Assignment on Digital Work Platform

MIS207, Section 7

Submitted To:
Dr. Md. Mahbubul Alam (Mmb)
Department of Management
North South University

Submitted By
Aquib Biswas
ID: 1821317030
Assignment on Digital Work Platform
MIS 207 (Section 7 and Section 9)
Submission Deadline: During Final Exam
Type of Submission: Hardcopy & Email

Student Name: Aquib Biswas

ID: 1821317030
Section: 07

Topics to be covered:

1. What is digital work platform?

2. Provide example of local, international digital work platforms (at least
10) with their place of operation.
3. What aspects of digital work platforms help to grow local economy (e.g.
income, livelihoods, human resources, employment)? (300 words)
4. What are current (local and international) challenges (e.g. infrastructure,
regulation, security, status) exist towards the growth of digital work
platforms, particularly in Bangladeshi context. (300 words)
5. What are the state of ‘decent work principles’ (Pay, condition, contracts,
management, & governance) followed by the local digital work platform
providers in Bangladesh (250 words).
6. Suggest ‘ways and means’ to develop/practice ‘decent work principles’
in digital work platforms.
 Answer to the Question Number 1

What is digital work platform?

Digital work platforms can be seen as mediums which connect the workers to the employers
through interconnected networks (internet) and also create value for each related individual.
This type of work usually refers to freelancing, working virtually and/or anonymously through
these platforms. Specifically, these platforms can digitally connect the employers to the
interested workers without ever needing to meet personally and also enables the worker to work
from the comfort of his own home. This is the flexibility and convenience that a digital work
platform offers.

On demand work such as freelancing has been rising since the year 2008 to 2010, It follows
the development of Internet access and the spread of mobile devices , which allow almost
everyone to be in touch with these kinds of platforms, including pre-teens and teenagers.

Answer to the Question Number 2

Provide example of local, international digital work platforms (at least 10)
with their place of operation.

Digital Work Platforms cover a large field of areas such as: rental, travel, food delivery,
transportation, home services, education etc. 10 such Digital Work Platforms are listed below
with their area of operation. Of them, 5 are local. 5 are international.

They are listed below:

Local Digital Work Platforms:

Name of Platform Place of Operation

Sheba.xyz Service. Currently operating in Dhaka and Chittagong

Pathao Transportation. Pathao provides ride sharing to 3 major cities in Bangladesh,

Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet.
Hellotask Home Service. They offer experienced maids all over Dhaka for hire.

HungryNaki Food Delivery. HungryNaki operates in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Savar, Chittagong,

Sylhet and Khulna.
DocDako Health. Currently operating in Uttara Model Town with an upcoming extension to
whole Bangladesh.

International Digital Work Platforms:

Name of Platform Place of Operation

Uber Transportation. Uber currently operates in 80 countries worldwide as of

2019.
Upwork Freelancing. Operates in 180 countries worldwide with a net worth of 2
billion.
Skillshare Education. Teachers from 100+ countries share their knowledge on
skillshare, and students all over the world can access them.
Airbnb Rentals. Airbnb's accommodation marketplace provides access to 6+
million places to stay in 100,000+ cities and 191 countries.
Maidsapp Home Service. Instant maid service, currently operating in the US and
Canada
 Answer to the Question Number 3

What aspects of digital work platforms help to grow local economy (e.g.
income, livelihoods, human resources, employment)?

Digital work platforms help grow the local economy by helping to improve many aspects.
These are some of the aspects which help grow the local economy:

New Job Creation: Digital workplace platforms create new job opportunities for a large
number of digital workers or freelancers. Local platforms like pathao, HungryNaki provides
delivery opportunities for local individuals who can navigate well through out the cities. This
creates new job opportunities for them.

Improved way of Life: These digital platforms create jobs for the local individuals and thus
improves their ways of life. These individuals can use these platforms as either their main
source or passive source of income. From delivery jobs of HungryNaki, pathao to medical
attention DocDako and maid service Hello Task. Each individual connected to these platforms
can improve their ways of life by earning more.

Workplace Transformation: Since these digital work platforms exist, there is flexibility of
work environment. Anyone can work according to their working environment of choice or their
specialty. Digital platform field jobs such as sheba.xyz, delivery jobs such as pathao or even
freelancing on fiverr or Upwork

More Diverse work Environment: Employers who hire from digital work platforms can
expect more diverse work from these platforms. Because on the internet, there is no way of
seeing who will work for you. And thus, unknowingly there will be a diverse workforce for
hire. Which contributes to a healthier society with no racism, more prosperity and no gender
discrimination.
 Answer to the Question Number 4

What are current (local and international) challenges (e.g. infrastructure,

regulation, security, status) exist towards the growth of digital work
platforms? particularly in Bangladeshi context?

Bangladesh is growing rapidly in terms digital work platforms. According to a recent study,
the mobile internet users in Bangladesh are higher than PC users. And this ratio is the highest
in the world. This illustrates a blessing and also a problem for digital workers. It illustrates that
there are lots of possibilities for field jobs like sheba.xyz, pathao, HungryNaki etc. where the
worker needs to go outside for jobs. On the other hand, it also means that there is less
opportunity for freelancing work for Upwork or Fiverr. Additionally, some more challenges
are explained briefly below.

Implementation: Needless to say, Digital work platforms need digital infrastructure to thrive.
To implement these high-tech infrastructure, security measures and server computers is a costly
and technologically challenging process. The implementation cost and technical expertise acts
as a barrier for setting up and also maintaining a digital work platform.

Security Concerns and Myths: There have been reports of security issues for many lesser
known digital work platforms. These concerns such as, the transactions are not safe there,
employers may be doing illegal work etc. raise doubt on many minds although all employees
and employers are thoroughly background checked by the bigger digital work platforms. Many
potential digital workers may also have the impression that digital work platforms are not a
secure way of earning. They might also think that the paycheck might not be on time, or there
will not be a paycheck at all.

Lack of Information regarding DWP: A lot of potential digital workers are still unaware of
the potential these work platforms have. In this age of information and internet, it is trustworthy
and beneficial to work for a digital work platform to earn an active or passive source of income.
Unfortunately, though, potential workers don’t know these platforms exist, our local
mechanical shops can be a worker of sheba.xyz if they knew about it in the first place.

Lack of skilled Workforce: Unaware workforce aside, the people who DO know about the
massive potential these platforms have may be unskilled or unfit for work in this sector. This
can lead to people’s perception towards these digital work platforms to be negative. And this
is viewed as a massive challenge. Thorough background check is needed.

Answer to the Question Number 5

What is the state of ‘decent work principles’ (Pay, condition, contracts,

management, & governance) followed by the local digital work platform
providers in Bangladesh?

Local digital work platforms like HungryNaki, Sheba.xyz, Hellotask, Pathao all these offer
on demanded services in different areas of Bangladesh. These platforms offer decent work
principles for their valuable workers. Additionally, according to the International Labor
Organization (ILO), decent work involves opportunities of productive and fair income work
security in workplace, social protection, equal opportunities for all etc.

The digital work platforms in Bangladesh build up such policies where anyone with the ability
to work can become a digital worker. In the last decade, increasing amount of people are using
digital work platforms for their livelihood. Food delivery services, home cleaning services,
transport services, freelancing are nowadays the leading sectors of digital work in our country.
The payment systems are mainly set by the employers and the service providers on the basis
of some standards. The transaction is done only when the payment is accepted by both parties.
Securities are ensured by the platform in most cases, if there is any accidental issue or anything
then the platforms take the responsibility of that case and try to set a better example in the
future. The managerial issues that directly affect these transactions are mostly human resource
related errors.

Digital work platform is mainly a platform for workers or employees to work on different fields
for their employers or respective platforms. Hiring of these employees/ workers, taking their
interviews, training them, teaching them rules and regulations are done by platform managers.
Recently the ride sharing, parcel and food delivery service in Bangladesh called Pathao cut
more than half of its workforce in 48 hours as it struggled to raise funds for gaining popularity
for its services, 250+ employees were fired. The finance department stated that this mass
termination was due to investors backing out from upcoming investments. This gives a view
of financial managerial roles of digital work platforms in Bangladesh like Pathao. Besides
private organizations, nowadays government is investing more and more money than before in
developing a good digital work platform for everyone.

Answer to the Question Number 6

Suggest “ways and means” to develop/practice “decent work principles” in

digital work platforms.

There are many ways and means to develop decent work principles for the digital work
platforms. As these platforms grow larger, question arises to whether these platforms concur
to the standard decent work principles they should offer in the first place.

However, some decent work principles are listed and briefly explained below.

Gender Equality: A gender inequality free work environment and no discrimination is a

standard work principle these digital work platforms should offer. Gender should not be taken
into account rather than the talent and ability to work should.

Ethics: Business ethics should be the utmost sought after work principle pf any kind of
company. Ethics is such an important factor in running a successful and long running business
that it just can not be ignored. If a digital work platform envisions to go farther, ethics should
be their top priority.

Proper Business Rules: There should be proper business rules for the institution. Everything
should be planned out in advance and also “Plan B” should be ready to deploy in case anything
unplanned happens.
Comfortable Work Environment: No workplace should feel unsafe, unbearable or hostile
for the employees. This goes for the digital work platforms as well, although they don’t
particularly work in an office, the places the platforms choose should be chosen with caution.