What If Workers Could Take Their Reputation Data With Them?

One of the recurring questions in the platform economy is a deceptively simple one: who owns the data that is created when someone works via a platform? A worker completes hundreds of jobs, receives good reviews, builds up skills and develops an online reputation. But what happens when that worker wants to move to another platform or when the platform decides to stop? In many cases, the worker has no access to this data and must start again from zero. This evidence of experience gained cannot therefore be used to secure new work in the future.

A new learning study by the Jobtech Alliance and GigCV explores what happens when we turn this around: what if workers can take their verified work history with them?

Data portability: from gig history to labour-market capital

Reputation is one of the most important trust mechanisms in platform work. Ratings, completed jobs, attendance, skills and client feedback help platforms reduce uncertainty. They also help workers get their next gig, but does it also helps to get the worker to their next job? The problem is that this information is usually locked inside the platform where it was generated.

GigCV, a research project by WageIndicator colleague Martijn Arets, offers a solution with a central technology which platforms can implement for free, if they promise they offer the service for free to their workers and collaborate in independent academic research. Till date, over 34,000 workers have downloaded their data via the GigCV system. Together with the Jobtech Alliance, we explored the possibilities for data portability for platform workers in Africa.

The research shows workers can use their platform-generated data as a digital CV, a reference, or evidence of experience elsewhere. In Rwanda, for example, Fixa has built verified employment records that workers can take with them beyond the platform and even beyond the construction sector. This ensures that the data can be used not only to secure the next gig, but also as part of a long-term portfolio.

But why would a platform help a worker leave?

At first sight, data portability seems to work against the interests of platforms. If workers can take their reputation elsewhere, why would a platform invest in making that possible? The experience with GigCV suggests that this assumption may be too simplistic. Workers who download their data tend to remain active on the platform. In fact, data obtained from one of the participating platforms shows that it is precisely those workers who are most valuable to the platform who download their data.

This provides an opportunity to view the debate on data portability – which is often seen primarily as an obligation arising from data protection legislation – as a strategic opportunity for platform companies. Platforms can also use portability as a recruitment tool: if workers know that the experience they build will remain useful beyond the platform, joining becomes a less risky decision. In other words: portability does not necessarily weaken a platform. It can strengthen its value proposition.

The African perspective

The research makes clear that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. For some platforms, there simply is not enough accumulated work history data yet. Others are still searching for product-market fit or lack the engineering capacity to integrate a portability solution.

Tunga’s experience is a good example. Technically, integrating GigCV was straightforward. But because developers already maintained their own CVs, the platform profile was not always the primary record of their professional history. Without that central role, portability creates less immediate value.

The initial findings of a major survey of data workers in Kenya who work via platforms, conducted in collaboration with the Data Labellers Association, revealed that there is a clear need amongst platform workers to take their data with them. More than three quarters of respondents said they would take their data to another platform if possible, while 87.2% expected the experience gained through platform work to be useful elsewhere.

The research encourages us to think more broadly about how platform work forms part of workers’ careers and how tools such as GigCV can help to improve platform workers’ position and income. The full report, containing all the findings, can be downloaded via this link.

Also, if you're interested in finding out how much income you'd need to live on a basic standard of living as a gig worker, see how the Living Tariff can be used in your context.