When WFH is the norm: The unfair conditions of the global online work economy.

They can theoretically be based anywhere in the world and compete for jobs in a global, borderless labour market. They are ‘cloudworkers'.  They work remotely via a digital labour platform and their work ranges from tasks that require a matter of seconds or minutes, such as data labelling, to more specialised jobs: translation, design, illustration, and web development.

Platform workers are enmeshed in risks, harms, and vulnerabilities. We scored 17 cloudwork platforms against five principles for fair cloudwork. The majority failed to show basic standards of fairness...Workers may be earning below their local minimum wages or working long and antisocial hours

This market provides valuable earning opportunities to many people across the world, but it is far from an even playing field. The Fairwork project found these platform workers are enmeshed in risks, harms, and vulnerabilities. In a recent report, we scored 17 cloudwork platforms against our five principles for fair cloudwork. The majority failed to show basic standards of fairness in the workplace.

Workers may be earning below their local minimum wages or working long and antisocial hours, uncounted in wages. They can be exposed to psychologically distressing materials, or face discrimination based on their location, race, and gender. See full details of our findings, published on the Fairwork website here.

Digital platform work involves constantly shifting cross-border connections, meaning platforms often fall outside of national regulation that would offer some form of labour protection. However, while platforms might be indifferent to the rules where workers are based, this does not mean that geography ceases to shape and influence planetary markets, and those who work in them.

This hidden labour market is real and often involves the smart technologies which underpin advances in our economy. Many are behind our seamless machine learning algorithms, spending countless hours of time labelling and annotating data

This hidden labour market is real and often involves the smart technologies which underpin advances in our economy.  Many are behind the apparently seamless machine learning algorithms, spending countless hours of time labelling and annotating data. The development of extensive and detailed training data is used to drive forward technologies – such as driverless cars. But this means human labour, which is often mediated through platforms. 

Many cloudworkers, especially microworkers, working for these platforms play an integral role in the development of the machine learning systems that permeate our everyday life.  

Work on cloudwork platforms can often be depersonalised and hidden. When a worker is on the other side of the world and represented only by a profile on a platform interface, their stories and experiences become obscured. Sometimes, no information about a worker is revealed to a client.

The relative ease of soliciting work on cloudwork platforms, can help to disconnect the work from the worker - supporting the illusion that tasks are completed automatically. This can make it more difficult for collective response, in the face of unfair working conditions.

Making the experiences and stories of these workers visible is an important step towards challenging unfairness and holding platforms accountable

Making the experiences and stories of these workers visible is an important step towards challenging unfairness and holding platforms accountable. We hope our first Fairwork cloudwork ratings can help do this and will establish a roadmap and a benchmark for worker resistance, regulatory responses, and platform improvements.  

Read the full report here: ‘Work in the Planetary Labour Market: Fairwork Cloudwork Ratings 2021’