The Platform Work Directive: Transposition challenges through the lens of couriers and drivers

The paper reports the findings of a large nationwide survey of couriers and drivers performing their services via digital platforms (sample size: 3,756 individuals). The study was conducted in the early months of 2025 in collaboration with one of the major fleet partners in Poland. Situating the study within the context of the EU Directive 2024/2831 on im­proving working conditions for platform workers, the article seeks to explore potential barriers to the implementation of this Directive within the Polish institutional framework. Drawing on the opinions of individuals completing tasks via platforms, the authors highlight a strong attachment among most respondents to the flexibility provided by plat­form-based work. However, critically examining these per­spectives, the authors aim to situate them within the broad­er concept of worker autonomy, which is more focused on employee well-being than mere flexibility. Viewed through this lens, the freedom to choose working hours appears to be a constrained choice, accompanied by certain costs. One such cost is the ability to achieve high earnings. Drivers and couriers who exercise the freedom to choose their working hours (though not necessarily specific assignments) are not primarily motivated by high incomes. On the contrary, they assume that sustaining oneself financially through this occu­pation under such conditions is challenging.

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