More on Uber's incentives to keep drivers working Uber-long hours: potential safety hazards and

According to NPR, Uber's variable pay rates to drivers create uncertainty in drivers about whether or not they'll meet their earning goals for the day. This gets Uber drivers to keep driving, for 12- or even 20 hours at a time.

Why the long driving shifts?

Uber's pay system combines the two most powerful behaviour reinforcement tools -- variable interval and variable ratio reward schedules. This is behaviourism at work, and it keeps drivers on the road longer. A 15 or so hour shift of driving, especially during the wee hours of the morning, is tiring and can create safety risks. Some research shows that drowsy driving while can be as dangerous as drinking and driving. Car accidents are dangerous and 20% of crashes are related to sleepiness according to international data. In the United States alone, drowsiness or fatigue was a cause of 56,000 crashes each year (NCSDR/NHTSA Expert Panel on Driver Fatigue and Sleepiness, 1998).

If you ride with Uber, drive with Uber, or live where Uber is available, then this is a potential threat to your safety.

Work design to the rescue!

The good news is that by doing some work re-design, we can minimize safety hazards. From a work design perspective we can look at the job characteristics of Uber drivers, and adjust those to incentivize safe behaviors.

Your brain gets fatigued after x hours driving

What does brain fatigue mean?

People themselves experience fatigue and performance (ability to drive safely) falls off before people are aware of it.

Better work design for Uber:

• Task feedback - provide information in the Uber app that drivers use in order to provide more predictability to drivers who can then plan their shifts and shorten their driving time (Currently, uncertainty about their payout is motivating them to stay on the road longer).

• Physical demands - limit the duration of driver's shifts based on time of day and ongoing measures of the vehicle (e.g., lane departures), of the driver (e.g., EEG alpha and theta wave measures, and more practically possible: eye blink duration checks periodically through drivers' smart phones)

• Performance-based compensation - Reward safe practices of drivers by offering bonuses to people who break up their shifts with naps, or other breaks to restore their physical alertness. Those bonuses can go beyond money to leverage algorithms to provide safer drivers with: a) improved access to passenger requests, and b) insider tips about where the most passenger requests are likely to be in a certain time block due to special events in a particular area.

These are a sample of a few solutions that work design offers to rectify this potentially dangerous situation and turn it into an opportunity for Uber executives, drivers, and riders to use work design to get us all from A to B, safely.

The dark side of gig work: A work design perspective on flexible work.

From The Conversation, June 19, 2017

An increasing number of part-time workers are looking towards rideshare services such as Uber, or food delivery services such as Deliveroo. Work in the “gig economy” is often described as attractive due to its flexible nature – workers can choose their own hours, and work for as little or as much as they like.

In The Conversation’s top story, Kaine, Veen, Goods and Josserand (2017) discuss the trade-offs these gig workers make as they seek to balance the flexibility afforded by such work with a lack of control over their employment contract. This article presents how the new reality of work may be more nuanced than simply enjoying flexible work.

The authors also discuss the changes in work design that come with such work. For instance, while there appears to be more freedom from traditional work structure, workers reported feeling limited control over how they get work (and in return, remunerated). In addition, the physically isolating nature of the work may contribute to feelings of independence, or in some workers’ cases, a sense of camaraderie where workers build a shared understanding and support system for one another.

For more information, you can find the online version of the article.

Let’s Talk Teamwork: Multi-Professional Team Briefings in WA Operating Theatres

From Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ Surgical News, May 2017

We are pleased to share with you an article written by our researchers (Dr Laura Fruhen, Joseph Carpini and Professor Sharon Parker) that was recently published in the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ Surgical News.

The article describes how, guided by our researchers, several hospitals in WA are now engaging in an initiative to introduce multi-professional team briefings in operating theatres. These short briefings, which occur before the start of operating lists, operate on two levels – information sharing and opening up communication. They include all professional groups working in operating theatres (i.e. surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and technicians), and are designed to facilitate teamwork, and support theatre efficiency and safety. Information sharing during the briefings clarifies expectations and provide staff with a shared understanding that reduces ambiguity and makes roles clearer; while the open communication establishes a collaborative team environment. The team is able to discuss what surgeries are scheduled, the roles people will play and it allows the team to prepare for possible issues.

The research team are in the process of analysing the impact of briefings in more detail, but preliminary results suggest that the rewards are likely to be enhanced efficiency, more staff satisfaction at work and improved patient outcomes. It provides an excellent example of how psychological initiatives on work design can positively impact work places.