Postcapitalist precarious work and those in the ‘drivers’ seat: Exploring the motivations and lived experiences of Uber drivers in Canada

Abstract

In this inductive, qualitative study, we observe how Uber, a company often hailed as being the poster-child of the sharing economy facilitated through a digital platform may also at times represent and reinforce postcapitalist hyper-exploitation. Drawing on the motivations and lived experiences of 31 Uber drivers in Toronto, Canada, we provide insights into three groups of Uber drivers: (1) those that are driving part-time to earn extra money in conjunction with studying or doing other jobs, (2) those that are unemployed and for whom driving for Uber is the only source of income, and (3) professional drivers, who are trying to keep pace with the durable digital landscape and competitive marketplace. We emphasize the ways in which each driver group simultaneously acknowledges and rejects their own precarious employment by distancing techniques such as minimizing the risks and accentuating the advantages of the driver role. We relate these findings to a broader discussion about how driving for Uber fuels the traditional capitalist narrative that working hard and having a dream will lead to advancement, security and success. We conclude by discussing other alternative economies within the sharing economy.

All of work? All of life? Reconceptualising work‐life balance for the 21st century

“…These findings point to the “paradox of self‐employment”; although it may bestow a greater sense of control, the need to be “always available” for valuable clients may inhibit work‐life balance (Hilbrecht & Lero, ). Early work on gig economy workers also suggests that their experiences differ depending on the reasons for working in this way (Peticca‐Harris, Di Gama, & Ravishankar, ). Given the levels of self‐employment in some countries and the growth of the gig economy, this merits greater attention from researchers, practitioners, and public policy makers (Deloitte, ; Vorhauser‐Smith & Cariss, ).…”

Mapping themes in the study of new work practices

“…These forces include legal, economic, political, cultural and institutional dimensions, and even societal aspirations for change (see for instance Bornstein, 2007). The latest manifestations of new work practices revolve around the rise (or perhaps more accurately the explosion in numbers) of new modalities of employment, including zero-hour contracts and other forms of unsecure employment under the auspices of platform capitalism (Scholz, 2017;Peticca-Harris et al, 2018); the growing popularity of online labour platform workforce (see Bergvall-Kåreborn and Howcroft, 2014); the development of crowd-based and collaborative forms of entrepreneurship (Sundararajan, 2017); and the emergence of new spatial work arrangements (e.g. coworking spaces, makerspaces, hackerspaces, fablabs, etc.).…”

“…Qualitative research on the new world of work probably outnumbers its quantitative counterpart. Various methods have been mobilized, including ethnographic research to explore coworking (see Butcher, 2018;Blagoev et al, 2019), freelancing (Osnowitz, 2010) or 'third workspaces' (Kingma, 2016); interviews with Uber drivers (Peticca-Harris et al, 2018), platform workers (Lehdonvirta, 2018), teleworkers (Baruch, 2000); or blog-based virtual ethnography (Boell et al, 2016). Still others have drawn from a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods (see for instance Feldman and Bolino, 2000 on career motivations in self-employment).…”

“…A second aspect of these changes concerns the daily operations of professional activities: various technological innovations have put organizational employees (and independent workers alike) in a situation where they can be reached instantly, at any time and virtually no cost (Mazmanian et al, 2013). This culture of instantaneity and immediacy can lead individuals to experience a constant form of stress related to the imperative of always being 'on' (Barley et al, 2011;Peticca-Harris et al, 2018). Contract and gig workers hold significant schedule flexibility Lehdonvirta, 2018), even though in practice, many are not in the position to use this flexibility to their advantage (Peticca-Harris et al, 2018).…”

“…This culture of instantaneity and immediacy can lead individuals to experience a constant form of stress related to the imperative of always being 'on' (Barley et al, 2011;Peticca-Harris et al, 2018). Contract and gig workers hold significant schedule flexibility Lehdonvirta, 2018), even though in practice, many are not in the position to use this flexibility to their advantage (Peticca-Harris et al, 2018).…”