Helping gig economy as a customer
You must have heard about gig economy when you must have ordered an Uber, Lyft, Swiggy or Dunzo. Any work that your mother used to do for you can now be done by a person, whom you pay just for that work. While gig economy supports flexibility & convenience for a worker, it does not provide all the benefits that a traditional 9 to 5 job does.
Why gig economy needs our attention
The magnitude of gig economy is under-estimated in a world which is mostly understood by people grown up as a multi-national company’s employee. One estimate (Heeks 2017) suggested that the digital gig economy in the Global South was worth approximately US$ 5 billion and utilised approximately 60 million workers. Multiple meteoric events have brought us to this number: 2008 economic crisis, the rapid increase in digital technologies & the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Now that we have such a large number working on-demand, chances are that our own relatives or friends are a part of this circle and thus, we cannot choose to unsee their working conditions and the pennies they are taking home.
What can we do to help on demand workers as a Customer?
Being nice
This is the easiest thing we can do as a person. Think about a food delivery man/woman who went beyond his scope of job to carry an entire table for your massage. The least we can do is address them with a smile and ask for water/snacks.
While talking to one of my on-demand beautician, I got to know that it was her birthday that day, but she could not take the day off because of her prior engagements. We ended up cutting a fruit cake and eating ice-cream in the name of the special day. Something I rarely boast about!
Tipping
Being an Indian, we are taught to be a miser & (probably) value each penny we earn. That’s the way the majority of us think. And that’s normal.
Taking an example of major super-app in South Asia, we saw that only ~8% orders include a tip. These tips make up ~2% of a worker’s monthly earning which comes up to an average of 5$ a month.
Look at the service charge fiasco. Usually levied as 10% of the total bill by restaurants in the name of giving tips to their staff (which more often than not can be waived off at request) — it has always been a big turn off for customers. But these very customers have no problem paying increased food prices and leaving a tip for the waiter who served them with a smile.
But why wont you tip someone who took that extra walk from society gate to your door, may be even when it was raining? Because, you don’t feel obliged to tip your delivery guy coming to your home or office, because there is no one to judge you. But if you ponder over it bit, doesn’t vice-versa make more sense?
At the end of the day, tipping is all about rewarding those who run your errands, because more often than not, they have not been paid enough (thanks to capitalism).
Leave feedback on record
Organizations often make decisions for incentives based on the ratings of the the workers.
A major on-demand servicing company requires their beautician to maintain 4.5 or above ratings, else they are temporarily pulled out of the platform and required to complete x-hours of training sessions.
Leaving feedback on the app makes sure the quality of the work is accounted for when incentives are calculated. Approx ~30% orders are rated by customers, which means we are negatively impacting the incentives that the rest 60% are getting.
Even when we are not satisfied with the work, we should make sure to write what went wrong and how they can improve.
We all can let of the mindset that on-demand workers are working for us, and think of them as people trying to make a living. They deserve the same compassion and respect we give our colleagues.
Ever tried thanking a delivery guy for doing his job so very well every? Try it out once & see how it feels. 🙌