As the Bangladesh country partner of the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, DataSense conducted the second annual evaluation of the gig economy in Bangladesh and shows that fairer, more equitable gig work is possible within the platform economy. The report assessed nine digital labour platforms operating across Bangladesh, creating an annual ranking of these platforms based on their performance in maintaining these policies.
Project timeline:
Sep 2021 – Aug 2022
Partners:
- Oxford Internet Institute, The University of Oxford, Bangladesh
- GIZ
- WZB
- Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
Project objective:
The primary objective of the Fairwork project is to evaluate and rank digital labor platforms based on the fairness of their working conditions, ultimately demonstrating that better and fairer jobs are achievable within the platform economy.
The five principal were contextualized for Bangladesh (Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, and Fair Representation), through multi-stakeholder consultations applied to evaluate how fairly platforms treat their workers. The report sought to track changes since the 2021 baseline, spotlight persistent issues, and highlight new labour trends in the gig economy. The project uses a rigorous methodology involving desk research, interviews with platform management, and direct interviews with workers to gather evidence for scoring.
Project outcome:
- Platform Performance on Fairwork Principles: In 2021, all the platform showed widespread gaps in fair labour practices. However, some progress noted in 2022 (Chaldal, HelloTask, Sheba.xyz),other platforms showed slight Improvement but major issue remains.
- Platform Awareness and Policy Change: Platforms continued to grow awareness of fair work principal with some platforms engaging in dialogue to improve scores. They began revising their data policies and operations to better address the issues faced by gig workers in Bangladesh.
- Labour Conditions: Major gaps remain in all five principles, particularly Fair Representation, Fair Contracts, and Fair Pay in 2022. Most platforms fail to ensure a living wage after work-related costs and waiting time are considered. Algorithmic decision-making with limited human oversight remains a challenge.
- Policy Engagement and Worker Organizing: Fairwork Bangladesh engaged with worker groups like the Dhaka Ridesharing Drivers Union to strengthen grassroots advocacy. Consultations have begun with legal and policy experts to explore regulatory frameworks for platform labour rights.
- Emerging Worker Resistance “Khaep”: Rideshare workers increasingly bypass platforms to find customers directly—a grassroots pushback against poor conditions.
Impact:
- Incremental Improvements in Platform Practices: Despite remaining the major gaps, some platforms began aligning policies with Fairwork principles, influenced by their engagement in the research.
- Policy Dialogue Activation: Fairwork’s continued engagement with policymakers and legal experts helped initiate early discussions on regulating platform labour conditions in Bangladesh.
- Strengthened Worker Voice and Advocacy: Collaboration with worker groups led to increased grassroots mobilization and visibility of platform workers’ rights issues.
- Increased Public Awareness: The publication of the rankings provided media and civil society with data-driven insights to advocate for platform accountability.