Analysis of Platform Work in Slovenia (ADPS): Current Situation and Key Challenges (V5-2503)
Head of the research group: Assoc. Prof. Valentina FRANCA, PhD
The project focuses on the rapidly growing field of platform work in Slovenia and its regulation in light of the new Directive (EU) 2024/2831 of theEuropean Parliament and the Council of 23 October 2024 on improving working conditions in platform work. Platform work, which takes placethrough digital platforms, presents challenges in the areas of employment status, social security, and legal protection of workers. Modern forms of platform work create uncertainties regarding employment status and legal protection of workers, as many platform workers operate as self-employed without adequate labor and social rights. The project aims to provide in-depth and reliable data and analysis to assist the legislator ineffectively transposing the provisions of the directive. The project focuses on exploring the conditions in the Slovenian platform work market,including all its forms, even those that have been researched only superficially or not at all. Since platform work represents a dynamic form of workwith specific characteristics, one of the key aims of the project is also to understand the views and practices of those who manage the platforms. Data will also be collected on the views of platform workers regarding current legislation, their employment status, platform operations, algorithmic management, provisions of the directive, possibilities for collective association, data protection, and other issues addressed by the Directive. The project will include in-depth interviews with individuals who perform platform work and with representatives of platforms, to gain insight into the real working conditions and challenges faced by workers and, on the other hand, platforms. A survey will also be conducted among individuals who perform platform work. Based on the analysis of the empirical data thus obtained, we will be able to identify the various forms of platform work that appear in Slovenia, their heterogeneity, the heterogeneity among individuals who perform platform work, and the views of these individuals. We want to determine the working conditions under which platform work is performed in the Slovenian environment and the broader consequences that such organized work has for individuals who perform platform work and their environment. In doing so, all phases of the project will be directed towardsthe key goal, namely to provide appropriate empirical data to support the legislator in the implementation of the Directive. In light of this specific goal, the preparation of the research (questions for surveys and interviews, capturing digital platforms work, analysis of other macro data, etc.) willcarefully consider the legal aspects that are important for the implementation of the Directive. This is crucial to avoid misinterpretations of fundamental legal concepts (such as “digital platforms work”), which can lead to incorrect or misleading empirical data. This project, within theframework of its comprehensive empirical analysis, will pay special attention to the key challenges for the legislator, including: defining the scope of regulation (what falls under digital platforms work and what does not); establishing the presumption of employment relationship for platform workers (approximately what approach is more or less supported by empirical results); regulating collective rights of platform workers; upgrading data protection for individuals who perform platform work (regulating algorithmic management); regulating transparency of platform work, and similar. Key findings will be presented in the form of scientific publications, public events, and lectures, and will contribute to the development of better working conditions and social security for individuals who perform platform work in Slovenia. We expect that the empirical results of the research will serve as a supportive foundation for the implementation of the Directive on platform work into Slovenian law – this will be the key red thread of the project team’s work.
Duration (from/to):
- 9. 2025 – 31. 8. 2026
Contracting Authority:
Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency & Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
Financing:
Members of the project team with links to SICRIS:
The project work program is structured around five work packages. For each work package, we have proposed a duration, the research organizations that will carry out the individual research activities, and the expected results. All research organizations will participate in all work packages.
Work package 1: Problem definition of regulatory solutions in Directive (EU) 2024/2831 and theoretical starting points (ID holder)
Within the first work package, we will pursue the goal of developing theoretical starting points and defining the problems of the regulatory solutions of the Directive from the perspective of identifying key problems for the purposes of empirical research. In doing so, we will take into account analyses of changes in the sphere of work during the transition to the platform economy, which is characterized by specific models of platform companies and the consequences of this model for persons performing platform work (among which the most important are: lack of worker status and consequent lack of workers’ rights, financial and social risks, and poor and precarious working conditions). We will pay particular attention to the consequences of digitalisation and algorithmisation on the type and quality of work and working conditions.
Work package 1: Problem presentation of the Directive and regulatory solutions for the purposes of empirical research and definition of digital labour platforms
Work package 1.2: Definition of the heterogeneity of digital labour platforms
Work package 1.3: Definition of heterogeneity in the position of persons performing platform work
Work package 2: Obtaining contacts of persons performing platform work and designing interview questions (lead partner FU): As part of the second work package, we will pursue the goal of obtaining a sufficient set of contacts of persons performing platform work physically (on-site), especially delivery and similar tasks, as well as contacts of individuals who perform work in Slovenia for clients (employers) via the internet (online), for the purpose of conducting semi-structured interviews and surveys. We will also pursue the goal of obtaining contacts of clients – employers for whom individuals perform platform work. The goal is to obtain contacts of at least two domestic and two foreign clients – employers.
Work sub-task 2.1: Obtaining contacts of persons performing platform work.
Work sub-task 2.2: Designing a questionnaire for interviews.
Work package 3: Conducting and analyzing interviews (led by EF).
Work sub-package 3.1: Interviews with persons performing platform work.
Work sub-package 3.2: Interviews with employers offering work on digital labor platforms.
Work package 4: Surveying (lead partner FU): Work package 4 will involve conducting a survey based on a questionnaire designed on the basis of the findings of the first work package and semi-structured interviews (third work package). The questionnaire will be designed to cover specific forms of platform work (on-site, online), which will enable subsequent analysis by age, gender, education, and other demographic characteristics of the persons participating in the survey. A non-random convenience sample will not allow the results to be generalized to the entire population of people working through digital work platforms, but it will allow for the verification of basic research hypotheses that will be derived from a review of the literature.
Work sub-project 4.1: Design of a measurement instrument.
Work sub-project 4.2: Surveying
Work sub-project 4.3: Data analysis
Work package 5: Proposals and recommendations for the implementation of the Directive, the formulation of policies, measures, and guidelines for action (lead partner PF): Based on the results of previous research activities covering social, legal, and economic aspects, the objective of the fifth work package is to develop proposals and recommendations for legislative and other regulatory changes with a view to implementing the Directive, formulating policies at the national and organizational levels for the appropriate transposition of the Directive, for the appropriate labor law protection of persons performing platform work, and for an appropriate approach to hiring platform work at the company level. We believe it is crucial that companies are aware of the legal challenges associated with performing work via online platforms and that they can change their practices accordingly in order to ensure that their operations comply with legal regulations.