Digitalisation, Platform Workers, and Workers’ Voice

The employment landscape has drastically changed in recent years due to developments in digitalisation across sectors and industries. Platform, or gig, work is an example of a new form of employment that has been the product of the digitalisation trend. Platform work involves a digitally mediated type of employment between a ‘worker’ and a ‘platform’. These workers often have uncertain legal ‘employee’ status, and it is for this reason that they have been missed from the HR function’s scope, a function that has traditionally focused on internal ‘employees'. Although there are questions around how these workers experience a range of HR practices, and if they experience them at all, one HR area is particularly important: workers’ voice. Voice is the main channel through which workers can share ideas or concerns and negotiate to improve aspects of their employment and their working conditions. However, platform workers rarely have access to voice mechanisms that traditional employees can access. This chapter explores the avenues of voice available to these workers, the issues that they may raise through these avenues and whether their voice may bring about influence. It concludes by discussing the future of platform workers’ voice.