significant gaps in the social contract for work,
injecting fresh momentum into calls for a new
social framework for all types of work.
Governments, employers and social partners
need to redesign society to ensure that all forms
of work are secure and sustainable, so that there
is adequate social protection for all workers. All
stakeholders should work together to facilitate a
gradual shift towards the individual, portable and
transferable build-up of social accounts.
The Adecco Group’s position is clear. Where
there is a national system of building up social
rights, workers should not lose these as they move
between forms of work or economic sectors.
When it comes to platform work, the correct
classification of types of work is key. If there is a de
facto employment relationship between a platform
and a worker, it should be defined and classified as
such, and all relevant rights and obligations should
apply to both parties.
Setting the Scene
“Platforms change the scale and speed at which
new business models can emerge and grow,” says
Matthew Taylor, President of the Royal Society
and chair of the recent UK Government review
of working practices in the modern economy. The
speed of change in the way we are working today
is accelerating to the extent that it is now time for
governments, employers and social partners in
developed countries to act.
Platform work is one example of an increasingly
diverse and flexible labour market. In the EU and
Japan, 42% of individuals are not in full-time openended
direct employment. They work part-time,
are in temporary work or are self-employed. In the
US, that figure is 40%. More than 175 million people
in those economies alone!
The social contract for work, in particular social
protection, has struggled to evolve with the
labour market. It is often still funded through
employer and employee contributions related to
direct, open-ended, full-time direct employment
contracts. Coverage for other forms of work falls
short, leaving workers vulnerable.
Social Protection Defined
Social protection encompasses the programmes
designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability
throughout the lifetime of individuals – and in most
developed countries it is a widely acknowledged
right.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO)
defines these as the “policies and programmes
designed to reduce and prevent poverty and
vulnerability throughout the life cycle. [It] includes
benefits for children and families, maternity,
unemployment, employment injury, sickness,
old age, disability, survivors, as well as health
protection.”
“Forms of work are
changing, If social
protection systems
don’t take that into
account, and instead
try to enforce what
was designed many
decades ago, things
will go wrong.”
Professor Paul Schoukens, Institute for Social Law at
the University of Leuven
Drivers of Change
The growth of alternative working arrangements
reflects the new possibilities of the digital world
and the new economic reality following the
2008 financial crisis, with organisations across
all sectors looking to save costs, improve backoffice
efficiency and review their hiring and talent
strategies. But it is also symptomatic of a new
desire for flexibility – from both employers and
employees.