Kenya’s listing of digital workers as self-employed, is denying them employee benefits and exposing them to mistreatment, according to a new report.
Fairwork Kenya Report titled: The Promise and Peril of Platform Work in the Kenyan Platform Economy, says that due to lack of proper legislation the workers, such as those in ride hailing firms have been exposed to exploitation.
The report says that due to the high costs which workers are forced to absorb, the majority of platform workers work an average of 12 hours a day, with some working between 18 and 24 hours
“However, even as digital platforms continue to grow there is still no regulatory framework provided by the Kenyan labour law to formally identify and recognise digitally enabled jobs and promote social protection and welfare of these workers, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation,” says the report.
Kenya’s platform economy is valued at $109 million (Sh16.7 billion) and employed over 35,000 workers in 2019 which accounted for 0.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
This is anticipated to grow at a rate of 33 percent annually, employing over 90,000 workers by the end of the year 2023.
Even with such developments, the report notes that Kenya still faces a lot of challenges related to income and gender inequality and unemployment.
The overall digital economy is currently the fastest growing sector in Kenya, driven by the country’s well-educated workforce.
Kenya has many platforms operating in different sectors, with over 23 platforms in the ride-hailing sector alone.
This year the report evaluated seven ride-hailing platforms and five delivery platforms.
The findings showed that a majority of the industry players are doing badly in ensuring the minimum standards of fair work
The best performing, Glovo, Little Ride and Yego only managed to score three out of ten in employment best practices.
Little delivery scored two out of ten, and bolt scored one out of ten. The remaining players scores were not indicated.
Only five of the 12 platform services (Bolt, Glovo, Little Ride, Little Delivery and Yego) provided evidence that their terms and conditions are clear and transparent.
“This year, out of the 12 platforms we evaluated, “only one (Glovo) was able to sufficiently evidence that all platform workers” earn at least the local minimum wage of Sh135.90 per hour or KES 15,201 per month after worker related costs,” read the report in part.
Fairwork says that while policymakers have identified work in the digital economy as an engine of development and income opportunities, there is still more to be done to make the platform economy more sustainable.
It says focus needs to shift to the benefits of digital labour platforms at both a community and macro level.
“Even though the number of platform workers is rising steadily, the bulk of the profits generated go back as capital flight to the home countries of these international platforms," says the report.
It notes that the Kenyan platform worker operates in a highly competitive environment where their service is an undifferentiated product, and thus lacks minimum protections, subject to a race to the bottom in prices and working conditions.