In the busy street of Perth’s restaurant hub, a gathering of young men stand next to their scooters, all bearing the large square, black bag, ubiquitously synonymous with Uber Eats.  

 

These men are gig workers whose job it is to deliver food to customers who order from restaurants. The workers log into an ‘app’ on their smartphone and wait around in the vicinity of nearby restaurants until they are notified that an order has been placed and needs to be delivered. Then off they go on their scooters or push bikes (mostly scooters), guided by google maps, to their destinations. They are paid “per gig”, and so none of the waiting time, nor the length of time it takes to deliver food, are reflected in the pay received.

 

In the media, gig worker jobs are often portrayed as menial, unfairly paid, lacking security, and devoid of employee rights and benefits such as annual leave, sick pay and superannuation. In sum, these jobs are labelled ‘poor-quality’.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But this description doesn’t seem to fully capture the experiences of the gig workers we spoke to. The young men (and they were all men) seemed cheerful and happy. As foreign students, they were keen to improve their English, make friends, and earn enough to get by. They were enamored by the freedom over when they could work, with one worker describing how he could ‘just wake up and get started’. Another went so far as to state that ‘the best point of this, Uber’ was being able to start and finish the work ‘whenever you want to’. The opportunity for social connections was also valued, with workers quoting how they could ‘make friends’ and ‘have fun at the same time (as working)’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The high levels of autonomy and peer support described by our interviewees are hallmarks of a ‘good quality’ job. The instant reward and feedback, with payment per gig, ‘on the spot’ customer feedback and instant online reviews and ratings, can also contribute to a good job experience.

 

Another attraction was that the start-up costs were low – the lack of prerequisites for getting going as a gig food deliverer (e.g., no responding to job advertisements, no special insurance, no special training) makes the job an accessible one for some people. It is quite clear that, at least for some workers, gig work is a good fit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The work isn’t all fun and games though. One worker observed that ‘the money’s not really good’ and that ‘sometimes it’s difficult to get a delivery’; which is consistent with research suggesting overall rather low levels of pay for this type of work.

 

Another worker found the waiting time ‘boring’, which contrasted with the exhaustion of making the actual deliveries by push bike.

 

We also noticed high noise levels of the surroundings, with traffic, fumes, and pedestrians adding to the chaos and unpredictable nature of the working environment. Such demands require workers to be flexible, adaptable and at ease with uncertainty. As research has suggested, perhaps gig work is seen as attractive partly because of its contrast against plausible alternative  (and not-very-good) jobs that are available to these workers given visa restrictions? 

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Altogether, our brief foray into the world of gig work suggests that, for some people, in a particular space and time, this job seems to do just nicely. The autonomy, social contact, and job feedback are very much welcomed. 

 

But how long such positive views last (maybe those who get fed up or disillusioned just quit?), how widely the jobs appeal (is it a job mainly appreciated by international students?), or how much the positive views reflect mostly a contrast effect (what if the students were comparing this work to, say, professional jobs?) still needs more investigation.  Of course, such research is exactly what we plan to do in our Centre of Transformative Work Design, so stay tuned for more details!