The growth in the platform economy globally creates opportunities for gig workers. However, the sustainability of the gig workforce is a concern for most firms. Gamification offers a solution to address this complex issue.
14 November 2024
The emergence of the gig economy has brought some new opportunities and challenges to the workplace. However, many academics, trade unionists, and current or former gig workers have expressed concerns about platform companies' business and labour practices. Regardless of its exact scope, the rise of the gig economy has sparked a heated debate about its effect on work experience and labour standards, both for those who do gig work and those who have more traditional jobs that new, unregulated labour market participants could jeopardise. Interestingly, while there is a high turnout of gig workers who prefer working for platforms as gig workers, there is a substantial dropout rate. Of the many concerns, consistency of job roles, disengaged jobs, and income inconsistencies are the primary concerns. The gamified approach to this problem helps categorise and segment the gig workers based on player types. It proposes to define solutions that would help in the longevity of gig jobs by gig workers. Gamified gig platforms would also help to resolve the problem of inconsistency in job roles and workspaces.
The study is a part of an interdisciplinary research headed by Abhishek Behl at Keele University in collaboration with Spatial Data Lab, Harvard University.