Most media and policy attention to gig economy platforms has focused on companies like Uber and Deliveroo, while companies that are largely represented by women, such as cleaning and care platforms, have had little air time. Although it may be reminiscent of the gig economy, platform jobs are more than men on wheels.
This article focuses on the rise of childcare platforms, the impact of these platforms, and what to do about it.
The rise of parenting platforms
High-quality child care has a range of benefits for individuals, families and society as a whole, but is out of reach for many. Parents often have to pay hundreds of pounds a month for care. The way care is organized through an under-regulated private provider market has led to a system in which low-quality care provided by a low-wage and poorly-conditioned workforce is the norm. Against this backdrop, the past decade has seen the emergence and growth of corporate nurseries around the world. In addition to expanding geographic reach and acquiring childcare centers, several chains are expanding their product portfolios into digital services and offering home childcare platforms, aiming to disrupt the childcare market through connection and mediation between parents and caregivers.
The impact of childcare platforms
Childcare platforms in their current form have the potential to accelerate the trend of childcare delivery over the past decade by exacerbating poor working conditions and further reducing the quality of childcare.
The erosion of worker protections through these platforms, workers are often defined as ‘Independent contractors, well documented. Likewise, caregivers on the platform are often not considered employees and are often paid very low rates. This is a problem in itself, but it also affects the quality of care, as wages and working conditions are major predictors of childcare quality.
Platforms may have a further negative impact on the quality of care because they provide ‘on demand” or ‘Emergency “back-up care” is provided by a group of workers for a short period of time, despite numerous studies showing the importance of continuity of care. Concerns have also been raised about the lack of effective protections.
What should be done?
In our opinion, the problem is not with the platforms themselves, but with how they are currently configured. Childcare is too important to both families and society to allow low-quality private provision. If childcare platforms operate under a different ownership model, they can play a useful role in the future of childcare. Around the world, collaborative platforms are starting to emerge, with the potential to expand into childcare.
To curb the current negative impact of childcare platforms, we recommend the following:
- Supply-side funding and care regulation. Investment in child care should be directed towards subsidizing supply rather than demand.To receive public funding under this supply-led subsidy system, suppliers must demonstrate that they meet ‘Childcare Charter”. The charter will set out the minimum specifications that providers must meet, including service quality, operating and governance models, workforce compensation and conditions, and union recognition.
- Unionization and Collective Bargaining. Recognizing that there will always be a diverse and dispersed workforce, we also recommend departmental negotiations for employees in the child care sector.To ensure that employment quality provisions in employment laws and parenting charters extend to workers on parenting platforms, a new ‘The definition of worker should cover all existing employees and workers, including agency workers, independent contractors, and zero-hour contract workers.
Direct funding for providers to provide childcare, expanding the regulatory framework, and increasing the collective power and empowerment of the workforce will curb some of the worst impacts of private childcare delivery, including private childcare platforms, and create an environment in which the most Serious criminals are able to fight to survive.
In order to simultaneously develop other forms of childcare, including platforms operating under the cooperative principle, a number of steps can be taken to support these providers: (1) introduce a worker buyout option at the point of sale; (2) provide an alternative to provider ownership provide capital in the form of patients; (3) create an umbrella organization to support innovative child care models.
Image: iStock
