Health and safety in the gig economy

The gig economy poses significant health and safety issues for workers. Often the debate over the gig economy revolves solely around flexibility and pay, here are some of the main health and safety issues for the gig economy. Tiredness As working in the gig economy is often a side-job from other forms of employment, working …

Gig economy empowers students?

Another news article post this week, one that'll expand on in two ways. The post comes from The State Press, a student-ran news organisation from Arizona State University. And students are a main topic of the article, titled: "Gig economy empowers students". As the title suggests, the article considers the flexibility of work in the …

Pay in the gig economy

I thought I'd go for something different this week and write a quick post about a recent article I've read: How much does the gig economy pay? It's complicated. The post, in The San Diego Union-Tribune, makes the argument that pay in the San Diego gig economy, regardless of platform, is 'pretty low'. I'll leave you …

My Delivery Route

Something a bit different this week! I worked last night for a standard three-hour shift and recorded the when and where of my delivery routes. Walking around London you're bound to see delivery riders, but you often don't know where they're going and where they've been. Whilst I worked, I had the app Strava running …

Interacting with the gig economy

A secondary school in Western Australia has banned students from using services like UberEATS. The reason for this ban presents an interesting aspect of the gig economy rarely talked about: interaction. The main reason for the ban is due to security and safety concerns. Deliverers are considered "unauthorised visitors", lacking the correct government checks. The …

The ‘Frank’ algorithm and the Taylor Review

A new Deliveroo app algorithm, nicknamed 'Frank', has arrived with important implications including in relation to the UK Taylor Review. The algorithm uses machine learning to continually evaluate the most efficient way to assign orders to riders. It does this by considering a range of factors including meal preparation time, time of day, vehicle and distance. …

Increasing Rider Safety

Deliveroo is set to introduce safety measures to protect riders from violence, following multiple acid attacks in London last month, where two victims were gig economy riders. The measures include a new feature in the rider app that lets deliverers raise security concerns and the trialling of helmet cameras to collect evidence. The company is also …

Jinn Job Insecurity

Just as I was writing about a possible future development in the gig economy, Jinn (a leading player) is going in different directions. The company has decided to focus solely on London, halting operations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds (as of the 25th of July). It doesn't seem clear but the company also seems …