Companies leading in Fairwork India Ratings 2024
Good news for the following companies that have topped the Fairwork India Ratings 2024- Urban Company, Swiggy, Zomato and BigBasket. Each company has scored 6 out of 10 points for fair and regulatory work standards in India’s platform economy.
However, the report reveals a trend of stabilization across the sector, with enormous platforms introducing rigid slot-based work systems that limit worker independence.
Diving deep into the scores of Fairwork India Ratings 2024
This had been the sixth annual report which performed evaluation of 11 digital labor platforms. According to this evaluation, BluSmart has scored 5 points, Amazon Flex and Zepto earned 4 and 2 points respectively on a scale of 10.
At the bottom, it was Flipkart which scored just 1 point whereas companies like Porter, Ola and Uber failed to score any points.
Factors which were considered while the assessment of Fairwork India Ratings 2024
The research had been conducted by researchers at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore. The study assessed the platforms against five principles: fair contracts, fair pay, fair conditions, fair management and fair representation.
The findings of this research are also based on 440 worker interviews that were conducted across various cities- Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram between March and July. The state of Chennai was included in the study for the first time following interest from the Tamil Nadu Planning Commission.
The Gap as per Fairwork India Ratings 2024
There is a major gap in worker’s rights within the gig economy which was clearly highlighted by the absence of collective bargaining or formal recognition of worker’s unions across all platforms.
The report also pointed out at the trend of stabilization or “de-flexibilization” where the platforms have adopted rigid shift work systems. This system is challenging the flexibility often associated with the freelance work.
Read more- Fairwork India report highlights absence of local living wage for gig workers – The Hindu
Scope for improvements for the firms
As we have already encountered the issues with the different firms according to Fairwork India Ratings 2024, let us see how it can be improved for the companies. Despite a lot of issues, several platforms have committed to improvements.
Zomato is launching a management-led channel which will be called as ‘Catalyst’ for workers to express collective concerns through group managers.
Swiggy is introducing features for ensuring that workers earn at least the hourly minimum wage after costs- which is said to potentially benefit around 4,00,000 workers.
BluSmart has presented accident insurance at no additional cost and has brought a formal policy for protecting workers employment status when returning from leave.
Zepto and Zomato are focusing on implementation of regular external audits of their algorithms for reduction in potential biases against workers.
BigBasket and Amazon have implemented anti-discrimination policies which includes- measures to block customers who engage in discriminatory behavior towards its workers.
Conclusion
The report however emphasized the requirement for identifying the basic thresholds in platform-worker relationships, keeping a note that providing the bare minimal standards does not necessarily require changing worker’s employment status- as seen in other countries as an instance.
Good news for the following companies that have topped the Fairwork India Ratings 2024- Urban Company, Swiggy, Zomato and BigBasket. Each company has scored 6 out of 10 points for fair and regulatory work standards in India’s platform economy.
At the bottom, it was Flipkart which scored just 1 point whereas companies like Porter, Ola and Uber failed to score any points.
There is a major gap in worker’s rights within the gig economy which was clearly highlighted by the absence of collective bargaining or formal recognition of worker’s unions across all platforms.
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