The Future of Work in India

The assignment provided is an in-depth examination of the future of work in India, with a specific focus on the gig economy. It discusses the challenges and opportunities presented by this emerging economic model, including issues related to employment security, social protection, and gender equality. The document draws on various studies and research papers to provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic. It also highlights the need for policymakers to ensure that the future of work in India is defined not only by quantity but also by quality, with a focus on providing decent livelihoods for workers.

PUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION
IN INDIA
GIG ECONOMY IN
INDIA
INTRODUCTION

Today, economic commentators in India have busied themselves with finding the
ways to deal with the unemployment crisis that resulted from COVID-19. We saw
that for labour flocking back to rural India, employment support came in form of
an increased outlay for MGNREGA. In several Indian cities however, shuttered
businesses have meant that millions of workers have either had to leave or have
had to take up new forms of work, with some finding the burgeoning gig
economy to be their only source of employment.1 The pandemic, which also
pushed millions of people indoors necessitating remote working or ‘work from
home’, emerged as an add on to the already existing forces of globalisation and
the age of digitalisation, that has redefined the ‘future of work’ in India in recent
years. In this context, the study of gig jobs and the quality of lives they provide
for, which has the potential to contribute to achievement of Goal 8 of Sustainable
Development Goals i.e. ‘decent work and economic growth’, gains prominence.
The paper is divided into four sections. The first section deals with the meaning
of gig economy and highlights the forces that led to its rise in India. In the
second section, the practical challenges faced by gig workers are examined. The
third section explores the gender dynamics in the gig economy. And the fourth
section examines the recent policy measures adopted by government to address
all the challenges. Finally, the conclusion offers some public policy options that
can be adopted for an efficient gig economy to thrive in India.
RISE OF GIG ECONOMY IN INDIA
Before starting off with rise of gig economy in India, we need to know what
exactly a ‘gig economy’ is. Gig economy2 is a free market system in which
temporary positions are common and organizations contract with independent
workers for short-term engagements. It offers two work models: (a) ‘crowd work
or online freelance work known as digital gig economy’ (b) ‘work on-demand via
an app known as physical gig economy’.3
Today, India’s gig sector is expected to grow to $455 billion by 2024 at a
compounded annual growth rate of 17 per cent—with potential to grow at least
double the pre-estimates for the post-COVID-10 pandemic period.4 The pandemic
which pushed millions of people indoors necessitating remote working or ‘work
from home’ is just an add on to the already existing forces of globalisation and
the age of digitalisation, that has redefined the ‘future of work’ in India.
The reasons behind tectonic shift in the workforce from conventional setup to gig
work can be understood only by looking at various benefits gig work provides to
the workers. Gig work gives workers the independence and flexibility to choose
their work, that is, opt for preferred job roles and organizations the number of
work hours and holidays providing them the potential to have work-life balance
in their routines and choose the kind of work that they find to be meaningful. It
1 Samuel, J., Quality gigs, a solution to urban unemployment, The Hindu, January 5, 2021.
2 Gig economy is also called platform economy or shared economy.
3 Crowd workers include workers offering various services according to their skill sets and talents,
such as graphic designers, software developers, content writers, translators, digital marketers and
data scientists, among others. On-demand work include personal transport services offered by
Uber and Ola, the food delivery services provided by Zomato and Swiggy etc.
At present, most companies and people around the world, including those in India, are increasingly
adopting these newer technologies and flexible work practices, leading to the expansion of gig
economy.
4 Hiranandani Niranjan, Growth of gig economy signals tectonic shift in the workforce, The Week,
December 10, 2020.

allows them an opportunity to work in diverse roles and enhance their portfolio.
Furthermore, people who wish to supplement their earnings from their primary
job also turn to gig work. Many female workers have turned to gig work in recent
times, as it allows them to be able to accommodate care activities alongside
work and diminishes the importance of physical presence, which is a mainstay of
standard employment relations. Millennials, or Generation Y5 are guided by the
mindset that autonomy in choosing their career path and personal fulfilment
precede the need for stability gained from regular employment. Gig economy is
also emerging as an easy solution for reaching out to the ‘untapped potential’-
unemployed youth, NEET youth who are interested in joining the workforce but
are not able to overcome barriers to their entry.
From the point of view of firms and companies, the gig economy and gig work
allow them to cut business costs related to insurance coverage, office space,
health benefits accorded to full-time employees. For businesses, the key risk lies
in the creation of gap in talent, but this risk is minimized under the gig economy
as they have access to a global pool of talent. Skilled workers and specialists
perform jobs on a contractual basis, according to pre-decided timelines and in a
cost-efficient manner. But the real-life implementation of the gig model has
come with the cautions and riders attached to it which are explored in the next
section.
CHALLENGES OF GIG ECONOMY
Despite its various benefits, gig work has led to severe commoditization of work
opportunities, leaving workers vulnerable to exploitation. In the gig economy,
instead of being accorded the status of an employee, workers are viewed as
‘independent contractors.’6 Unlike full-time employees, they are not included in
the monthly payrolls and social protection benefits (e.g., insurance, medical
leave, provident fund, maternity/paternity leaves, etc.) offered by companies.
These difficulties are often enhanced by the lack of direct communication
channels which the workers have with their companies.7 There is often a lack of
ability to communicate with other workers in order to gain a collective voice and
enhance their bargaining power. This leaves workers often having no influence
on decisions regarding employment practices and rights of employees. While
highly skilled and well-paid freelancers can save and buy personal insurance
from the private sector, workers in unorganized/informal sector are left without
any protective measure, as they cannot afford insurances provided by the
private sector and do not qualify as beneficiaries in those provided by the public
sector. In such cases, job insecurity coupled with financial instability can be a
source of major stress for such workers. Many gig workers might find themselves
working in extremely poor working conditions—long hours with no fixed working
hours, no protection against unfair dismissal, no right to redundancy payments
and no right to receive the national minimum wage, paid holidays or sickness
pay. It is common for a variety of other safeguarding measures to be breached.8
5 Millennials, or Generation Y, are the group of people who were born between 1980 and 2000.
They comprise 34 per cent of India’s population and represent 45 per cent of the Indian workforce.
6 As opposed to permanent jobs, their employment is characterized by a short-term contract.
7 Mehta, Balwant, Changing Nature of Work and the Gig Economy: Theory and Debate, Sage
Journals, 2020, p.8.
8 The Fairwork Project initiative, which is led by Oxford University researchers, revealed that app-
based service companies such as Ola, Uber, Uber Eats and Zomato have some of the worst working
conditions among Indian start-ups. Even though these companies pay the local minimum wages to
their workers, the status quo established is not ideal for workers.

There is no denying that outbreak of the COVID-19 offered opportunities that
fastened the pace of rise of gig economy. But at the same time, it exposed and
even widened some of the existing fault lines in the gig economy. In order to
ensure a sense of normalcy during the social isolation, people increasingly
became dependent on a large fleet of delivery workers operating at the frontline,
also offering door-to-door delivery of essentials along with food delivery. Despite
relying heavily on workers, it became evident that the platforms have had little
or no plans in place for workers’ safety during this crisis. There was a shortage in
supply of sanitisers and masks, making the workers more susceptible to
contracting the virus and thus becoming ‘super-spreaders’ of corona virus. Even
after the expansion of services to include delivery of essentials, the number of
orders diminished and there was no minimum guarantee or pay-out offered by
the company.9
SCRUTINISING GIG ECONOMY THROUGH GENDER LENS
There is no doubt that gig work has opened avenues for social and economic
emancipation for women, but ‘gendered division’ which was there in traditional
work is also widespread in gig work. In this context, scrutinising the gig economy
through gender lens is important. Statistically, in terms of workforce participation
rate of women, little improvement has been seen.10
Women are confronted with various challenges, most significant being gender
pay gap with a bias against women. Unequal access to digital technologies is
another hurdle to women participation in gig work.11. Another challenge is the
issue of ‘security and safety’. If the service professional feels unsafe during the
course of service delivery, there is no recourse to end the service immediately
without facing negative consequences. Also, since gig platforms categorise gig
workers as ‘independent contractors’, the Sexual Harassment of Women at
Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 does not protect
them. The need of the hour is to ensure the safety of service providers by
introducing a new section pertaining to gig workers in the 2013 Act. Another way
to ensure safer digital and physical workspace for women gig workers is to
establish a body or a “Platform of Platforms” with legislative backing, which
would not only establish a standard set of guidelines that the platforms must
adhere to but also monitor these platforms. While the Companies Act, 201328
governs the registered companies, it is inadequate for monitoring the actions of
such dynamic platforms. The need for such provisions was felt acute, specifically
during pandemic induced lockdown when women gig workers emerged as most
disadvantaged because operations such as beauty and wellness, in which
majority of them are engaged cannot be undertaken and they had to forego
even available work to take care of increased domestic workers. It is high time to
realize that the future will only see more gig work, and the inclusion of women is
critical for balanced growth.
RECENT POLICY DEVELOPMENTS
9 Future of Work Report 2020, Appjobs Institute, p. 43.
10 India has one of the lowest Female Labour Force Participation (FLFP) rates among developing
countries, and as per latest estimates it stood at 24.5 percent in 2018-19 for women aged 15 and
above (after declining sharply from 31.2 percent in 2011-12) and is well below the global average
of 45 percent.
11 According to the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2019, only 16 percent of women in India are
mobile internet users.

Most of the policies dealing with employment and labour were developed in the
early twentieth century and came out to be now insufficient to respond to the
challenges posed by the rise of the gig economy and gig work. In this
connection, some positive steps have been taken in different parts of the world.
In 2019, the state of California passed a bill mandating that companies like Uber
treat ‘gig’ workers as their employees. This was made possible through the
assertions made by collectives of gig workers in the state. Along similar lines, the
Supreme Court in Britain is going to hear arguments for an appeal by a labour
tribunal that Uber drivers must be classified as workers and given entitlements
such as minimum wage and vacations. The judgment could be a watershed
moment for the future of platform economy.12
Meanwhile, in India, the Government has taken a positive step incongruence with
the Californian legislation and has passed The Code on Social Security Bill
202013. This Code mentions gig worker, who is defined as, ‘a person who
performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such
activities outside of traditional employer-employee relationship’ and platform
work as, ‘an employment form in which organisations or individuals use an online
platform to access other organisations or individuals to solve specific problems
or to provide specific services in exchange for payment’. However, the provisions
for gig and platform workers lie under the chapter on unorganised workers, thus
treating these workers as informal. The draft has provisions to empower the
Central Government to formulate schemes relating to life and disability cover,
health and maternity benefits, old age protection, education, housing, and any
other benefit as maybe determined by the government. Further, it has a
provision for the Central Government to constitute a Social Security Fund for gig
and platform workers. These codes are criticised for various reasons. The
requirement for contributions to this fund will result in increased cost for
aggregators, which they will inevitably look to pass to the workers. The Code also
requires every gig worker to be registered through an Aadhaar card, adding an
unnecessary layer of documentation. Lack of state capacity was apparent in poor
implementation of registration process under the Unorganised Workers’ Social
Security Act of 2008. Moreover, given India’s experience with social protection
schemes like MGNREGA, it’s fair to assume that this Code will provide ample
opportunities for cronyism and red-tapism. The government has taken many of
these criticisms into consideration and announced some key proposals under
the Union Budget 2021.14 These include minimum wages and coverage under the
Employees State Insurance Corporation applicable to all categories of workers;
setting up of a portal to collect information on gig workers; women workers
allowed in all categories, including night shift with adequate protection;
reduction in compliance burden on employers with single registration, licensing
and online returns, etc.
CONCLUSION
In the context where it is clear that gig economy is here to stay in India, the
Labour Codes and budget 2021 announcements are indeed significant steps
12 Goyal Himanshu, Rights of a GIG Worker – An Employee or An Independent Contractor: A World-
Wide Comparison, ASSOCHAM, 2020.
13 On September 23, 2020, the Parliament of India passes three labour codes, namely the Industrial
Relations Code Bill, 2020; the Code on Social Security Bill, 2020; and the Occupational Safety,
Health and Working Conditions Code Bill, 2020.
14 Aryan A., ESIC, Other social security safety nets to cover gig economy workers, The Indian
Express, February 2, 2021.

intended to guarantee social security for gig workers. But it must be ensured
that the tyranny of good intentions might not just end up hurting their interests.
Consultations should be held with all the stakeholders including employers,
unions, workers, specifically women gig workers as this would allow policymakers
in understanding the realities of flexible work arrangements in both crowd work
and on-demand-service work and fill the critical knowledge gap. It is here that
the Fair Work Foundation’s annual review of platform labour gains prominence.
The five principles underlined in this report- fair pay, fair work conditions
(prevention from infection, and payment to workers if they fall ill), fair contracts,
fair management (e.g. no loss of bonus or incentive levels despite temporary
deactivation of workers) and fair representation (e.g. engagement with worker
associations, including organisations representing women)- should be taken into
consideration while formulation of the policies. Another viable strategy then
would involve conditional government partnerships with platforms under some of
its flagship schemes. Here, the successful pilot of Swiggy’s Street Food Vendor’s
Atma Nirbhar Nidhi Scheme, may prove to be an illustrative example.15 As the
pandemic forces India to redefine its own understanding of the future of work, it
falls upon the state to ensure that this future is defined not only by quantity of
gig jobs it created but also by the quality of livelihoods they provide for.
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