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Abstract

Objective To identify studies about working in the context of the platform economy, regarding the consequences of algorithmic management, financialization and datafication for workers´ health. Methods Integrative review of occupational health literature published in Brazilian journals between 2017 and 2022. Searches were conducted on the Capes Journal Portal and SciELO. Results Of the 324 articles identified in the survey, 10 met the established criteria. The selected studies showed that in platform work, asymmetrical production relations are concealed, which can accentuate control and exploitation. We identified a management logic that seeks to simulate relationships between “partners”, exempting itself from the rights associated with decent work. As a result, workers noticed an increase in feelings of subsumption, insecurity and loss of meaning in their work, elements that are harmful to their psychosocial health. Conclusion Algorithmic management and job insecurity cause harm to physical and mental health, making more research necessary to quantify and describe with greater precision the difficulties and coping strategies of the workers, so that it can contribute to the development of policies that regulate the sector.
Revista Brasileira de Saúde Ocupacional
ISSN: 2317-6369 (online)
1/12
Rev Bras Saude Ocup 2025;50:edsmsubj7 https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-6369/23322en2025v50edsmsubj7
Dossier Mental Health and Subjectivity
Revision article
Julice Salvagni
a
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6334-0649
Marilia Veríssimo Veronese
b
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3618-7079
Roseli Figaro
c
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9710-904X
Abstract
Objective: To identify studies about working in the context of the platform economy,
regarding the consequences of algorithmic management, financialization and datafication
for workers´ health. Methods: Integrative review of occupational health literature
published in Brazilian journals between 2017 and 2022. Searches were conducted
on the Capes Journal Portal and SciELO. Results: Of the 324 articles identified in the
survey, 10 met the established criteria. The selected studies showed that in platform
work, asymmetrical production relations are concealed, which can accentuate control
and exploitation. We identified a management logic that seeks to simulate relationships
between “partners”, exempting itself from the rights associated with decent work.
As a result, workers noticed an increase in feelings of subsumption, insecurity and
loss of meaning in their work, elements that are harmful to their psychosocial health.
Conclusion: Algorithmic management and job insecurity cause harm to physical and
mental health, making more research necessary to quantify and describe with greater
precision the difficulties and coping strategies of the workers, so that it can contribute to
the development of policies that regulate the sector.
Keywords: Working Conditions; Worker’s Health; Occupational Risks; Occupational
Health.
Resumo
Objetivo: Identificar estudos acerca do trabalho no contexto da economia de plataforma,
no que diz respeito às consequências da gestão algorítmica, financeirização e “dataficação”
para a saúde dos trabalhadores. Métodos: Revisão integrativa da literatura de saúde
ocupacional publicada em revistas brasileiras entre 2017 e 2022. As buscas foram feitas no
Portal de Periódicos da Capes e no SciELO. Resultados: Dos 324 artigos identificados no
levantamento, 10 atenderam aos critérios estabelecidos. Os estudos selecionados mostraram
que no trabalho plataformizado dissimulam-se relações de produção assimétricas,
podendo acentuar o controle e a exploração. Identificaram uma lógica de gerenciamento
que busca simular relações entre “parceiros” e se eximir dos direitos associados ao trabalho
decente. Com isso, os trabalhadores perceberam ampliar-se o sentimento de subsunção,
a insegurança e a perda de sentido do próprio trabalho, elementos deletérios à sua saúde
psicossocial. Conclusão: A gestão algorítmica e a insegurança laboral provocam agravos à
saúde física e mental, fazendo-se necessárias mais pesquisas que quantifiquem e descrevam
com maior precisão as dificuldades e as estratégias de enfrentamento dos trabalhadores,
para que se possa contribuir na elaboração de políticas que regulem o setor.
Palavras-chave: Condições de Trabalho; Saúde do Trabalhador; Riscos Ocupacionais;
Saúde Ocupacional.
Digital platforms: the contemporary picture
of exploration at work and the challenges to
workers’ health
Plataformas digitais: o retrato contemporâneo da exploração no
trabalho e os desaos à saúde do trabalhador
How to Cite (Vancouver):
Salvagni J, Veronese MV, Figaro R.
Digital platforms: the contemporary
picture of exploration at work and
the challenges to workers’ health.
Rev Bras Saude Ocup [Internet].
2025;50:edsmsubj7. Available from:
https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-
6369/23322en2025v50edsmsubj7
a Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
do Sul, Programa de Pós-graduação em
Políticas Públicas e Departamento de
Ciências Administrativas. Porto Alegre,
RS, Brazil.
b Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos,
Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências
Sociais. São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil.
c Universidade de São Paulo, Programa
de Pós-graduação em Ciências da
Comunicação. São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Contact:
Julice Salvagni
E-mail:
julice.salvagni@ufrgs.br
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Introduction
is text aims to identify, in the Brazilian occupational health scientic literature, studies about the work in
the context of the platform economy, especially regarding the consequences of algorithmic management,
nancialization, and “datacation” for human health1. It is based on the understanding that this format of work
deepens the old logics of exploitation and control, increasing the alienation between the modes of production and
those who produce, something that the literature already shows.
Reecting on the acceleration in the circulation of capital2, we highlight the presence of an entrepreneurial
neoliberal rationality, based on rentierism, which is incorporated into digital platforms. is process is based
on the circulation of meanings of “innovation” and “digital transformation” brought about by these platforms.
In this way, the subtle ways of operationalizing control are expanded, further distancing workers from the means
of production and camouaging strategies for extracting value under the names of entrepreneurship, autonomy,
and freedom of choice. is is what Dardot and Laval3 pointed out, when they described the forms of management
of neoliberal reason.
Research into health and safety conditions at work via platforms is still in its infancy in Brazil, due to the
relative novelty of the phenomenon. Platforms are companies whose specific feature is the concealment of
the object of their business through digital tools. They call themselves technology companies to cover up
the way their business is carried out4. Their operational logic depends on intermittent, fragmented work
available 24 hours a day. Above all, they depend on a large mass of unemployed or informal workers to be
able to operate in the game of concealing working hours, wages, and employment relationships. The logic of
freedom of choice and autonomy places all the onus for health and safety conditions at work on the workers.
The form of relationship that platform companies impose on workers condemns them to all the insecurities
arising from their work activity, without any assistance or social security support. The lack of ties, extended
working hours, and lack of health and safety at work are exposed in reports by the Fairwork project, the
result of research in different continents and countries. Specifically in Brazil, the Fairwork report5, published
in May 2022, shows the total lack of support from platform companies for informal workers. These aspects
deepen asymmetrical production relations and can accentuate control, exploitation, and domination at
work. A management logic is identified that seeks to simulate relationships between “partners, exempting
themselves from the rights associated with decent work6. This aspect focuses the debate especially on the
new forms of value extraction present in the platformization of work, within local-global production chains,
in which working conditions are varied, but always asymmetrical, serving the interests of countries in the
Global North7.
e current scenario of platform work tends to increase the feeling of subsumption, insecurity, and loss of
meaning in one’s work8,9,10, elements that are harmful to the physical and mental health of workers, as some
recent studies have pointed out11,12,13. In this revision article, we intend to identify studies already produced about
work in the context of the platform economy, and we will do this by adopting the methods of an integrative
review of the literature in the area. Finally, we will analyze the elements gathered in the light of a critical
literature that points to the scenario of the platformization of work as an aspect of social insecurity and health
at work.
Methods
e integrative literature review is a technique whose proposal combines data from theoretical and empirical
literature, as well as incorporating purposes such as dening concepts, reviewing theories, and the main evidence
available14. It aims to identify gaps in knowledge about a topic in order to assess what has already been produced
and indicate the need for further research in the future. It is most commonly used in the health eld but can
contribute to research in various elds of knowledge. Its objective is a synthesis - although not exhaustive, as in a
systematic review - of what has already been produced in a given context, to be dened according to the objectives
of the researchers.
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e searches were carried out on the Journal Portal of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher
Education Personnel - Capes (Cafe access from the login that allows access to paid content) and the Scientic
Electronic Library On-line (SciELO) virtual library, that are not bibliographic databases with a standardized
vocabulary, which compromises the retrieval of literature. erefore, we limited the search based on the following
inclusion criteria.
We searched for articles that eectively addressed studies on digital work platforms, published in Portuguese, in
Brazilian journals, since our interest focused on the country. e search was rened using the lters “peer-reviewed
journals” and “articles”. We only considered articles that addressed aspects of the health-work relationship.
Dierent combinations of search descriptors or keywords were used to broaden the search. We searched for
articles published from 2017 to 2022.
Results
When the terms “plataformas digitais and trabalho and saúde” (digital platforms and work and health) were
searched for in the databases, 176 articles were found. However, most had other objects of interest, referring to
health education platforms, for example. us, aer applying the inclusion criteria, only the two presented in
Tabl e 1 were actually of interest to us, that is, studies that addressed the relationship between working conditions
and health.
Tabl e 1 Articles identified in the Capes and SciELO databases searching for the combination of descriptors
“plataformas digitais and trabalho and saúde” (digital platforms and work and health), and that met the review
criteria (2017-2022)
Title Author Main results Analysis
Tecnologia e
precarização
da saúde do
trabalhador:
uma coexistência
na era digital
Lima
(2022)15
The research infers that, in the
context of information technologies,
the issue of workers’ health has
become a serious problem, either
due to the lack of work or the
precarious working conditions and
relationships, leading a contingent
of the population to unprecedented
physical and/or mental illness in the
history of humanity, since the full
development of the human condition
is being supplanted by the material
development of capitalist society
(p. 170).
The text provides a pertinent
reflection, with theoretical bases of
reference. However, no empirical
data from its own collection
or from previous research is
presented to support these
inferences.
A uberização
do trabalho em
saúde: expansão
no contexto da
pandemia de
Covid-19
Souza &
Abagaro
(2021)16
The study concludes that “The
exploitation of health workers, now
accentuated, is a neuralgic point in
the process, feeding back into the
transformation of the production of
care into the valorization of value,
as well as causing setbacks in the
understanding and implementation of
what health and health practice are
(p. 36).
This is a bibliographical review
with a Marxist theoretical bias.
There is no presentation of
empirical data to support the
points made about the setbacks
to workers’ health in a context of
uberization.
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When searching for the terms “aplicativos and trabalho and saúde” (apps and work and health) 133 articles were
found, however, applying the criteria, only the four studies presented in Tab l e 2 were considered.
Tabl e 2 Articles identified from the Capes and SciELO databases searching for the combination of the descriptors
“aplicativos and trabalho and saúde” (apps and work and health), and that met the review criteria (2017-2022)
Title Author Main results Analysis
Parceiros
assimétricos:
trabalho e
saúde de
motoristas por
aplicativos no
Rio de Janeiro,
Brasil
Masson et al.
(2021)17
The study indicates that “Faced with
insufficient public policies or support
from companies, we have observed that
drivers have joined forces on social
networks to create and share strategies
to protect their health and survive
financially in the face of the decrease in
demand for travel” (p. 5922).
An ergological survey was
carried out using a questionnaire,
as well as interviews, talks with
drivers’ associations, and a
literature review.
Percepção de
motoristas de
Uber sobre
condições
de trabalho
e saúde no
contexto da
Covid-19
Greggo et al.
(2022)18
The results, collected during the
COVID pandemic, “showed an
increase in precariousness and the risk
of contamination and abandonment
of ‘partner drivers’ by app companies
(p. 106).
This was a comparative
descriptive study of platform
drivers linked to associations.
Although the study provides
a description of the health
condition of platform workers,
there is no occupational
relationship that can be inferred
from the material presented.
O presente
e o futuro
do trabalho
precarizado
dos
trabalhadores
por aplicativo
Rodrigues,
Moreira
& Lucca
(2021)19
In relation to health issues, the study
considered that, in Brazil, “these
professionals are in the so-called ‘grise
zone’, an area of legal uncertainty and
remain unassisted” (p. 5). The study
reiterates the “scarcity of publications,
especially in the field of workers’ health,
highlighting its relevance” (p. 9).
The study used scientific
evidence from electronic
databases. In other words, once
again, it does not systematize
empirical data. Apart from this,
the study also reiterates the
scarcity of data on the health of
platform workers.
“Estamos sendo
submetidos a
uma escravidão
disfarçada”:
análise de
relatos de
motoristas
de aplicativo
à luz da
Psicodinâmica
do Trabalho
Santos &
Kerber
(2022)20
According to the results of the study,
the experiences of suffering pointed
to characteristics of labor servitude
and discontent, due to submission
by performance evaluation criteria,
control, and surveillance by digital
algorithms, and the imposition on
workers of intense productivity, long
working hours, low pay and lack of
security” (p. 107).
The research was based on posts
made by app drivers in a group
on a social network. Although
they emphasize the psychosocial
suffering that comes from work,
the study lacks a systematic
approach that can effectively
identify the implications of the
activity for occupational health.
In the search, using the terms “uberização and trabalho and saúde” (uberization and work and health), 15 articles
were found, some of which had already been found in previous searches. By applying the criteria, the four studies
presented in Tab l e 3 were considered.
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Tabl e 3 Articles identified from the Capes and SciELO databases searching for the combination of the descriptors
“uberização and trabalho and saúde” (uberization and work and health), and that met the review criteria
(2017-2022)
Title Author Main results Analysis
As dimensões da
precarização do
trabalho em face
da pandemia de
Covid-19
Souza (2021)21
The study highlights that
the precariousness of workers’
health is felt to the extent that
precarious occupations do not
presuppose legally consistent
health protection measures
(p. 12).
The research was theoretical
and based on documents and
did not present empirical
indicators that refer to
the actual conditions that
compromise workers’ health.
Saúde do
trabalhador e o
aprofundamento
da uberização
do trabalho
em tempos de
pandemia
Uchôa-de-Oliveira
(2020)22
The article’s considerations
indicate that “the fact that we
don’t have a concrete picture of the
work environment and that these
companies keep their data, rules,
and processes secret, makes it very
difficult for those interested in
the health-disease relationship at
work to be able to draw up more
precise diagnoses and actions with
this particular group of workers
(p. 6).
This aspect raised by the study
does indeed problematize
an effect of the algorithmic
functioning of the platforms.
In any case, the difficulty
of measuring health effects
is reinforced.
Uberização do
trabalho: um
fenômeno de
tipo novo entre
os docentes
de São Paulo,
Brasil?
Venco (2019)23
The research, which evaluates the
working conditions of teachers,
considers that “subordination
is a renunciation of oneself,
and the growing process of
individualization in modern
capitalism generates suffering at
work, with consequences for the
physical and mental health of
teachers” (p. 14).
Although aspects of
subordination and renunciation
are mentioned as characteristic
elements of platformization, the
consequences for physical and
mental health are not described
systematically, demonstrating
what is worse about protected
teaching work, for example.
Em modo
de espera:
a condição de
trabalho e vida
uberizada
Maior & Vidigal
(2022)24
The study, which focuses on
workers’ mental health, considers
that there is a high degree of
anxiety [that] is generated by
waiting for a call for paid work
that could mean their material
subsistence and survival”.
This study highlights mental
health issues that are inherent
in the modus operandi of the
platforms. Even though this is
a preliminary study, it has the
potential to investigate more
significant selections
of participants.
Discussion
e selected studies give very clear indications of the health implications of platform work. However, even though
the evidence about the harmful eects of platformization has been reiterated, the Brazilian studies still lack denser
empirical evidence, in order to form more extensive databases, which would make it possible to more precisely
systematize the health implications of platform work.
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Considering the research that deals with the health condition of platform workers, with empirical data, we
highlight some aspects that need to be looked at in greater depth. Santos, Kerber, and Rissi20 emphasize the need
to apply labor legislation or implement eective regulatory policies. According to the authors, the absence of
protective measures puts workers’ physical and mental health at risk. In Masson et al.17, there is an understanding
that the struggle for health in the workplace is a life for protection, freedom, and emancipation. us, the authors
emphasize that it is imperative to reconcile health, work, and rights in order to have an instance of protection
against mercantile impositions.
According to Souto Maior and Vidigal24, the routine of the uberized worker is lived in a state of waiting: waiting to
be called to work, waiting for better working conditions. One worker interviewed, an Uber driver, went so far as
to say that at Guarulhos airport they could wait for ve hours in the queue of cars to get a ride. It is clear that the
“ideal worker” on the platform is one who is fully available for work, with no guarantee of earnings.
The vast majority of the studies we found on platforms deal with the possibility of technological devices
contributing to health programs, such as diabetes control, for example, and there are fewer studies on work
on digital platforms as such17,18. For this reason, even though at first glance there are many studies on the
subject, publications on occupational health conditions on digital work platforms are still scarce. Of those
that do exist, and which were analyzed in this research, the inferences of health risks need to be more detailed
and based on more extensive empirical data. Although the existing studies provide important indicators
and are extremely relevant, future research into the health of people working on digital platforms should
be encouraged.
The platformization of work and its eects
e so-called “sharing economy”25 tends to attribute the best intentions to its agents, such as overcoming
individualism in the economic eld. e reality, however, can be quite dierent from this hasty understanding,
given by the positive meaning of the word “sharing”. is is because “sharing” is the compulsory capture of all
data and information produced for the benet of the business logic of platform companies. is modus operandi
conceals concentration and control as if it were a gi. Above all, it means increased exploitation by capital, through
the control and management of labor - which is almost always precarious - like Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Rappi,
Uber, 99, and other “giant” companies of platform capitalism4.
e simulation of autonomous management is part of how capital functions today. e relations between
labor and capital are obscured by discursive procedures and communication relations, operated by tools that,
by enabling connection, simultaneously capture data, establish protocols for action, control, and conceal the
unequal links that are established26,27. ere is a controlled disorganization of work procedures and links. is
model destabilizes real work activity and creates constant uncertainty. e prescriptions and norms28 common
to the activity are constantly destabilized, a factor that causes uncertainty and suering in the face of daily tasks.
Renormalizations, which are necessary for human work activity, are demanded at a pace and ow that stresses
workers out and puts them in a situation of insecurity in relation to their know-how. is is a cruel form of
control imposed by platform companies.
e platmorphization of work, presided over by large transnational companies, is approached as a new coloniality29,
which takes place not through geographical conquest but through the subjectivities of the workers involved and
through the collection of data from all human interactions generated through the platform’s interface. Elements
such as self-exploitation, herd logics in production, consumption, and religion are identied in the work
environment and outside of it; a kind of “hostility” to the notion of “the right to have rights” and the struggle for
better working conditions is even produced in some parts of society.
Dardot and Laval3 state that the idea of “adaptation” is central to a society that has competition as its highest
value, even on supposed merits: the worker who adapts best is able to make money from platmorphization.
e authors say of contemporary neoliberalism, which they consider to be “interventionist”: “It aims, in the
rst place, to create competitive situations that supposedly favor the ‘ttest’ and the strongest and to adapt
individuals to competition, which is considered to be the source of all benets3 (p. 288). is subjective
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adaptation to the intensication of competition made absolute by the neoliberal system is incorporated by
the subjects, who think they need to adapt to the unhealthy demands of platform work: long working hours,
lack of social protection systems, etc. Ricardo Antunes calls this situation of deregulation of social rights, the
production of discouraged and intermittent workers, without salaries or a legal limit on the number of hours
worked, the “privilege of servitude30.
In this sense, this new business model uses technology to connect people, organizations, and resources in an
interactive system, which can mediate the exchange and generation of value31. is business model of platform
work has seen exponential growth, which is allied to the neoliberal system in the sense that it relies on the absence
of a regulatory state to widen the scope for exploiting labor. Driven by social inequality, digital work platforms use
the universalization of the competition norm3.
Challenges for the study of occupational health by platform
e polymorphism of work in Brazil has always included precariousness and lack of access to basic rights
associated with social protection. is is a characteristic of the accumulation process and the formation of
the labor market in the country. In the case of digital platform work, work is fragmented and dispersed across
the globe, while companies maintain strict control over it (prices, schedules, evaluation and dismissal criteria,
etc.). is work is characterized by frequent breaches of rules and norms; aspects that cause insecurity and
prevent workers from having the slightest control over the procedures of their activity. In this way, the discourse
that promises freedom to manage working hours and autonomy in the procedures for carrying out tasks is
annihilated in the face of obscure information about values, fees, surcharges, contracts, security and even
the clients to be served. Instead of freedom, there is total dependence and the impossibility of planning the
execution of the activity. Work routines change and this has an impact on the health-disease process that takes
place in this sphere of work, as it requires greater eort to renormalize16 and try to understand the procedures
that need to be adopted.
Preventing workers from understanding the conditions in which their work takes place means creating situations
that trigger illness. In this sense, we can return to the teachings of George Canguilhem32 on the concept of health.
According to Figaro33, the author “introduced the idea that the ‘environment is always unfaithful’ to the human
being; and the ability to relate to this environment, making it favorable, (...) is health status” (p. 15). However,
the algorithmic management of work introduces an unhealthy environment, because it takes away the worker’s
potential to manage themselves at work. If we take delivery app workers as an illustrative case, we can see the
eort they make to understand and retain the constant changes in rates and promotions, the need to circumvent
the imposition of a lack of control over call times and the diculty in meeting their own basic physical needs34.
ey call these conditions accelerated work. In other words, it’s such a fast-paced routine that you simply don’t
live, there’s no time to stop, think, re-normalize, eat, rest35. In this way, illness is an imperative to be faced, even
because there is no right to care. Stress, depression, body aches, lack of restful sleep and irritation are constant
symptoms reported by many workers, as pointed out by doctor and researcher Rita Fernandes in an interview with
Agência Brasil36. However, research into the health of platform workers is scarce and is only just beginning, as the
integrative review shows.
e report by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea)37 highlights that the multiplicity of
approaches of digital platforms with adjacent themes demands a relationship with the issue of health, among
other elements that place this group of workers in a complex relational movement. In this regard, the report
refers to the number of positive cases of COVID-19 among those who work on platforms, which in November
2020 amounted to around 3.04% of the population. However, the study mentions a potential indicator of
underreporting, since platform workers have no guarantees that they can stop working to take proper care of
their health.
Another important source of information was the research by the Fairwork Brazil project5, which refers to
psychological risks as a notorious factor during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the document, recently
made available online:
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With the isolation rules, groups of delivery workers and drivers who used to get together during
meals have had their contact with colleagues reduced to conversations via social networks. Regarding
this perception, the workers refer to the importance of the support network in promoting mental
health. ey share practical work routine issues, talk about their feelings and organize mobilizations.
Although social networks are an active space for these exchanges, the COVID-19 pandemic has had
an impact by limiting face-to-face meetings. Many workers mentioned during the interviews that
the insecurity of their working hours creates suering. According to them, this is a consequence of
the pressure they are under at work, coupled with the fact that companies do not oer protective
guarantees in the event of accidents or illness5 (p. 21).
e subsequent analysis refers to the 2017 labor reform as a way of increasing informality in the Brazilian labor
market. According to a publication by Ipea37, around 1.5 million workers were involved by the end of 2021 in the
so-called gig economy. Without exactly representing a novelty in the historical context of Brazilian informality,
this gig economy is characterized by temporary work, without formal ties, on demand, oen precarious. It is
dicult to capture more precise data in the ongoing National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), due to the lack
of specic questions about digital platforms in the questionnaire.
e results of a survey carried out in the context of the pandemic, in 2020, revealed that platform delivery
workers (mostly men), performing an essential service, worked long hours uninterrupted, along with lower pay.
e research also showed that, by contributing to the maintenance of social isolation during the pandemic, they
risked their health and that of their families. e majority said they adopted one or more protective measures
when carrying out their work, paying for masks and hand sanitizer on their own, while the measures adopted by
companies focused on providing guidance38. According to Barreira39, low and uncertain performance and a lack of
job security lead platform workers to submit to “gamied” and algorithmic management, adopting behaviors that
risk their health and safety at work. ey mention long working hours, little time for rest, eating, and no toilets,
which can lead to health problems. In the case of women, the menstrual period creates problems because there are
no adequate toilets for personal hygiene and changing pads. In addition to the stressful day-to-day life, the lack of
transparency when it comes to changing rules and evaluation criteria leads to physical and emotional overload,
especially in front of clients because of the evaluations they receive. e need to control and hide emotions in
order to please clients is already a psychosocial risk factor.
A report on the European context40 states that to date there is little evidence on how safety and health issues
are dealt with for platform workers. is suggests that not only are the risks of platform work still poorly
understood but also indicates signicant gaps in the prevention of injuries from these activities. e data from
this research also rearms the premise that the literature and empirical data on safety and health in platform
work is scarce. As in the Brazilian case, “statistics on the number of accidents, injuries, or occupational diseases
related to platform work are not systematically collected or publicly available 40 (p. 42). In order to systematize
health and safety aspects in some guidelines, the report is based on data from the European Pillar of Social
Rights, which indicates that workers have (i) the right to a high level of protection of their health and safety
at work, (ii) the right to a working environment adapted to their professional needs and which allows them to
prolong their participation in the labor market, and (iii) the right to have their personal data protected in the
context of employment.
e survey results indicate that digital platform workers are also present in sectors considered dangerous, with
a risk of (serious) accidents at work, injuries, and illnesses40. is could be thought of in the case of drivers
or delivery workers, for example, who, although they don’t represent the totality of platform activities, end
up being more visible. In addition, the data suggests that platform work involves additional tasks and/or a
combination of dierent tasks from those present in the traditional market. ese factors may refer to: (i)
the absence of contractual agreements; (ii) algorithmic management and digital surveillance; (iii) professional
isolation, work-life balance, and social support; and (iv) the transitory nature of work and careers40.
According to data from the Fairwork Brazil survey5 of 2022, the context of platform work in Europe indicates
associated characteristics:
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[...] the lack of control over work and the reduction of worker autonomy, occupational overload,
performance pressure, strong competition between digital platform workers, lack of organizational
trust, lack of collective voice, etc. Research indicates that this, in turn, leads to exhaustion and stress,
and physiological responses such as back pain and headaches, and cardiovascular disease. In short,
it creates a myriad of physical and mental health risks41 (p. 12).
ese elements described above, although they don’t cover the list of aspects that aect the health of platform
workers, already provide signicant information to support regulatory policies of a protective nature that this
segment needs. Qualitative research provides extremely relevant data to understand the day-to-day reality of
this type of activity and is of fundamental importance in accumulating knowledge about the eld. It will also
be necessary to produce a general picture, including a description of population data on a national scale. With
a more detailed diagnosis, the sector’s policies can be more precise and appropriate for each of the country’s
specic regions.
Health policies relating to platformized activities need to implement interventions on social determinants and
involve workers as protagonists of the necessary changes40. According to Hurtado et al42, this is a relevant issue,
since platformized workers have little autonomy in the face of company demands. Similarly, Uchôa-de-Oliveira22
reinforces the urgency for Workers’ Health, as a eld that inuences policies in the sector, to recover an approach
that thinks about work from the collective point of view.
Conclusion
e research carried out did what the authors had hoped, expanding knowledge about the subject in question.
However, some limitations of this study are pointed out and, at the same time, suggestions are made for future
research. In order to rene the search, we suggest using a more comprehensive bibliographic database, such as the
Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (Lilacs), since the Capes Journal Portal and SciELO are
not bibliographic databases with a standardized vocabulary, which could compromise the retrieval of literature in
more exhaustive terms. However, we believe that the quality of the research consulted is signicant, providing an
overview of what has been published on the subject in Brazil.
Given this scenario, we sought to understand work platforms from a broader perspective, helping to broaden
the current debate on this topic in the social sciences. On the one hand, it is possible to describe and analyze
the perverse management model of digital platforms and its deleterious implications for human work. On the
other hand, the empirical-theoretical models need to be developed in order to conceive ways of producing and
distributing that fall within the spectrum of decent work.
is study rearmed what previous research has already indicated about the context of workers’ health by
platform: the empirical data is insucient to make a precise analysis, and there is a lack of specic academic
references on the subject. We therefore believe that the lack of indicators on workers’ health should be treated as a
relevant result. Who cares about the lack of concrete data on platform work? e still obscure nature of the eects
associated with this way of working make it dicult to hold platforms responsible for any damage to workers,
or to formulate targeted public policies.
e importance of studies that allow workers to be heard about their daily lives, their diculties, and coping
strategies is emphasized, in order to deepen knowledge about this reality and thus be able to contribute to the
development of policies that regulate the sector, insisting on criteria of justice at work. ere is a long road
ahead, considering the context of the dismantling of social protection at work in Brazil. However, we believe that
organizing workers and demanding better conditions remains the way forward.
Schmidt41 points out that, given the platforms’ omission of workers’ health and safety, it is up to governments to
continue the social security or health systems (where they exist). e challenge, therefore, is to generate social
security contributions, forcing platform providers to bear social costs such as health insurance and compensation.
ese rights need to be guaranteed to the worker and not requested individually through legal means. In the
event of accidents, workers on digital work platforms may not be willing to go to court to sue the other party for
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compensation. ese individual movements in search of rights are not only uncertain, as the worker may not nd
legal support, but they are also oen slow and costly in Brazil. Individual losses of workers’ rights are a public
health problem and should therefore be dealt with collectively.
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Authors’ contributions: Salvagni J, Veronese MV, and Figaro R contributed equally to the conception, collection, interpretation of
data, manuscript drafting and critical revisions. The authors have approved the final version and assume full public responsibility
for the studied carried out and the published content.
Data availability: The entire data set supporting the study results has been published in the article itself.
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Funding: The authors declare that the study was subsidized by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do
Sul [Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio Grande do Sul].
Competing interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Presentation at a scientific event: The authors inform that this study has not been presented at a scientific event.
Received: June 30, 2022
Revised: March 24, 2023
Approved: April 28, 2023
Editor-in-chief:
José Marçal Jackson Filho
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
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Resumo No paradigma da heteromação do trabalho, as mudanças operadas pela informatização da economia fazem com que uma massa expressiva de trabalhadores passe a desempenhar atividades essenciais, mas marginais. Objetiva-se, neste estudo, analisar as diferentes formas de microtrabalho heteromatizado remunerado presentes em território nacional, de maneira a lançar luzes compreensivas sobre as condições e especificidades do contexto laboral brasileiro. Para tanto, primeiro foi realizado um levantamento e descrição dos crowdworks de microtarefas em operação no Brasil. Depois, a partir do método netnográfico nos inserimos em 22 grupos de Facebook e de Whatsapp voltados a esse mercado (o que totaliza uma base de cerca de 16 mil perfis registrados) e os acompanhamos durante sete meses. Conclui-se que, no Brasil, há uma importante reserva de mão de obra de microtrabalho e que não estamos diante de um cenário isolado, monolítico e homogêneo. O microtrabalho está imbricado em novas formas de extração de valor da plataformização do trabalho e deve ser compreendido em meio a cadeias de produção mais amplas, globais, onde as condições de trabalho são polissêmicas, assimétricas e regidas mormente por países do Norte global.
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O estudo teve por objetivo investigar e compreender as vivências de prazer e sofrimento, e as estratégias de mediação notrabalho a partir de publicações feitas por motoristas de aplicativos em um grupo numa rede social entre dezembro de 2019 e fevereiro de 2020. Foram selecionadas 282 laudas que passaram por uma análise temática e foram definidas em três categorias sob a luz da abordagem da Psicodinâmica do Trabalho: 1) as características do trabalho de motoristas por aplicativos; 2) as vivências de prazer e sofrimento no trabalho; 3) estratégias de mediação elaboradas pelos motoristas por aplicativos. O extrato das publicações realizadas por motoristas permitiu evidenciar que as inserções nas plataformas digitais surgem como alternativa ao desemprego ou complemento de renda. Os trabalhadores indicaram o reconhecimento dos passageiros e a gratificação como suas vivências de prazer. As vivências de sofrimento apontaram para características de servidão do trabalho e descontentamento, por razão da submissão por critérios de avaliação de desempenho, controle e vigilância pelos algoritmos digitais, e a imposição dos trabalhadores à uma intensa produtividade, longas jornadas de trabalho, baixa remuneração e falta de segurança. Foi possível notar estratégias de enfrentamento como a criação de clientelas particulares para aumentar seus rendimentos, a adoção de recursos tecnológicos para cuidados entre si, cooperação e compartilhamento de informações no ambiente virtual.