The Fairwork India Team, spearheaded by the Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP), International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B), in association with Oxford University, presents the Fairwork India Ratings 2024: Labour Standards in the Platform Economy report. This report is Fairwork’s sixth consecutive annual study of the work conditions of platform workers on digital labour platforms in India. It evaluates 11 platforms offering location-based services in sectors such as domestic and personal care, logistics, food delivery and transportation, in India.
This year, the report examines the changing nature of platform work as platforms increasingly take control of when and for how long workers can provide services or gigs. It also discusses the potential impact of proposed legislations for platform workers in Karnataka and Jharkhand.
“This year witnessed gig workers’ welfare increasingly gain attention in political manifestos and legislative initiatives. But with the implementation of these efforts remaining uncertain, and platforms redefining gig work, research and advocacy to improve the conditions of gig workers are ever more relevant,” said Balaji Parthasarathy and Janaki Srinivasan, the Principal Investigators of the team, along with researchers Mounika Neerukonda, Bilahari M, Raktima Kalita, Tony Mathew, Meghashree Balaraj and Aditya Singh.
Fairwork assessed platforms against five principles: Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, and Fair Representation. Each principle is broken down into two points: a first point and a second point that can only be awarded if the first point has been fulfilled. Every platform receives a score out of 10. Platforms are only awarded a point when they can sufficiently demonstrate or commit to implementing the principle. Through a combination of desk research, worker interviews conducted in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and where possible, from evidence provided by the platforms, the Fairwork India Ratings 2024 scores 11 platforms, including Amazon Flex, bigbasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Ola, Porter, Swiggy, Uber, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato. This year, no platform scored more than six out of the maximum of ten points, and none scored all the first points across the five principles. Key findings by principle are below:
Key Findings
- Only bigbasket and Urban Company were awarded the first point under Fair Pay for instituting a minimum wage policy that guaranteed all their workers earn at least the hourly local minimum wage after factoring in work-related costs. No platform earned the second point under Fair Pay, which requires platforms to commit to and ensure a local living wage after work-related costs or provide sufficient evidence that all workers earn at least this amount.
- Amazon Flex, bigbasket, BluSmart, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato were awarded the first point under Fair Conditions for providing adequate safety equipment and periodic safety training to workers on their platforms. Only bigbasket, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato were awarded the second point for providing workers with accident insurance coverage at no additional cost, monetary compensation for income loss in cases they are unable to work due to medical reasons other than accidents, and for ensuring a worker’s standing is not negatively affected when they return after a break taken with prior notice to the platform.
- Six out of 11 platforms were awarded the first point for Fair Contracts. bigbasket, BluSmart, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato were awarded this point for ensuring the accessibility and comprehensibility of their contracts, and for having protocols for the protection and management of worker data. bigbasket, BluSmart, Swiggy, Zepto, and Zomato, met the requirements for the second point under Fair Contracts by adopting a change notification clause in their contracts, reducing asymmetries in liability (such as by a provision to compensate workers for losses due to app malfunctions and outages), adopting a Code of Conduct for their subcontractors, and making the variables influencing pricing transparent where dynamic pricing is used.
- Amazon Flex, bigbasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy, Urban Company and Zomato were awarded the first point for Fair Management for providing due process in decisions affecting workers and channels for workers to appeal disciplinary actions. There was sufficient evidence from BluSmart, Swiggy, Urban Company and Zomato to meet the second point for the principle. They institutionalised the conduct of regular external audits to check for biases in their work allocation systems, in addition to adopting policies against the discrimination of platform workers.
- Representation through a collective body or trade union is a vital dimension of fairness at work. It is disconcerting that despite the rise in platform worker collectivisation across the country over the past six years, there was insufficient evidence from any platform to show a willingness to recognise a collective body of workers. Consequently, no platform could be awarded a point for this principle this year.
