Companies such as Deliveroo could be forced to give workers more rights in the wake of the government review into modern employment practices.
The independent review by Royal Society of Arts chief executive Matthew Taylor, which set out to look into the new challenges thrown up by the gig economy, has today recommended greater worker protection.
A preview of the report shows Taylor will outline seven principles to tackle issues such as “unfair one-sided flexibility” and false self-employed status.
Taylor said he welcomed “opportunities for genuine two-way flexibility” represented by companies that rely on the gig economy such as Deliveroo and Uber.
But he recommended additional protections for these workers - whom he described as “dependent contractors” - and “stronger incentives for firms to treat them fairly”.
Taylor stressed the need to distinguish these contractors from “legitimately self-employed” workers, which has been a long-running point of contention for companies such as Deliveroo.
The report calls for “greater clarity in the law” but also better corporate governance, embodied by “good management and strong employment relations within the organisation”.
Taylor said: “Bad work - insecure, exploitative, controlling - is bad for health and wellbeing, something that generates cost for vulnerable individuals but also for wider society.
“As many business leaders recognise, low quality work and weak management are implicated in our productivity challenge. Improving the quality of work should be an important part of our productivity strategy.
“If we want citizens who are engaged, responsible, active, who - to coin a phrase - ‘take back control’ - we should encourage those same virtues in the workplace. Our idea of what it is to be a respected citizen should not stop at the office or factory door.”
Unite has welcomed the principles of the report, but stressed they must be enshrined in enforced legal changes. “Without fully resourced enforcement, then all we have from Mr Taylor and the government is a dog that is all bark and no bite,” said general secretary Len McCluskey.
In May, Deliveroo appeared in the courts to defend its decision to treat workers as independent contractors, which means they have no rights to paid holiday or sick leave.
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