Institutions for digital labour platforms: results of a study conducted in Poland

Abstract

Motivation: The development of labour platforms is one of the manifestations of the platformisation of the economy. Their growing popularity has revealed institutional vulnerabilities, particularly with regard to the weak position of platform workers, related to their ambiguous status, controversial regulations of labour platforms including algorithmic control of tasks performed, the rate and method of payment for services rendered, insufficient knowledge of how platforms operate. They are all the subject of intense discussion, also at the EU level.
Aim: The identification of desired directions of changes in the institutional environment of labour platforms in Poland — as expected by the society — against the background of the ongoing discussion on this subject in other countries and at the EU level.
Results: A diagnostic survey conducted on a large sample of Polish citizens aged 18–70 revealed that the most expected changes that would improve the quality of the institutional environment of labour platforms are: the introduction of a minimum payment for work services and the adoption of the independent worker status, the introduction of universal rules regulating digital platform operations, as well as the introduction of training and information materials on how labour platforms work. Poles attach less importance to the right of platform workers to establish trade unions.