Who’s the Boss? How cooperatives fit into algorithmic management discussion

The webinar was organised in the framework of CECOP's campaign on Quality Jobs. This report highlights the interventions, best practices and key findings shared during CECOP's webinar, which aimed to address the pros and cons of algorithmic management from different perspectives and explore how cooperatives fit into the discussion. The session highlighted how cooperatives, particularly those active in the platform economy, can offer human-centred approaches to algorithmic management.

The key takeaways emerging from the webinar are:

• Platform cooperatives bring solutions to address the negative consequences that platform work, including algorithmic management, has on workers and job quality. Their rise shows that innovation and technology can go hand in hand with democratic and human-centred approaches.
  
  
• To counter information asymmetry, increase transparency, and improve working conditions, workers must have a say in the development of data tools. Worker-owned platform cooperatives provide great guarantees in that field.
  
  
• Existing challenges such as scalability, insufficient digital skills, and lack of visibility can be tackled by adopting strategies that include the diversification of markets and services, the use of open-source and shared technologies, and the creation of alliances, including authentic customer relationships – practices successfully utilised by platform cooperatives.