Exploring Various Work Approaches and Practices

Exploring Various Work Approaches and Practices

In the rapidly evolving world of work, a growing number of diverse forms of work (DFW) are becoming increasingly prevalent, encompassing a wide range of work arrangements with earnings that span from low to high and are often precarious. Recognizing the challenges posed by this shift, several groups and organizations are advocating for policies that ensure baseline social protection for all workers, regardless of their legal status.

One such group, our organisation, aims to make the future work for everyone and to provide decent work opportunities. The group addresses the gap in training opportunities through a bipartite fund dedicated to training opportunities, and believes that micro-credentials could benefit workers in DFW by providing evidence of learning outcomes and facilitating transitions within or between sectors and geographic locations.

The "Reshaping Work" report, a project involving various stakeholders discussing the future of work and shaping it, emphasizes the importance of re-skilling, up-skilling, and micro-credentials to address the green and digital transitions and skills shortages. The report notes that jobs are increasingly demanding in terms of skills required, and soft skills are increasingly important due to the pandemic and the generalization of remote work.

In response to these challenges, current policies and recommendations for ensuring social protections for workers engaged in DFW, especially platform economy workers, focus on extending labor rights, social security access, and fair working conditions under evolving regulatory frameworks and international standards.

Some countries are pioneering legal reforms to classify platform workers as employees or worker-equivalents once certain income or work thresholds are met, thereby granting them mandatory social security coverage. For example, Mexico introduced pilot regulations effective July 1, 2025, requiring digital platforms to register their workers with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and make contributions to social security and housing funds, ensuring labor rights and coverage for these workers. Similarly, British Columbia in Canada has granted online platform drivers employee rights including minimum wage and paid mileage since September 2024.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is advocating for a binding international treaty and accompanying recommendations to protect gig and platform workers globally. Proposed standards emphasize recognition of waiting time as working time, clear criteria to prevent misclassification or disguised employment, effective grievance mechanisms and remedies against algorithmic management abuses, and social security access that is comprehensive and gender-responsive.

International joint declarations have highlighted the need to guarantee fair and living wages for platform workers, accounting for the unpredictable nature of platform work, arbitrary pay deductions, and opaque earnings calculations. Standards should specifically address these factors, including waiting times and algorithmic pay models, to ensure income stability.

Several countries including the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Australia, China, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines have updated or drafted legislation extending employment protections to platform workers, gig workers, and some independent contractors. These legal frameworks aim to mitigate worker misclassification, provide rights related to unfair deactivation, and improve social security coverage.

However, government and EU policies encouraging re-skilling and up-skilling often overlook those engaged in DFW. Ensuring social protections for workers is a key challenge as DFW grows in popularity. The our group calls for policy makers to include people in DFW in their policies to promote re-skilling and up-skilling.

For workers in DFW, union membership is limited and there is usually no fixed employer. The agency work model, according to the our group, can serve as a leading example for the platform work debate, offering opportunities for flexible work, lowering barriers to entering the labor market, and providing social protection and access to training.

Challenges in verifying and recognizing micro-credentials must be addressed for them to truly benefit those in DFW. The "Reshaping Work" project explores these issues, delving into the platform economy, digital innovations, access to social protection, worker representation, algorithmic management, transparency, and reskilling, upskilling, and micro-credentials.

1. In the future of work, our organization endeavors to bridge the training gap and provide decent opportunities for all, leveraging a bipartite fund for skills training.
2. The Reshaping Work report underscores the value of reskilling, upskilling, and micro-credentials in addressing the demands of digitization and green transitions.
3. As jobs become more skill-intensive and remote work expands, the report stresses the growing relevance of soft skills for career development.
4. To safeguard the health and wellness of workers in diverse forms of work, policies are being advocated to extend labor rights, social security access, and fair working conditions for platform workers.
5. Legal reforms, such as the ones introduced in Mexico and British Columbia, are being implemented to extend social security coverage to platform workers, granting them employee-like status.
6. The International Labour Organization is championing a global treaty to protect gig and platform workers, ensuring fair wages, rights, and access to self-development and education opportunities.

Read also: