Working in the Decentralised Economy

WORKING IN THE DECENTRALISED ECONOMY

DECADE EXPLORES THE FUTURE WORKPLACE AND SUPPLY CHAINS IN THE DECENTRALISED PEER-TO-PEER ECONOMY

Work experience and career history could soon be represented by a mixed portfolio of engagements with multiple employing entities. The decentralisation of the Digital Economy has contributed to the emergence of the gig economy, evident in lower-paid sectors such as delivery or transport, and increasingly in professional services such as the creative and healthcare sectors. Soon it may be unusual to work for a single, monolithic organisation, as work experience and career history could be represented by a mixed portfolio of engagements with multiple employing entities, often mediated via online platforms where employer and employee may not physically meet. The gig economy and the shift in employment norms challenge common definitions of trust, the value (fairness, worth) of work and how its represented in future society.

PLATFORM DESIGN MUST BE INCLUSIVE ACROSS SOCIETY

Where reputation weighs heavily on an individual’s record, the absence of a trusted centralised organisation will create a social and technical challenge. This challenge requires the development and adoption/governance of a technical solution layered with appropriate models for decentralised governance, including ways to evolve that governance model by consensus and penalise unfair behaviour on the platform. Platform design must be inclusive across society and tackle digital literacy, particularly around decentralised technologies and their inherent trust attributes. With novel forms of digital value exchange emerging, such as tokenized (crypto-) currency and the potential for future central bank digital currency (CBDC) new question arise around smart contracts for payment, programmable money and digital taxation schemes in this future economy.