Page 456 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS320 Monica D. C. et al.
relationships. It is intended to support the production of national statistics on
work relationships and facilitate international comparability. A suite of
standards was established under the Resolution that included a conceptual
framework; a key classification on status in employment (revised from 1993
and referred to as ICSE-18) and on status at work; operational concepts,
definitions and guidelines; as well as a set of cross-cutting variables and
categories.
The Resolution contains a set of priority topics that will require further
conceptual and methodological development and also areas of work
identified in the future work agenda. This paper focuses on three such topics,
namely, multi-party work relationships (MPWR), intermediated platform work
(IPW, sometimes referred to as work in the Internet-based “gig economy”) and
entrepreneurs.
The three selected topics represent areas of policy interest in the context
of promoting decent work. MPWR and IPW share some common features.
Both can be considered distinct types of third-party relationships that offer
the possibility of employment to a variety of workers across the globe in
different industries and occupations. Many workers that choose IPW or
temporary agency work (a subcategory of MPWR) may benefit from the
flexibility of working time arrangements given other demands in their lives
(e.g. school studies or family care).
At the same time, MPWR and IPW are associated with the concept of “non-
1
standard employment” (NSE). According to a 2016 ILO report , NSE comprises
employment arrangements that deviate from the “standard employment
relationship”, understood as work that is full time, indefinite, as well as part of
a subordinate relationship between an employee and an employer. The 2016
report presents information suggesting that subcategories of multi-party
employment relationships are often characterized by various types of
insecurities and risks, including extended working hours, occupational safety
and health risks, training insecurity, and representation insecurity as well as
labour market transitions and employment insecurity, penalties in earnings,
2
and inadequate social security coverage . The 2018 ILO report on “Digital
3
labour platforms and the future of work” similarly highlights the insecurities
experienced by microtask platform workers, noting that such workers
experience low earnings, flexible work schedules with atypical hours, skill
mismatch and lack of career advancement, and lack social protection benefits.
Some of these workers express frustration over one-sided rating systems, an

1 ILO, 2016. Non-standard employment around the world: Understanding challenges,
shaping prospects, Geneva, p. xxi.
2 Ibid. See pp. 185-228; figure 5.11 p. 224.
3 ILO, 2018. Digital labour platforms and the future of work: Towards decent work in the
online world, Geneva
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