Reshaping Work Welcomes All Stakeholders Concerned by the Future of Work!

This is the English version of a recent NextConomy interview with Jovana Karanovic, Managing Director of the Reshaping Work Foundation, by Philip Verhaeghe. Jovana Karanovic is also Assistant Professor at the Erasmus University (Rotterdam School of Management) and renowned expert on the platform economy and future of work more broadly.

NextConomy is an independent Belgian knowledge platform that builds a bridge between everyone involved in the changing world of individual (freelance) work and the (flexible) work providers and (service) platforms. NextConomy aims to be an online knowledge centre for discussions, opinions and information on everything residing among freelancers and their clients.

Cooperatives

Jovana is currently conducting academic research on platform cooperatives: “Cooperatives combine the technological possibilities of the platform economy with a business model where workers and consumers own the platform. They combine the valuable cooperative principles with the benefits of tech-driven platforms. The value they create also flows back to them. Traditional cooperatives are more resilient than companies and, for example, also very crisis-proof. But they suffer from slow decision-making. But in tech platforms, you can digitise that decision-making, making it faster and more effective.”

Partago, the Ghent citizens’ cooperative for electric car sharing, is a good example according to Jovana: “The principle is simple: as soon as enough people in a certain neighbourhood show interest in car sharing, Partago places an electric car in that neighbourhood. The cooperative spirit is such that some citizens printed hundreds of flyers to hand around their neighborhood and incentivise others to use the social-oriented platform. We never see such things in the case of Uber users, as these platforms are commercially oriented, hence users flock to the service that is the cheapest or the most efficient.”

International Conference

Already in 2017, Jovana, together with her colleagues, organised the first Reshaping Work conference on the platform economy. The initial idea to have a multistakeholder approach to the debate caught on and the event attracted attention of academics, companies, platforms, policy makers, and also platform workers. “We were the first and so far the only ones to tackle this issue through a multi-stakeholder approach.” The formula turned out to be a success and soon the Reshaping Work Foundation was a reality. Since then, the foundation has organised its annual conference in Amsterdam. Jovana admits that it is not always easy to get real platform workers to participate in the discussions so the organisers go out of their way to motivate them to attend and share their stories.

She proudly refers to Reshaping Work’s latest report on promoting decent and fair working conditions in diverse forms of work.

Now Jovana is gearing up for the Reshaping Work 2022 conference on 13 and 14 October in Amsterdam. She is happy to explain the theme: “Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms are reshaping the way individuals and organisations work. Although AI systems and platforms promise to shape the future of work to a significant degree, their actual impact from a professional, social, organisational and/or political perspective still remains vague. What impact will the platform economy and AI@Work really have on the future of work? We are going to take on a kind of mediator’s role here in the search for solutions that matter to everyone!”

Multi-stakeholder dialogue

The Reshaping Work foundation, headquartered in Amsterdam, plays a pioneering role in the multi-stakeholder approach in particular when discussing the latest trends around digital innovations and the future of work: “The Reshaping Work Dialogue creates a space for collective thinking and discussion for companies, unions, scale-ups, start-ups, research institutes, trade unions, advocacy groups and independent experts.”

A future-proof and improved world of work is not the responsibility of a single stakeholder. No, it is a shared obligation. “All stakeholders deserve a place in the debate to discuss the non-standard forms of work. We are facilitating discussions between companies, start-ups, trade unions, interest groups, etc. It is a truly innovative initiative that is very valuable because we offer the many stakeholders a safe place to exchange views in depth. With our discussions we also inspire European policy.”

“We have thus just launched a new series of multi-stakeholder dialogue discussions, this time with 30 partner organisations such as Malt, Collective Benefits, the Adecco Group, Zurich Insurance, Acture Group, Zenjob, Uber, Smart Coop, UNI Europe, Cera Coop, ETUI, WEC-Europe, CESI, WageIndicator Foundation…”

This year’s dialogue focuses on these three key issues:

– The impact of the proposed EU directive on social security and fair working conditions for platform workers

– The accountability, ethical principles and regulation of AI systems and algorithms in the workplace

– Training, employability and participation of young people and well-being at work for the next generations.

Platforms for knowledge workers

Her priority focus is indeed on ‘gig work’ or platform work for the unskilled. “As far as platforms for more skilled freelancers are concerned, the issue is much more complex. We are mainly talking about Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal and the like.” These platforms are reluctant to partake in discussions because they don’t want to associate themselves with the ‘gig economy’. “Their field of work is truly international. People from Asia or developing countries also provide services to customers in Europe. Which law and which tax system apply here is the challenging question that we need to tackle.”

Jovana is also genuinely concerned about these knowledge workers or higher-skilled platform workers. “Unlike permanent employees, they receive no additional training or education from their platform. They also have no career prospects. On the other hand, only 10% of them earn enough to be able to look after themselves.” Jovana believes that these platforms have a lot of power and data at their disposal. They determine the ratings of employees, they decide on their entrance and exit. But how can a young starter build a rating? Is it transferable? Shouldn’t they offer a learning budget? She thinks these are all parts of platforms’ responsibilities. Jovana concludes by looking into the future: “Maybe the talent scarcity will make them understand that they develop a competitive advantage when they take better care of their workers and, therefore, provide training?”