EU Regulatory Framework And The Platform Worker Rights Directive

Glen Hodgson is the founder and CEO of the Freelance Movement, an association of platforms and organisations in the future of work. At Freelance Unlocked 2024 he explains the EU Platform Work Directive and what his association wants Germany to do with it. His account reflects the state of the directive in May 2024, and the rules may have changed since.

**What the talk covers**

- Why the directive exists: ride-hailing and food delivery workers who, in the Commission's view, are misclassified as independent contractors. He quotes the Commission as saying more than 28 million people work through platforms in Europe, rising to 43 million by 2025. He criticises media pictures of gig work as low-paid and low-skilled.
- Status in May 2024, as he describes it: a compromise was reached in March, formal adoption was expected in September 2024, and member states would then have two years. In his view the compromise left the main points to national law, so Germany has room to shape it.
- His main concern: the definition of a "digital labour platform" is vague enough that developers, photographers and musicians who find clients online could be treated as employees. He wants a criteria-based test, say three out of seven, and a right for freelancers to opt out.
- Algorithmic management: he wants the directive to follow the AI Act, with human oversight only where risk is high, not for every automated decision.
- Advice for freelancers: build an online presence, keep learning, use several platforms. Companies need a freelancer strategy, he says, and leaders should act more as coaches.

**From the Q&A**

Who counts as an employee will be decided in Germany. He wants freelancers heard next to unions and industry. On AI, he says studies point to three or four new jobs for every one lost.

**Who it's for**

Freelancers who want one association's view of the regulation debate in May 2024.