GigCompare’s Values, Commitment to Workers
GigCompare exists to help level the playing field for gig workers. We can do this by bringing pay transparency where it currently does not exist.
We believe it’s important to make it crystal clear to our users how GigCompare works, what we will do and what we will not do in pursuit of this mission.
Why we are here:
Every gig economy transaction is virtually the same. A platform like Uber or Doordash serves as a marketplace and connects consumers with workers to provide a service.
For this marketplace to act as intended, all parties should receive the information needed to make an informed decision. Consumers should have an idea of what they will receive from the service and what it will cost. Similarly, workers should understand specifically what it will take to get the job done, and what they stand to earn from completing it. The platform or marketplace offers protection/support to both consumers and workers in the form of marketing, insurance, customer service, etc. and they receive a fee for these efforts.
In the gig economy, platforms have assumed complete control over pricing in the name of efficiency and the ability to dispatch orders quickly. It would be a pain to have to negotiate rates every time you wanted to take an Uber somewhere, right?
However, they have chosen to use their position as arbiter to deliberately obscure the information that workers need in order to make informed decisions about their work, putting the burden (and risk) of such calculations on their workforce.
In their current classification as independent contractors, gig workers are expected to personally calculate their own expenses like fuel, vehicle depreciation, and repairs when making split-second decisions on whether or not to take a specific gig. It’s challenging math, and made ever more challenging by the fact that large pieces of the formula are missing.
Over the course of millions of transactions, gig platforms employ teams of very capable data scientists and economists to optimize the marketplace in their favor.
Where is the team of data scientists for workers? Where is the data?
It’s been broken into millions of pieces to the point where it can no longer be put to use beyond personal earnings calculations.
GigCompare’s mission is to reassemble this data and put it to use for workers. We rely on worker-submitted pay data to track how different platforms are operating across the country, how they are paying their workers, and how this is changing over time.
GigCompare’s commitment to users: Transparency.
Collecting pay data is a responsibility that we do not take lightly, and it’s important to explain how we treat worker submissions:
Personally-Identifiable Information (PII): Pay information is inherently personal, but we limit our collection to the bare minimum necessary to provide value back to workers. For example, we do not need to know anyone’s name or address, so we will never ask for it. If PII happens to be submitted unintentionally along with a pay screenshot, for example, we ignore it and only extract the fields that are necessary to complete calculations. Once necessary data is extracted from a given submission, we delete the original information. For communication purposes, a user’s email, primary gig platform, and city of work is kept in a separate CRM database from all pay data.
User access to data: The primary way for users to access the aggregate data is through GigCompare.com, which is made publicly available. In order to access the information, we ask that a gig worker complete a calculation or contribute an old pay statement in order to sustain the accuracy of the site in the long-term. We know that it’s a pain to dig up old statements, so we’re working to make this process easier (want to help?). Over time, we may introduce more stringent verification measures to ensure that gig workers are the primary beneficiaries of the site.
Relationships with gig platforms: we do not sell any submitted user data to third parties. More specifically, we believe that doing business with any gig platform would represent a conflict of interest. Unlike many sites that claim to serve gig workers, we do not see ourselves as a recruitment arm for the gig economy. You will never see a referral code for a gig app on gigcompare.com. It’s unreasonable to expect that those companies will not access GigCompare, which is another reason why the tool is completely anonymous: using it will not risk deactivation.
Relationships with worker advocacy groups and labor unions: while we share the goal of increasing worker leverage and pay, we also believe that GigCompare’s role is to serve as an independent 3rd party within the broader debate around the gig economy. This allows us to resist pressure to manipulate pay data in favor of a particular agenda or viewpoint. That being said, GigCompare will continue to recommend that users get involved with local worker groups, as we believe that they provide the strongest collective voice available to gig workers.
Relationships with other 3rd party tools/apps: GigCompare’s focus is to provide a high-level view of pay transparency within the gig economy. As an individual worker, you may find that our tools are not sufficient to help you personally earn more within the current system. Because of this, we aim to provide information on companies that exist to serve this purpose. We do not directly endorse any service over another. However, we may develop affiliate marketing relationships with such services over time, at which point they will be fully disclosed.
GigCompare is only a couple of months old, and will continue to evolve over time. Our commitment to you is to remain transparent about how we run the site so that you can understand our goals/priorities and (hopefully) get excited to work with us.
Thanks for reading,
Charles (Founder)
