HAPPINESS are increasingly using algorithms to manage their remote workforces. Called “algorithmic management,” this approach has been most widely adopted in gig economy companies. For example, ride-hailing company Uber substantially increases its efficiency by managing some 3 million workers with an app that instructs drivers which passengers to pick up and which route to take.
Being managed in this way offers some benefit to self-employed workers as well: For example, Uber drivers are free to decide when and for how long they would like to work and which area they would like to serve. But our research — a multi-method study of Uber drivers in New York and London — reveals that algorithmic management is also frustrating to workers, and their resentment can lead them to harm their companies.
We collected data by interviewing 34 Uber drivers, observing drivers in action, analyzing more than 1,000 online forum posts and reviewing media coverage of Uber in several waves between December 2015 and
CSeptember 2018. We found that Uber drivers have three areas of consistent complaints related to their working “for” algorithms:
— CONSTANT SURVEILLANCE: When drivers are logged into the Uber app, it tracks their GPS location, speed and acceptance rate of customer requests. If they diverge from the app’s instructions, they can be penalized or even banned from the platform. Drivers regard performance evaluations in the form of customer ratings particularly frustrating.
— LITTLE TRANSPARENCY: Uber drivers find the underlying logic of the complex algorithms vexing, believing it to be an unfair
system that subtly manipulates them. (Indeed, Uber has previously admitted to drawing on insights from behavioral science to nudge drivers to work longer hours.)
— DEHUMANIZATION: Uber drivers feel lonely, isolated and dehumanized. They don’t have colleagues to socialize with or a team or community to be part of. They lack the opportunity to build a personal relationship with a supervisor.
Drivers feel disempowered enough that they are finding creative ways to make their displeasure known. For instance, drivers are gaming the system by artificially causing surge pricing. They are also getting political and organizing.
To address the challenges of algorithmic management in an ethical way we suggest the following strategies:
— SHARE INFORMATION: It may not be possible to share the algorithm itself with workers, but company leadership can and should share with them the data and goals that informed it.
— INVITE FEEDBACK: Get workers actively involved in discussions about the design of algorithm-driven systems.
— BUILD IN HUMAN CONTACT: Develop formal, supportive communities where workers feel like members. Add a human element to the way workers are managed.
— BUILD TRUST: Implement benefits that improve workers’ welfare, such as financial support in case of illness, or better sick pay and maternity leave.
Regulators across the globe are already seeking to implement some of these ideas. In 2017, it was ruled that Uber will need to pay U.k.-based drivers a minimum wage and provide sick and holiday pay. As more companies manage their labor force algorithmically, it becomes that much more incumbent upon them to take some of these steps on their own.
