Chapter 8: Using Ehrm to Manage Workers in the Platform Economy

This paper explores how electronic human resource management (eHRM) could be used to manage task workers, a relatively new type of contingent worker that utilizes online platforms to complete short-term tasks for a variety of clients. We define the differences between task workers, independent contractors, and permanent workers to better understand the existing work relationships and attachments between task workers and their clients. Task workers are likely to form transactional psychological contracts with the client organizations, which may seem ideal from the contractual perspective but could reduce overall work effectiveness. We then analyze four different triangular relationships that result from the relationships between task workers, platform providers, and clients. Using the employee relationship management perspective, we argue that relational eHRM systems could be used to create more productive work relationships with task workers. We examine three different types of relational eHRM systems, communication, performance management, and training and development, analyzing how they are currently used and how they could be used to enhance the task worker relationship. The paper concludes with future research directions for studying task worker relationships to determine which types of task workers would benefit most from the use of relational eHRM systems.