SER advisory report on the future labour market skipped platform workers

Platform workers have not been involved in the development of the SER advisory report on labour market reform; have not been informed about the content of that advisory report afterwards; and to the extent that they are aware of the advisory report and have an opinion about it, they are predominantly negative about it. This is evident from research conducted by Motivaction, commissioned by six platform organisations, into the attitude of platform workers towards the SER advisory report for Social and Economic Policy 2021-2025.

Far-reaching reforms

Last June, the Social and Economic Council (SER) presented long-awaited proposals for a radical reform of the labour market. Among other things, the SER proposes to introduce a minimum rate for self-employment and to make the permanent employment contract the starting point. This raised critical questions about the lack of representation of self-employed people in the SER, as a result of which proposals concerning the self-employed are decided upon without their participation.

Not involved, not informed and not supported

In response, platform organisations Deliveroo, Helpling, Roamler, Temper, Uber and YoungOnes decided to conduct a joint research among platform workers to gain insight in their attitude towards the proposals of the SER. The research shows that 84% of the surveyed platform workers have not been consulted about the advices that concern their future. Some 64% of the platform workers had never even heard of the advices before the survey. Another 22% have heard some, but do not know the content of the advices. And, if you ask platform workers whether the SER advices represent their interests, only 26% say wholeheartedly 'yes'.

"This research reinforces our call to politics, as it confirms that there is no support for curtailing the labour freedom of more than one hundred thousand satisfied platform workers," said Temper founder Niels Arntz on behalf of the six platform companies. "We call on politicians to make policies that do justice to the diverse and dynamic labour market of the 21st century."

In June, the platforms called for a social agreement for platform work, in which platform workers would be explicitly involved in shaping policy. This study is a follow-up to that.

Flexibility greatest good

According to platform workers, flexibility and being able to work when and where you want to is the biggest advantage of platform work (68%). This is in line with the main reason given for choosing this type of work, which is not being able or willing to work the same amount every week (58%). The freedom to combine platform work with other important things (48%) and the freedom not to be tied down to anything (33%) are also aspects that platform workers mention as major advantages.

The differences between paid employment and platform work, such as the low social protection it entails, are also discussed in the research report. If platform workers have to make the trade-off, they convincingly prefer the freedom and flexibility of platform work to a permanent job (68% vs. 17%), they prefer working via a platform to working via a temp agency (68% vs. 13%) and they prefer flexible rather than fixed hours (69% vs. 12%).

Joep Hutschemakers - general manager Deliveroo Netherlands: "It is a real pity that the current legislation forces platform workers and other self-employed to make a choice between flexibility and social protection. The fact that the vast majority choose flexibility says something about how strong that wish is, but does not detract from the fact that they, too, deserve social protection. That is why we have proposed to conclude a Social Agreement on platform work, as a result of which self-employment can be combined with social protection."

Sanne Audenaert - Motivaction/Sparkey research bureau: "Our research among platform workers who are active on the six platforms shows that they consciously opt for flexibility in the way they do their work, and to a large extent prefer this to the certainty of salaried employment. The arrangement of working hours is particularly important to this group. It is also clear that the vast majority is not aware of the reform plans of the SER. We see that the reaction to the opinions is divided, but we also see that a substantial part of this group does not yet have an opinion or cannot form an opinion. It is important that they are more involved and informed."

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Annex: about the study

Method and design

Quantitative research

This survey is designed as a quantitative online survey. With this method, respondents complete the questionnaire at their own time and pace, behind their computer. The advantages of online research are minimal burdening of respondents and less socially desirable answers.

Target groups and sample

Temper, Deliveroo, Uber, Helpling, Roamler and YoungOnes. Have invited workers who have been active on their platform in the past year to the survey. N=1.415 people started the questionnaire. After a control question, it turned out that n=1.271 respondents had actually done shifts for one or more of the platforms in the past 12 months. The report deals with the results of this last group.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire for this study was prepared in cooperation with the platforms. It consisted of 20 questions, of which 9 were background questions and 11 content-related questions. The average time to complete the questionnaire was 8 minutes.

Fieldwork

Each platform sent invitations to its own constituency. The fieldwork period took place between 11 August and 25 August 2021.