Platform work is a form of employment that uses an online platform to enable organisations or individuals to access other organisations or individuals to solve problems or to provide services in exchange for payment.
Autonomy and control in platform work
In the context of platform work, autonomy involves the freedom of workers to choose which tasks they do, their working time, and how to organise and perform their work. More autonomy is typically associated with more satisfaction with working conditions, although workers with complete autonomy over their working time are more likely to face issues with work–life balance.
Autonomy as important motivation for platform workers
Generally, platform workers indicate that more autonomy and flexibility in their work is a significant motivation for their platform activities. However, platforms can exercise control over the tasks performed, and the time and manner of work, as can the clients. Overall, the degree of autonomy platform workers enjoy varies significantly across the different types of platform work, as does the control exercised by platforms and clients. Previous research has found some limitations imposed by the availability of work and platforms’ terms and conditions (including ratings and algorithmic task assignment).
Autonomy versus control: Varying approaches across types of platform work
Eurofound identified 10 different types of platform work prevalent in Europe as of 2017. Five of these types have been analysed in more detail as regards their working conditions.
- On-location platform-determined routine work covers low-skilled work that is delivered in person and assigned to the worker by the platform. This type of platform work is fairly widespread as regards both workers and platforms.
- On-location worker-initiated moderately skilled work covers low- to medium-skilled work where tasks are selected and delivered on-location by the worker. The ability to choose their own assignments provides these workers with flexibility, which is considered a major benefit of platform work.
- Online contestant specialist work is high-skilled online work where the client selects the worker by means of a contest. Workers performing this type of platform work must prove their skills by carrying out part or all of a task before knowing whether they will be selected as winners and paid. This type of platform work is especially prevalent for creative tasks.
- Online moderately skilled click-work covers work that is delivered online via a platform and is of very low scale (that is, tasks can often be completed within seconds or minutes). This type of platform work is often used by companies to outsource automation tasks that require a human interaction, such as classifying a picture or categorising a product.
- On-location client-determined moderately skilled work covers low to medium skilled on-location work that is selected by the client by means of an offer. It mostly takes the form of household tasks conducted by professionals to earn additional income or to occupy spare time.
Comparative overview of selected characteristics of working conditions by type of platform work
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On-location platform-determined work |
On-location worker-initiated work |
Online contestant work |
Online moderately skilled click-work | On-location client-determined moderately skilled work | |
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Example |
Deliveroo |
ListMinut |
99 Designs |
Amazon Mechanical Turk | Oferia |
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Autonomy and control |
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Source: Eurofound (2018; 2019)
People doing on-location platform-determined work and online micro tasks generally have limited control over their working time and work organisation. Moreover, the platform monitors their performance. Theoretically, workers are free to reject assigned tasks, but experience shows that their access to further tasks might be limited by the platform if workers decline proposed assignments too often.
In contrast, those carrying out on-location worker-initiated or client-determined work and online contestants can determine when and how they work. Monitoring by the platform is much more limited to non-existent. However, on-location worker-initiated and client-determined work might be subject to strict requirements and monitoring by the clients. Depending on the individual platform, the client’s rating of the performance of the worker can also be critical for their access to further tasks.
- Publication: Employment and working conditions for selected types of platform work
- Publication: Platform work: Maximising the potential while safeguarding standards?
- Platform economy database: Autonomy and control