Policy Responses to New Forms of Work

Annex A. Questionnaire

Survey of policy responses to new forms of work: questionnaire

What is the objective of this survey? With your help, we want to capture the most up-to-date evidence on recent and emerging policy responses to new forms of work. We will use this evidence to draw out trends, good practice, and case studies of practical relevance for policymakers, in an international conference in Paris on 7th Nov 2018 and a subsequent report (to be shared with respondents in early 2019). This presents a major opportunity for policymakers to access information on what other countries are doing to address emerging – and often, shared – challenges associated with new forms of work.

What do we mean by new forms of work? Many countries have seen recent growth in technology-facilitated forms of work, such as crowd work and on-demand work via apps and platforms; but there has also been growth in other new forms of work, like casual work (on-call, voucher-based and zero-hour contracts, as well as mini/flexi-jobs). While the use of these contracts may bring advantages, including flexibility for both employers and employees, concerns are being voiced around job quality and the potential negative impact of excessive and/or improper use (in cases where workers are misclassified) of such contracts on equality, productivity and growth, and the fairness of competition among firms. Several countries have also seen growth in dependent and false self-employment1, which raise similar concerns.

What do we mean by policy responses? We aim to capture recent and emerging public policy across: employment regulation (e.g. how should these workers be classified?), social protection (e.g. how do we ensure adequate coverage?), working conditions (e.g. how do we ensure fair and safe working conditions?), collective bargaining (e.g. how can workers in these new forms of work be given collective voice?) and skills (e.g. how to promote lifelong learning among those in new forms of work?). While the focus of this survey is on policies developed in response to the emergence of new forms of work, we also encourage you to note policies that, although not specifically targeted towards those in new forms of work, are likely to have a significant impact on these workers.

How should you answer this questionnaire? Please use the spaces provided to describe each policy/intervention, its underlying objectives and its effectiveness (if evidence exists), as well as the type of contract it applies to. If you wish to refer to legislation (or revisions to such), please cite the number/identifier and the year in which it was passed (or revised). For any additional information, we encourage you to share contact details of the individual most familiar with the policy, to link to external sources of information and/or to attach documents to your email.

Who should answer this questionnaire? We have sent this questionnaire to Ministries of Labour, and in some cases, to specialised teams with responsibility for the future of work. For certain questions, it may be necessary to coordinate responses within the Ministry or with another government department at the national or sub-national level. In these cases, we encourage you to share this questionnaire more widely. We can offer assistance in compiling the responses.

As the success of this project will depend on the information you provide, we would like to express in advance our gratitude for your cooperation and the time taken to complete this questionnaire.

Background questions

i. While many countries have experienced recent growth in the forms of employment underlined in the text above, the exact contract types, trends and challenges vary across countries. Please use the space below to describe what forms of employment are being discussed in the policy arena in your country.

ii. Thinking again about discussions within the policy arena, what topics/issues related to new forms of work would you say capture the most attention (i.e. in government, the legislature, the media)? This might include both opportunities and challenges (e.g. classification, social protection, tax) associated with new forms of work.

iii. If there is no (or negligible) discussion within the policy arena in your country about new forms of work, please give your own opinion on why this might be.

1. Addressing worker classification

New forms of work have often developed at the fringes of existing labour market regulation and many countries are struggling with how such workers should be classified: are they employees, are they self-employed, or do they lie somewhere in between? Is existing labour market regulation still fit for purpose?

Please describe any recent or forthcoming public policy developed in your country with the aim of addressing worker classification issues, such as:

1. Clarifying/revising/updating definitions of employment relationships, e.g. what it means to be an employee, self-employed, or even an employer (e.g. in tripartite employment relationships, cases involving an intermediary); harmonising definitions across legal/policy areas (e.g. labour, tax, social protection)…

2. Creating new employment categories. Several countries have a worker category in between “employee” and “self-employed” which gives access to some, though not all, rights and protections enjoyed by employees, e.g. “workers” in the United Kingdom, TRADE in Spain, CoCoCo and CoCoPro in Italy.

Does such a category exist in your country already or is there talk of introducing one? If so, for what purpose (for labour law, tax law, social protection, ensuring collective bargaining rights etc.)?

3. Helping firms and workers identify employment relationships, e.g. by providing better guidance and information on contractual status, online tools/tests…

4. Making it easier for workers to challenge their employment status, e.g. the presumption of an employment relationship and placing the burden of proof on the employer (rather than the employee), reducing court fees, reducing risks to workers, protecting workers against retaliation…

5. Strengthening penalties to encourage compliance, e.g. greater penalties if firms continue to breach the law in repeated, comparable cases; retroactive payment of taxes and social security contributions; blanket application of tribunal judgements to an entire workforce…

6. Strengthening the labour inspectorate’s capacity to monitor and detect breaches, e.g. increased responsibilities and resources, innovative methods to inspect those working from home/on platforms…

7. Any other policies with the aim of tackling misclassification of workers

2. Addressing incentives to use new forms of work

In some countries, tax and/or employment regulation have created incentives for employers and/or individuals to replace standard forms of employment with non-standard ones (e.g. large differences in tax burdens between employees and the self-employed, incentivising misclassification and false self-employment). Some countries have attempted to address these incentives.

Please describe any recent or forthcoming public policy developed in your country with this aim, such as:

1. Reducing discrepancies between different forms of employment in terms of pay, tax, social protection, working conditions…

2. Introducing measures to encourage hiring on standard contracts by making them more attractive relative to non-standard contracts, e.g. easing of obligations associated with standard contracts for employers, making non-standard contracts more costly for employers (e.g. higher social security contributions)…

3. Any other policies with the aim of addressing incentives to use new forms of work

3. Regulating the use of new forms of work

One potential policy response to new forms of work is to attempt to regulate their use which could restrict or even prohibit their use. For example, most countries have regulated the use of temporary contracts, agency work and zero-hour contracts. Some platforms are permitted to operate in some countries, but not in others.

Please describe any recent or forthcoming public policy developed in your country with this aim, such as:

1. Regulating the operation of platforms (including limiting or prohibiting their operation)

2. Regulating the use of non-standard employment contracts, e.g. restricting the total period or the number of renewals; prohibiting their use for permanent needs or core activities of the firm…

3. Regulating the use of clauses in employment contracts, e.g. arbitration agreements under which workers may waive rights to litigation, exclusivity clauses…

4. Any other policies with the aim of regulating the use of new forms of work

4. Improving working conditions

Concerns have been raised in some countries about working conditions in new forms of work. Please describe any recent or forthcoming public policy developed in your country with the aim of ensuring fair and safe working conditions for those in new forms of work, such as:

1. Ensuring workers are aware of their rights, responsibilities, working conditions and employer liability, e.g. public information campaigns, requiring firms to provide written confirmation of worker status, clarification in tripartite employment relationships…

2. Addressing working time and promoting predictability/stability in work schedules, e.g. guaranteed minimum working hours; enabling workers to plan ahead and take time off when needed; ensuring schedules are clear ahead of time and do not change with minimal notice; measures to improve work-life balance…

3. Encouraging fair pay, e.g. extension of minimum wage legislation to non-standard forms of employment (e.g. independent/own-account workers), ensuring equal pay for non-standard workers who do substantially the same work as standard workers for the same company, price regulation, requiring higher pay for non-standard workers to cover lower levels of social protection, compensating workers for hours in which they make themselves available for work…

4. Addressing occupational safety and health (OSH), e.g. ensuring that firms inform non-standard workers of hazards and safety procedures, measures to guarantee the same safe and healthy working conditions for non-standard workers as for standard workers, making platforms responsible for workers’ OSH…

5. Protecting non-standard workers from discrimination, e.g. by buyers of the goods/services, by platforms/employers, within algorithms…

6. Requiring platforms/employers to cover employer liability, e.g. in case of workplace accident …

7. Strengthening the labour inspectorate’s capacity to monitor working conditions and ensure compliance in new forms of work, e.g. increased responsibilities and resources, innovative methods to inspect those working from home/on platforms…

8. Making it easier for workers to take legal action over working conditions, e.g. reducing court costs, protecting workers against retaliation; greater penalties if firms continue to breach the law in repeated, comparable cases; permitting class-action lawsuits…

9. Any other policies with the aim of improving working conditions

5. Strengthening social protection2

Social protection systems have often been designed with full-time, permanent, dependent employees in mind, leaving other workers at a potential disadvantage – either because they are formally excluded from a scheme/programme (statutory access) or because they have difficulties in meeting eligibility criteria or contribution thresholds (effective access). Some countries have taken steps to update and revise their social protection system in order to ensure adequate social protection for those in new forms of work.

Please describe any recent or forthcoming public policy developed in your country with this aim, such as:

1. Extending statutory access to existing social protection schemes/programmes for those in new forms of work

2. Improving effective access to social protection schemes/programmes, e.g. by adjusting rules and thresholds of existing schemes/programmes (e.g. earnings/hours/minimum contribution thresholds) so that eligibility conditions are more easily met; changing how self-employment earnings are assessed, subsidising contributions of non-standard workers…

3. Creating specially designed schemes/programmes to address particular characteristics/challenges of new forms of work (and potentially certain occupations/industries, e.g. similar to the social protection scheme for artists in Germany).

4. Decoupling social protection from contributions and/or employment status and increasing reliance on tax-financed/universal benefits (e.g. state pensions, social assistance, universal health care, basic income)

5. Enhancing the portability of benefits so that entitlements are not lost when individuals move jobs, e.g. by linking them to individuals rather than to the employer/job, creation of a digital worker identity…

6. Simplifying administrative procedures for registering and/or contributing, e.g. by improving information provision, removing administrative burdens, assigning responsibility for social protection to one administrative body…

7. Improving the monitoring of work activity for assessing entitlement of platform workers and other non-standard workers to unemployment benefits

8. Any other policies with the aim of ensuring adequate social protection

6. Strengthening workers’ voice

Those in new forms of work may face specific barriers to collective representation, resulting in an asymmetry in bargaining power between workers and employers with potential negative consequences for job quality. Competition law may prohibit self-employed contractors from unionising and negotiating collectively. In the platform economy, workers on the same platform might not necessarily have any contact with one another if they are working alone and separated by different geographies, or even languages and legal contexts.

Please describe any recent or forthcoming public policy developed in your country with the aim of strengthening workers’ voice in new forms of work, such as:

1. Ensuring the right to freedom of association

2. Extending existing collective bargaining agreements (or signing new ones) to cover workers in new forms of work (e.g. platform workers)

3. Allowing independent/own-account workers to bargain collectively without violating competition/anti-trust law, e.g. revising the law, adding statutory exemptions to the law…

4. Promoting alternative arrangements for worker representation and discourse, e.g. supporting the setting up of worker centres or professional associations specific to new forms of work, promoting online models of worker voice (e.g. information-sharing forums/tools, platforms that enable workers to review employers), models for worker-employer relations (e.g. conferences, roundtables, workplace councils)…

5. Any other policies with the aim of strengthening workers’ voice

7. Public Employment Services (PES) responses to new forms of work

New forms of employment offer opportunities for PES (e.g. new opportunities for job placement) but also bring new challenges (how to ensure sustainable job outcomes, reach out to employers, adjust training, etc.).

Please describe any recent or forthcoming public policy developed in your country linking PES and new forms of work, such as:

1. Using new forms of work to tackle unemployment or for worker activation more generally, e.g. considering it “gainful employment”

2. Providing/adjusting guidance, training and support for those considering platform work or other new forms of work

3. Engaging with employers, including collecting information on what jobs/vacancies exist in new forms of work, understanding their needs, providing services to employers…

4. Targeting PES services to those in new forms of work, i.e. helping them to attain more sustainable employment

5. Any other policies linking PES and new forms of work

8. Investing in skills

Workers in non-standard forms of employment tend to participate less in lifelong learning. Employers may see less reason to invest in training for those in new forms of work – particularly where working relationships are short-lived, or if individuals work for several employers at once. At the same time, workers may have less access to public subsidies for lifelong learning if they have been designed for standard, full-time employees on open-ended contracts. New forms of work may therefore require new approaches to lifelong learning.

Please describe any recent or forthcoming public policy developed in your country with the aim of developing and recognising the skills of those in new forms of work, such as:

1. Designing skills policies and programmes targeted specifically at those in new forms of work, e.g. vouchers, tax incentives, subsidies, loans, provision of training, guidance…

2. Adapting existing policies or programmes to make lifelong learning more accessible/attractive to those in new forms of work, e.g. subsidies, vouchers, tax incentives, loans or privileged access for those on non-standard contracts; facilitating shorter/different pathways to training (e.g. blended learning, distance provision, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Stackable/Modular and Micro-Credentials); adjusting the content of training…

3. Changing how training in new forms of work is financed, e.g. by an employer levy, by tax, by the individual…

4. Enhancing the portability of training rights by linking training to the individual rather than to the employer/job, e.g. individual learning accounts…

5. Facilitating the recognition of skills, e.g. offering validation of acquired experience to non-standard workers; enabling platform workers to share approval ratings with third parties and/or promoting the portability of such ratings from one platform to another…

6. Any other policies with the aim of developing and recognising skills

9. Improving data collection

Existing data sources like household surveys and tax records may not allow the identification of individuals working in new forms of work. This lack of information about the prevalence of new forms of work and the characteristics of the individuals engaged in them hinders the development of an adequate policy response.

Please describe any recent or forthcoming public policy developed in your country with the aim of improving data collection on those in new forms of work, such as:

1. Updating/augmenting existing data sources, like adding new questions and/or changing definitions in national statistics, household surveys, etc.

2. Better use of existing data, including tax and social security data, linking of administrative data with survey data, etc.

3. Accessing/using private data sources, like platform/employer data

4. Developing new data collection exercises like ad hoc surveys of non-standard workers

5. Any other policies with the aim of improving data collection

10. Improving coordination

Addressing the challenges associated with new forms of work often requires coordinated policy intervention across different areas. In some countries, there have been efforts to bring different parties together to discuss the potential issues and opportunities, and the best policy response.

Please describe any efforts in your country to encourage coordination between government, social partners, industry and workers on new forms of work, e.g. setting up of dedicated working groups, forums, participating in international activities…

11. Other

Please use this space to describe any other recent or forthcoming public policy developed in your country related to new forms of work, or to leave any other comment you deem relevant for this project.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to this questionnaire.

Please provide your own contact details (and the contact details of any others that have contributed to filling this questionnaire) in case we have any queries concerning the information provided.

Notes

← 1.  In the case of (economically) dependent self-employed, the individual will be genuinely self-employed but dependent for the majority of their income on one single client. In order for the relationship to be considered false (or bogus) self-employment, there needs to be a deliberate attempt at hiding a genuine employment relationship in order to avoid labour regulations and/or tax obligations (either on the part of the employer, the worker, or both).

← 2.  Social protection may include benefits such as healthcare and sickness benefits, maternity/paternity benefits, old age and survivor’s pensions, unemployment benefits and social assistance, long-term care benefits, invalidity, accidents at work and occupational injury benefits, family benefits etc.