Uberization of translation

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-75
Author(s):  
Gökhan Fırat
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Business Networks ◽  
Power Dependence ◽  
Free Agency ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Critical Literature

Abstract Digital labour platforms, encompassing on-demand translation work via apps and websites, have grown exponentially in recent years and have significant consequences for translation workers. This study explores the critical literature on digital labour platforms from a labour studies perspective and submits the findings of a quantitative survey of 70 translation workers residing in Turkey and working on/for digital labour platforms. Our research suggests that the introduction of digital labour platforms into translation production and business networks has not yet provided a significant contribution to the working conditions of translation workers in Turkey. Instead, we argue that their working conditions have been rearranged and reorganized in accordance with the uberization of (translation) work. According to the survey findings, engaging in such work on/for digital labour platforms exposes translation workers to risks related to employment status, income level, work-life balance, social protections, free agency, bargaining power, dependence on the platform, allocation of risks and rewards, and data collection, protection and privacy.

scholarly journals Surgical leadership within rapidly changing working conditions in Germany

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schmitz-Rixen ◽  
Reinhart T. Grundmann
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Employee Performance ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Physician Assistants ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Surgical Department ◽  
Chief Physician

AbstractIntroductionAn overview of the requirements for the head of a surgical department in Germany should be given.Materials and methodsA retrospective literature research on surgical professional policy publications of the last 10 years in Germany was conducted.ResultsSurveys show that commercial influences on medical decisions in German hospitals have today become an everyday, predominantly negative, actuality. Nevertheless, in one survey, 82.9% of surgical chief physicians reported being very satisfied with their profession, compared with 61.5% of senior physicians and only 43.4% of hospital specialists. Here, the chief physician is challenged. Only 70% of those surveyed stated that they could rely on their direct superiors when difficulties arose at work, and only 34.1% regarded feedback on the quality of their work as sufficient. The high distress rate in surgery (58.2% for all respondents) has led to a lack in desirability and is reflected in a shortage of qualified applicants for resident positions. In various position papers, surgical residents (only 35% describe their working conditions as good) demand improved working conditions. Chief physicians are being asked to facilitate a suitable work-life balance with regular working hours and a corporate culture with participative management and collegial cooperation. Appreciation of employee performance must also be expressed. An essential factor contributing to dissatisfaction is that residents fill a large part of their daily working hours with non-physician tasks. In surveys, 70% of respondents stated that they spend up to ≥3 h a day on documentation and secretarial work.DiscussionThe chief physician is expected to relieve his medical staff by employing non-physician assistants to take care of non-physician tasks. Transparent and clearly structured training to achieve specialist status is essential. It has been shown that a balanced work-life balance can be achieved for surgeons. Family and career can be reconciled in appropriately organized departments by making use of part-time and shift models that exclude 24-h shifts and making working hours more flexible.

The Unbearable Precarity of Pursuing Freedom: A Critical Overview of the Spanish sí soy autónomo Movement

2021 ◽  
pp. 136078042110400
Author(s):  
Tiago Vieira
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Labour Legislation ◽  
The Government ◽  
Wage Earners ◽  
Critical Overview

Throughout 2020, the Spanish Government initiated the process of regulating all activities related to platform work with the purpose of ‘chasing the fraud of bogus self-employment’ (PSOE and Unidas Podemos, 2020). Somewhat surprisingly, this initiative was met by a substantial wave of protest from the workers who the government proclaimed to be attempting to protect. In this light, the present research explores the arguments of the Spanish sí soy autónomo (yes I am self-employed) movement in its struggle against the Spanish Government. Drawing from a critical discourse analysis of semi-structured interviews to couriers of Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Glovo, as well as to a representative of an association in favour of the preservation of the self-employed status (N = 20), the main finding is that the pursuit of self-employment status is primarily informed by workers’ attempt to escape the precarious working conditions offered to wage-earners in the Spanish labour market as a whole, rather than by an empirically grounded claim. This suggests that new labour legislation addressing the challenges posed by platform work must not overlook the broader context in which it is intended to unfold – otherwise, it may not only fail to improve the workers’ situation, but also drive them to demand what are, actually, further deregulated legal arrangements. As such, this article’s main contribution to the sociological knowledge consists of pointing out that platform work, specificities notwithstanding, cannot be seen as detached from the broader Work landscape.

A Generations' Perspective on Employer Branding in Tourism

2021 ◽  
pp. 152-174
Author(s):  
Daniel Binder ◽  
James William Miller
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Employer Branding ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Workplace Motivation ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
Communication Habits

The tourism industry is facing tremendous challenges from labor shortages and a resulting loss of competitiveness. Changing digital environments as well as young people's communication habits and ideas regarding work-life balance are raising human resources related questions, to which currently no answers exist. In light of this issue, this chapter focusses on employer branding as a way to motivate present employees and attract new ones. It includes a discussion of different theories of workplace motivation, followed by a look at payment and further education issues. The so-called Generations Y and Z are investigated in the context of the labor shortage, and the generation concept itself is critically reflected. Furthermore, labor force aspects and working conditions in tourism are examined, with specific evidence from Austria. Finally, the discussion outlines an employer branding strategy as a way to address this problem.

Flexible Despotism

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Alex J. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Power Relationship ◽  
Flexible Scheduling ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Managerial Power

This introductory chapter provides an overview of flexible despotism. New economic processes are taking hold in the spaces opened up by the steady decline of collective workplace regulation. No longer is working time understood as a standard, stable eight hours, five days a week. Instead, working time is flexible, on demand, and 24/7. Consequently, many workers are increasingly employed flexibly, while others may not even have an employment contract at all, and instead be classified as self-employed—and yet have their labor controlled by a platform. Even workers with standard, full-time, permanent contracts can experience high levels of insecurity as a result of flexible scheduling within this new temporal order. As a result, the benefits and drawbacks of flexible scheduling have been widely debated. These discussions, however, have tended to focus on issues of job quality, work–life balance, and well-being. This book goes further, by drawing attention to important but under-researched issues of managerial power and workplace control. This is necessary, as it is only when one understands paid work as a power relationship that one is able to see how precarious scheduling constitutes flexible despotism—a new regime of control within the workplace.

Delivering on the European Pillar of Social Rights: The New Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions in the European Union

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 604-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Bednarowicz
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms ◽  
Obligation To Inform

Abstract Chapter II of the European Pillar of Social Rights envisages fair working conditions that are further spelled out in two principles on secure and adaptable employment (Principle 5) and information about employment conditions and protection in dismissals (Principle 7). In order to deliver on this framework, in December 2017 the European Commission presented an ambitious and far-reaching proposal for a Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union that would repeal Directive 91/533/EC on an employer’s obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the contract or employment relationship. The proposal, after a series of uneasy negotiations in the Parliament and the Council, and with substantial modifications, was subsequently adopted in June 2019. Against this background, the main aim of this note is to analyse the new Directive (EU) 2019/1152. This piece focuses firstly on the Directive’s nuanced hybrid personal ambit of application. Secondly, it examines its material scope of application and sheds some light on the new set of rights and entitlements available to workers, including novel enforcement mechanisms. Finally, the note provides a critical assessment of the Directive with the aim of unveiling its potential to boost workers’ rights in the European Union, in particular those engaged in non-standard forms of employment, who are especially prone to experiencing precarious working conditions, such as on-demand and platform workers.

scholarly journals Conditions necessary to maintain work-life balance of employees - in the light of the research results

Management ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 326-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janina Stankiewicz ◽  
Hanna Bortnowska ◽  
Patrycja Łychmus
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
Remedial Actions

Summary The article presents the results of research concerning worklife balance of employees of enterprises located in lubuskie voivodeship. The working conditions provided by employers were analyzed. The authors of research checked whether they favor, according to the respondents, the homeostasis between work and private life. The results showed some deficits in this area. This led to reflection on the potential remedial actions which can be applied in the organization, such as a policy of „family friendly employment”.

scholarly journals Finding Ways to Attract Clients: A Content Analysis of Japanese Language Tutors’ Ads in an Online Tutor Marketplace

KIRYOKU ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-151
Author(s):  
Aditya Nur Patria
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Coverage Area ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Current Employment Status ◽  
Competitive Nature

The growing number of freelance marketplaces allows students to earn extra money as tutors. The hyper-competitive nature in the marketplaces forces students to compete with non-student tutors in order to get clients (Popiel, 2017). Non-student tutors may be better equipped with a lot of experiences. However, all freelance tutors need to post impressive ads to get their clients, particularly in a niche subject such as Japanese language. The present study explores the differences of information put in ads between student tutors and non-student tutors on a tutor marketplace, Superprof. Content analysis (Cohen et al, 2011) was used to identify categories of information in the ads. The results show that there were 11 categories of information including tutors’ name, origin, current employment status, education background, language proficiency certificate, course level, course type, rhetoric, experience in Japan, coverage area, and availability. The data were then analyzed statistically to find the categories of information with a significant difference. It shows that both groups have difference in putting information related to their current employment status (t = 3.88, p < 0.001, d = 1.05) and their education background (t = 2.78, p < 0.005, d = 0.75). The implication of the study is that student tutors tend to value their relationship with academic institutions and make it as a bargaining power to market their skills in the marketplace.

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