There was a recent article published in the New York Times on How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons. It described how the economics of being an Uber driver has changed as the platform has grown; furthermore, it details how Uber are resorting to gamification to influence workers to drive for longer periods or work in areas that are under resourced.
As digital transformation guides more organisations towards a platform economy, connecting customers and providers (workers), we should expect weaker bonds between platform providers and workers, than employees; they are treated like independent contractors with a focus on maximising their output and availability for minimum input.
Platform workers should be clear of three things:
1) They are a small cog in a very large machine that will add more cogs to the machine to make it more efficient & effective (and consequently reduce pay for workers)
2) Once the cog can be replaced with AI, it will be.
3) Gamification of work is real and a powerful way to get more out of workers. Realise you are in a game and consciously decide to play vs mindlessly chasing the next level.
With this knowledge workers can take control of which platforms they participate in and for how long.