By Silke Maes, Trainee and Research Fellow at EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy
This blog is produced as a part of the Reshaping Work Fellowship Programme. The opinions and views expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Reshaping Work or organisations that have supported the programme.
With only one more year left to transpose the EU Platform Work Directive, little implementation work has been done on the landmark legislation across the V4. The directive was adopted in October 2024 after months of fierce negotiations. Now it is being sidelined by political irrelevance, deprioritised as governments focus on other directives like the Pay Transparency Directive, and undermined by administrative unpreparedness, and low social mobilisation.
Few experts interviewed by the Platform Revolution’s research team believe that the Directive will substantially change workers’ lives and working conditions. In practice, they expect that only few reclassifications from self-employed to employee status will occur. With only one year remaining. Now is the time to overcome the implementation barriers threatening the Directive’s implementation. To deliver on its promise to protect the 43 million platform workers across the EU, governments must build enforcement infrastructure, educate workers on their rights, and turn political pushback into structured dialogue
20% misclassified, 50% underpaid: the reality of platform work in the EU
The reality of platform work in the V4 and wider EU is often precarious. In the EU, 19% of platform workers are estimated to be misclassified as self-employed, more than half earn below the national minimum wage, and 41% of their working time goes unpaid. The Platform Work Directive reflects this precarious reality with provisions protecting workers from algorithmic management, strengthening social dialogue and tackling bogus self-employment. About 5 million workers are expected to be reclassified as employees by the Directive.
Three Barriers Threatening the Platform Work Directive’s Impact
In most countries, platform work is simply not a priority. Public interest is low and worker representation is weak, while platform companies tend to have better access to decision-making, even securing seats in national employer unions (as in Slovakia). Regulating platform work can also be politically risky. Some governments and private sector actors, like in the Czech Republic, fear that cracking down on bogus self-employment in platform work might draw unwanted scrutiny over other labour malpractices, making regulation a politically toxic issue.
Secondly, platform workers are also largely disengaged from the platform regulation discussions. Many treat gig work as a side hustle, there is high turnover, and many multi-app, reducing their incentive to mobilise. Our research showed that many workers in the V4 were unaware that the Directive was being negotiated. Trade unions, meanwhile, have been slow or even outward hesitant to represent platform workers in the V4, meaning that even though social partners are formally included in implementation, platform workers often remain unrepresented in reality.
Finally, in the V4, labour inspectorates are already stretched thin, and platform work adds another layer of complexity. In Slovakia, for instance, the Labor Inspectorate is significantly understaffed. However, as of mid-2025, no personnel had yet been designated to focus on the Directive. Moreover, platform work is harder to detect, and the blurred boundaries between employers and employees make enforcement difficult. Tracking and enforcing online platform work requires proper digital tools and training. Yet, in several V4 countries, there is political reluctance to increase the capacity of labour inspectorates.
Three steps to save the Platform Work Directive
With one year left to implement the Directive, the clock is ticking to ensure the regulation results in more than a beautiful legal text and has a real-world impact for platform workers. To overcome these barriers, member states must act on three fronts:
1. Build enforcement infrastructure: Under-resourced inspectorates cannot enforce the Directive. They need more staff, digital tools to track violations, and better coordination with local authorities[1] and tax agencies to verify proper worker classification. But enforcement also requires empowering the workers themselves. Workers are best positioned to identify violations and advocate for compliance, yet, they are often locked out of social dialogue structures. Governments must, therefore, ensure that workers have a seat at the table by supporting workers’ self-organisation and reinforcing trade unions through financial and institutional support.
2. Educate workers on their rights: Many platform workers are unaware about their rights or the risks of misclassification. Public awareness campaigns, organised by the public sector and civil society, must clearly inform workers of their rights, responsibilities and the risks of self-employment.
3. Turn political pushback into structured dialogue: Rather than allowing resistance to stall implementation, governments should channel it productively through structured dialogue among platforms, intermediaries, and workers. By co-designing sector-specific guidelines and enforcement protocols with labour ministries, tripartite councils and labour inspectorates, implementation can address local realities and concerns from social partners while delivering on its promise to improve working conditions.
Europe’s platform economy should concern us all
Platform work may still be a small part of Europe’s economy, but it is growing fast, and is driving a broader shift toward non-standard jobs (part-time, temporary, self-employed) that now rival or even outnumber traditional contracts in several EU countries. It is also a testing ground for new practices such as algorithmic management and on-demand tasking, which are increasingly spreading into traditional jobs. These developments have far-reaching socio-economic consequences. If left unchecked, this shift threatens the financing of welfare systems, wages, and disproportionately affects the most vulnerable.
While the Directive is a first success, the real work begins now, and it is not looking promising in the V4. With member states having much leeway, the Directive will only be as good as its implementation. This requires sustained political pressure, education and dialogue to ensure that the Directive will have real-life impact and can be more than a cathedral in the desert.
[1] Such as municipal road transport inspectors