'The Boring and the Tedious': Invisible Labour in India's Gig-Economy

2025-04-24

AI Summary

This study uncovers hidden labor precarity faced by food-delivery riders on Indian platforms (e.g., Swiggy, Zomato): prolonged waiting times and high-frequency, repetitive UI interactions induce “digital discomfort,” while opaque algorithmic governance and gamified incentive structures further erode worker autonomy. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 14 riders and integrating HCI analysis with critical algorithmic labor theory, the research identifies riders’ self-organized, strategic coping practices. It innovatively proposes a rider-centered GUI automation intervention framework—designed to reduce interaction friction without compromising labor agency. The findings advance Global South HCI scholarship toward a “worker empowerment–first” paradigm and provide empirically grounded, actionable design principles for labor-respectful digital interfaces. (149 words)

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Intelligent User Interfaces
• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: AI & Jobs/Labor

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: The sharing economy
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Web data quality in the era of algorithmically-generated content

Abstract

India's gig-based food delivery platforms, such as Swiggy and Zomato, provide crucial income to marginalised communities but also entrench workers in cycles of invisible labour. Through 14 semi-structured interviews, we analyse waiting time and repetitive UI itneractions as key burdens that contribute to 'digital discomfort' for gig based food delivery agents. We find that workers employ creative strategies to navigate algorithmic management, yet remain constrained by platform-side 'gamification' and system opacity. We propose worker-centered GUI automation as a potential intervention to reduce friction while preserving agency. In conclusion, this position paper argues for rethinking HCI approaches in the Global South to prioritise worker autonomy over efficiency-driven design optimisations.

Problem

• Analyzing invisible labor burdens in India's gig-economy food delivery platforms
• Investigating digital discomfort from waiting time and repetitive UI interactions
• Proposing worker-centered GUI automation to enhance autonomy in algorithmic systems

Innovation

• Worker-centered GUI automation reduces digital discomfort
• Analyzing waiting time and repetitive UI interactions
• Rethinking HCI for worker autonomy in Global South