An Evaluation of New Work Practices After the Pandemic: Crowdworking

Introduction

After the concept of “network society” (Castells, 2004) started to be discussed, new concepts have taken their place in the agenda along with the living conditions of this society. Many societies aiming to accelerate the transition to the digital literacy process accept the existence of these new concepts and create the new life order in the axis of these concepts. This digital transformation, which covers a wide area such as education and health, from the evaluation of leisure time, also changes the working life.

The effects of digital transformation on the economy, society and individuals create challenges, along with opportunities for governments and policy makers. Accordingly, OECD launched the Going Digital Project (2019) in order to uncover the opportunities in the digital age and to support proactive action by overcoming difficulties. With the project, it is aimed to inform about the effects of digital transformation in a social context. This project focuses on 7 important policies (access-use-innovation-business-trust-society-market deficit) to shape the digital future (OECD, 2019). Before the studies on the subject in the international sense, the impact of digital transformation on working life has started to be felt.

The change in employment patterns since the mid-20th century continued with a new beginning in the mid-2000s. First with the World War II, followed by the Cold War and the 1990s in the period specified as the “internet age, significant changes occurred in the employment environment. The international division of labor has increased, enabling the creation of a global working pool of information and communication technologies. Online work is now accepted as a normal process in the context of business life. “Virtual” work has become more widespread, e-mail usage has increased, and official working hours have disappeared (Huws, 2013).

While digital technologies have changed the working life, developments in productivity and growth have also been realized. In recent years, many innovative business models based on the “platform” principle have been encountered. Crowdworking platforms are also internet-based platforms with more paid employees, where intermediaries ensure the completion, coordination, and control of the business. Through these platforms, the employee can also choose his/her own task. It is possible to say that while the number of these platforms increases day by day, the type of duty defined for working life increases also. For crowdworking, which is defined as a new working environment beyond the classical employment system, studies on healthy identification and research of the environment are needed (Mrass & Peters, 2017). The task announced with crowdworking is selected by crowdworker. While the task announced for the whole group is voluntarily undertaken, each stage can be technically controlled in these new work platforms. These studies, which are carried out through the relationship between crowdsourcer and crowdworker, also bring advantages and disadvantages (Mrass, et.al. 2016).

Discussions on this new business model based on the platform principle draws attention in the post-COVID-19 working life that has been reshaped. Apart from the existing working environments, the restructuring and definition of this order, as well as the rapid arrangements for working from home and remotely, gained speed after COVID-19. Within the scope of the transformations experienced in all areas of social life and the subject of various research (Florida, et.al. .2021; Zahra, 2021; Serrano, 2020; Davies, 2021; Altier & Nicholls, 2020) after COVID-19, practices for working life should be evaluated under a separate title.