Digital taylorism and the future of employment relations in India

Abstract

This study examines the gig economy as a site of contested employment relations, interrogating how algorithmic governance reshapes the social contract between workers and platforms. Drawing on a scoping review of 145 studies, this paper develops a conceptual framework integrating precarious work theory, power dynamics, and employment relations constructs—including worker voice, collective agency, and dispute resolution—to analyse the structural conditions of platform-mediated labour in India. The analysis reveals that algorithmic management operates as a form of digital Taylorism, systematically eroding worker autonomy and bargaining power while reconfiguring the boundaries of the employment relationship. India’s gig workforce, projected to reach 23.5 million by 2029–30, represents a critical case where informality, rapid digitalisation, and weak institutional frameworks converge. The paper argues that addressing these conditions requires a ‘new social contract’ that reconceptualises obligations between platforms, workers, and the state, moving beyond descriptive cataloguing toward theoretically grounded employment relations analysis. Implications are drawn for voice mechanisms, collective bargaining models, and regulatory reform in the Indian context.