Abstract
The gig economy has been growing rapidly, creating job opportunities for many individuals worldwide, and in South Africa. In the context of this study, relatively little research has been conducted that looks at the experiences of the cloudworker, and whether cloudwork can be considered decent work or not. This study focuses specifically on Money4Jam, a particular type of cloudwork, where individuals complete online tasks for pay. Based on eight semi-structured in-depth interviews with cloudworkers working for Money4Jam in South Africa, the following was found: the cloudworkers stated that it was due to unemployment and the need for an income that they work for Money4Jam. Some of the opportunities presented to the cloudworkers included skill development, such as auditing when cloudworkers must visit supermarkets to do audits of the products in the store. Income - this is from the cloudworkers’ earnings when the tasks are completed – and time flexibility, for example, the cloudworker can choose when they would like to do the tasks. Some of the challenges experienced by cloudworkers included dangerous working conditions, for example, when cloudworkers must travel to unknown areas or at night through dark streets after completing a mystery shopper task. The next is no employment benefits, such as no paid leave, no sick leave, or no pension fund, and lack of trade unions, for example, there are no trade unions to represent the cloudworkers when they have concerns. In conclusion, this study contributes to the debates of cloudwork by showing that digital platform gig work reinforces exploitative working conditions of cloudwork in relation to the discussion of decent work.