WorkerTech newsletter: April 2023

How can we make sure gig work is good work? We helped a group of founders, workers, investors and researchers answer this question last week at our workshop with Fairwork. You can learn more about it in this newsletter, and read Fairwork’s new report on digital labour platforms in the UK.

As always, if you have a WorkerTech idea or just want to know more about what we’re doing, please get in touch. We’ll also be running some events later on this year to help you turn ideas into reality so watch this space!

Emma
Ventures Manager
Resolution Ventures

Can gig work be good work?

Last week we hosted a workshop with the team at Fairwork on building fair digital labour platforms. Fairwork is a research project that exists to highlight the best and worst practice of how technology is being used at work, with a focus on digital labour platforms. They have developed five principles of fair work which they use each year to rate labour platforms across the globe.

Our workshop covered the five principles in detail, supporting attendees to think about how they could integrate each of the principles in their work, and discussing the challenges of implementation in the real world of work.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, here is a summary of the principles:

💸Fair pay – platform workers should earn at least the local living wage after costs, be paid on time and for all work completed.

🌡️ Fair conditions – platforms should proactively protect workers from the risks associated with their work, and take measures to promote the health and safety of workers.

📝 Fair contracts – platform workers should have clear and transparent terms and conditions, with no conditions that prevent workers from seeking redress for grievances.

🏢 Fair management – platforms should document how decisions are made that affect workers, with clarity on how management processes are equitable.

✊ Fair representation – platforms should provide a process whereby worker voice can be expressed, and allow workers to organise.

As investors, we do back labour platforms that incorporate these principles, and support founders to provide fair, high quality platform work. We’re proud to be have TaskHer and Equal Care Coop as examples of this in our portfolio.

If you want to know more about Fairwork and their principles, or you’re building a fair digital labour platform yourself, please do get in touch.

Latest insights from the Resolution Foundation

Low Pay Britain 2023 – raising the minimum wage has had transformative effects on low-paid work, but there is still much to do to make all jobs good jobs by considering other elements of work like predictable hours, flexibility and progression opportunities.

Labour Market Outlook – workers paid at the wage floor appear more likely to receive training than other workers – a result consistent with employers investing in training to increase workers’ productivity in the face of minimum wage rises.

Enforce for good – a concluding report from four years work on labour market enforcement finding that a sea change is needed to address our fragmented enforcement system which disproportionately affects low-paid and vulnerable workers. You can watch the conference accompanying this report on our website.

WorkerTech stories

• Learning and Work Institute and Ufi VocTech Trust launched a green paper this week. Skills for an Economy in Transition explores how we can recreate the UK skills system, underpinned by tech, to delivery an economy where everyone has access to high quality training and work.
• Our partners, Bethnal Green Ventures, launched a new research study on angel investment and its role in tech for good. Their aim is to build a resource bank to provide resources and insight for founders into how to access vital angel investment. If you’re an angel investor yourself, you can respond to the survey.
• In June last year we wrote about bringing lived experience into our fund, something which the Growth Impact Fund has thought really carefully about throughout their design and launch. How to build an inclusive impact fund explores their approach to co-design and the impact it has had on the accessibility of their funding.

Get involved

Apply for direct investment from Resolution Ventures. We accept applications from WorkerTech ventures on a rolling basis. Or you can book a slot in our office hours for an initial conversation.

Bethnal Green Ventures are running a tech for good meetup on 9th May in London with a focus on lived experience. Register if you’re interested to learn more about tech for good and meet other people in the community.

New tech accelerator, Baltic Ventures, are hosting a launch event in Liverpool on 10th May. Baltic Ventures exists to back high potential founding teams in the north west region and to redistribute venture capital funding across the country.

Allia is hosting a social innovation hackathon on 12th May in Cambridge to bring together individuals with diverse skillsets to develop new ideas. The event is for anyone interested in starting a social business.

Promising Trouble is launching a community of practice for community tech in Bristol on 19th May. The event is open to anyone who is interested in exploring how technology can benefit their community.