ON EXERCISING
LABOR RIGHTS
IN THE PLATFORM
ECONOMY
The research “On Exercising Labor Rights in the Platform Economy” was conducted by Research.ua as part of the program “Trade Unions Fighting Inequality and Reconstructing Peace and Democracy in Ukraine,” implemented by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) in partnership with Labor Initiatives NGO, with financial support from Norway.
During the research, 462 respondents participated in a survey, and 12 in-depth interviews were carried out with representatives from four platform-economy profession categories: couriers (of different types), delivery couriers (for groceries or prepared food), taxi drivers, and freelancers.
Most respondents (67%) indicate that they have worked under different legal frameworks over the past 3 months. 31% indicate that they have experience of informal employment during this period. 79% taxi drivers', and only 46% of freelancers' work is somehow formalized. Most freelancers (52%) indicate that they work informally, compared to 19-27% among other categories.
Most respondents agree that formal employment provides more guarantees of labor rights (57%). There are significantly more such respondents among formally employed workers than among informal workers (63% vs. 44%). Also, 38% of those who are officially employed believe that their income increases thanks to fair pay, while only 17% of informal workers agree with this. Overall, formal employment is important and necessary for 44% of respondents, but among those who are informally employed, this share is only 29%.
WORK SCHEDULE
The vast majority work several times a week or every day (86%). Couriers for grocery and ready-made food delivery services from supermarkets have significantly more daily work than the general population (52% vs. 40%) and work less often once a week or less (2%). On the contrary, among freelancers significantly fewer work daily (25%), and more (32%) work once a week or less.
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war impact
One in four respondents reported facing work restrictions due to curfews (25%), a drop in orders as people left (25%), emotional stress from working during air raid alerts (25%), movement restrictions from checkpoints, and fear of mobilization (23%). About one in five experience emotional stress from working more or changing job types (19%) or from competing with workers from other regions (18%). Some respondents mentioned earning more (19%) or not feeling the war's impact (12%), but these are in the minority. Fewer formally employed individuals report income decreases from fewer orders compared to those employed informally (24% vs. 31%).
Most respondents earn between 16,000 and 25,000 UAH (37%). Among those with formal employment, significantly fewer earn 10,000 UAH or less compared to informal workers (12% vs. 37%). Conversely, a larger proportion of formal workers have higher incomes than informal workers, with 43% earning between 16,000 and 25,000 UAH (compared to 27%), and 10% earning between 31,000 and 35,000 UAH (versus 3%).
60% of respondents have not received any fines or penalties in the past three months. Among those who have, the primary reasons are tardiness—13% due to worker fault across all platform workers and 11% for other reasons—and order rejection by the worker, which accounts for 11%. Additionally, 8% of respondents experienced fines due to customer complaints within the same period. No particular platform tends to impose more fines than others; the percentage of fines correlates roughly with each platform's usage share.
Most respondents receive some type of bonus or incentive for timely (30%) and quick (28%) performance, positive customer reviews (27%), completing many orders (19%), order complexity (15%), working over 8 hours daily (15%), or working without days off (6%). Meanwhile, 25% of respondents reported not receiving any bonuses or incentives.
WHAT AFFECTS EARNINGS
50% of respondents have not encountered any payment issues (the highest share is among freelancers – 61%). The most common issues mentioned are delays in withdrawals (19%), money transfer fees (14%), non-payment for canceled orders, and uncompensated downtime (11% each). Earnings are mainly influenced by the time of day (50%), location (42%), rating with the platform (31%), and season (27%). Freelancers are more likely than others to point to the influence of rating (43%) and less likely to point to time of day (29%), location (17%), and season (9%).
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41% of respondents indicated that they do not work overtime. 17% reported that their overtime or weekend work is paid at an increased or double rate. 18% indicated that such work is paid at the standard rate. 10% stated that their employer encourages overtime work but does not pay for additional hours.
Respondents with legally formalized work are much less likely to have no vacation time compared to informal workers, with only 21% versus 36%. In addition, formally employed workers are significantly less likely to work despite illness (21% vs. 29%) and are more likely to take sick leave or file an insurance claim (25% vs. 13%).
A quarter of respondents are able to plan their vacation independently and fully implement their plans (24%). For 18% of respondents, work always makes significant changes to their vacation plans. 18% relax when they have no clients or have a break from work. One in five respondents find their vacation time sufficient (21%). 17% believe that they take vacation very rarely.
40% of respondents said that the platform encourages rest in one way or another. 21% said that the platform encourages them to work more. 29% said that the platform does nothing to encourage rest or, conversely, to work more.
WHO PAYS FOR LEAVE? %
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WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU ARE SICK? %
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Insurance provided by the platform %
43% of respondents said they have some form of insurance. The highest share is among taxi drivers (57%) and supermarket delivery drivers (56%), and the lowest share is among freelancers (15%). Taxi drivers are more likely than other categories of platform economy workers to have collision insurance (27% vs. 12% total) and accident insurance (24% vs. 16% total).
Most respondents indicate that they understand the terms and conditions of their platform's insurance (from 52% in the case of collision insurance to 68% in the case of sick leave).
Only 20% of respondents reported knowing about organizations that assist individuals in the platform economy. While most did not specify particular organizations, they referenced support services provided by their platforms and social media chats.
When selecting answers, 35% of respondents said they understand why an organization supporting people in the platform economy is necessary. Additionally, 27% believe such an organization is needed, 23% would turn to it if necessary, and 21% said they might need to seek help from such an organization.
When asked for more details, the vast majority of respondents believe the organization should offer training and experience exchange (84%), support platforms and clients (81%), defend workers' interests in disputes with platforms or clients (81%), and advocate for workers' interests at the legislative level (81%).
