Recruitment in the gig economy: attraction and selection on digital platforms

Abstract

Digital platform work is undertaken as short term, temporary ‘gigs’ mediated by platform businesses that connect self-employed workers to clients via an app. Platforms manage and profit from labour-capital relations yet are not employers. This study explores the extent to which, and how, digital platforms implement human resource practices to attract and select self-employed platform workers. A qualitative, comparative analysis of the website content, and terms and conditions documents of 17 digital platforms offering virtual work in graphic design, and in-person care work in Australia was undertaken. The findings reveal how platforms combine traditional recruitment practices with new forms of algorithmic shortlisting that result in industry-specific risks for platform workers. More broadly, the study provides insights into the recruitment practices used by digital platform businesses and contributes to knowledge of how the roles and responsibilities of human resource management are reconfigured in digital platform work.

Keywords:

• Gig economy
• recruitment
• selection
• attraction
• human resource management
• digital platforms

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (PJW), upon reasonable request.

Notes

1 The recent emergence of care platforms in Australia has been facilitated by the introduction of cash-for-care schemes (such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme) that give individuals seeking care or their advocates the option to employ their own support workers, whereas graphic design digital platforms have been operating in Australia for many years (see Table 1).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by an Australian Research Council Grant DP180101191.