one side of the transaction technology is making life easier, there other
side is living a life that is dictate by the notifications of their apps. For this very reason, gig-
app based workers who are hired by larger companies should be able to enjoy some of the
benefits and protection, if not entirely, that the resident employees of the company otherwise
enjoy.
7 GIG-APP DRIVER WORKFORCE VERSUS COMPANIES
Reference List
Burrell, G. and Morgan, G., 2017. Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis:
Elements of the sociology of corporate life. Routledge.
Cherry, M.A., 2021. DispatchUnited States:Proposition 22: A Vote on Gig Worker Status
in California. Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, forthcoming, Saint Louis
U. Legal Studies Research Paper, (2021-03).
Didlake, R., 2020. The Gig Economys BattlegroundCalifornia Proposition 22.
Flanagan, F., 2019. Theorising the gig economy and home-based service work. Journal of
Industrial Relations, 61(1), pp.57-78.
Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, V., Wood, A., Barnard, H., Hjorth, I. and D Simon, P., 2017. The
risks and rewards of online gig work at the global margins.
Healy, J., Nicholson, D. and Pekarek, A., 2017. Should we take the gig economy
seriously?. Labour & Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of
work, 27(3), pp.232-248.
Hirschheim, R. and Klein, H.K., 1989. Four paradigms of information systems
development. Communications of the ACM, 32(10), pp.1199-1216.
In gig work, your boss is an app – The Uncertain Hour from Marketplace. Retrieved 6
October 2021, from https://www.marketplace.org/shows/the-uncertain-hour/my-boss-
is-an-app/
Kost, D., Fieseler, C. and Wong, S.I., 2020. Boundaryless careers in the gig economy: An
oxymoron?. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(1), pp.100-113.
8 GIG-APP DRIVER WORKFORCE VERSUS COMPANIES
Lobel, O., 2020. We Are All Gig Workers Now: Online Platforms, Freelancers & the Battles
Over Employment Status & Rights During the Covid-19 Pandemic. San Diego L.
Rev., 57, p.919.
Nair, N. and Vohra, N., 2015. Diversity and inclusion at the workplace: a review of research
and perspectives.
Paul, F.C., 2020. ” Resist! Reclaim! Restructure!”: The struggle for trade union
environmentalism and energy democracy (Doctoral dissertation, University of
Glasgow).
Pillay, D., 2020. Happiness, wellbeing and ecosocialisma radical humanist
perspective. Globalizations, 17(2), pp.380-396.
Rodino-Colocino, M. and Kumanyika, C., 2021. Conclusion: We Are All Gig Workers.
In The Gig Economy (pp. 271-278). Routledge.
Smartphone, W.Y., PAGE ONE Economics.
Spurk, D. and Straub, C., 2020. Flexible employment relationships and careers in times of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Stewart, A. and Stanford, J., 2017. Regulating work in the gig economy: What are the
options?. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 28(3), pp.420-437.4