Living Tariff for platform workers in Kenya

For a platform worker, it is clear what the revenue is at the end of a job. It is just not clear what remains of this when you subtract occupational related costs, waiting time and a reserve for sickness and retirement from this amount. With this Living Tariff tool, you calculate what you would need to earn per day, week or month to earn a Living Wage.

The lowest Living Tariff is for Kenya A. (Net Living Wage without work related costs or overheads or social security) Plus B. (Living Wage plus work related cost like laptop or car). Plus C. overhead time like administartion, training or waiting time. Plus D. Social security and pension. That total of A + B + C + D makes the minimum Living Tariff. We show the Living Tariff per hour, month and year.

Good to know.

Living Wage, for salaried workers, and Living Tariff for self-employed and platform workers are not legally binding. Both are ideas to make life more fair. For the Living Tariff, we make the assumption that the self-employed or platform worker needs, as being his own boss, to take care for his own overhead, pension and able to absorb (financial) risks.. Some might argue that a platform worker doesn't need that. But why should a salaried worker have these rights or a highly educated conultant claims these right with a very high tariff, and the self-employed or platform worker not. In the end, all should work and get paid according to their needs. Therefore, there is a Minimum Living Tariff.

A Living Wage is what a worker should get to have a decent life. For Kenya a Living Wage is higher then the legal Minimum Wage. To make sure the life is decent food, transport housing, energy, phone, education for children, health, taxes are included. More information about Living Wages can be found on our website: https://wageindicator.org/salary/living-wage

The Minimum Wage is what is what a worker at least should get acoording to the National law.

Occupational related cost are all the costs you have to incur as a working person to perform a gig. For those who work online a laptop of computer ad=bd an internet connection is needed. For those who work in delivery a bike, car, helmet and a phone are needed. Without making these costs, you will not be able to carry out the work. It is seen as fair that a selfemployed or platform worker is compensated for bringing his own "tools and equipment" to the work.

In professions like delivery and taxi, you often have to wait for the next gig / assignment. You are not paid for this time, even though you are available for work. So why shouldn't you be paid for this? This is the reason why, in delivery and taxi, we also include a percentage of working time in the calculation of the Living Tariff. Do you believe this percentage is different in your situation? Then you can adjust it on the third page of the Living Tariff tool.

Since platform workers are managing all the work related activities themselves, they are spending a reasonable time on activities such as:

• Administration (of work, tasks, schedules)
• Acquisition and communication (acquiring tasks and work related communication with the user and platform)
• Training (task related and skill enhancement)
• Waiting time (between tasks)

The Living Tariff Tool estimates the time spent on these "undeclared and unpaid" overhead activities and assigns a monetary amount based on our calculations and assumptions.

When you are paid per task, it is difficult to get an overview of your actual income. You often have no overview of your hours worked, the costs you incur to perform your work and the provisions you have to take for things like illness and retirement. With Living Tariff, we offer you an overview and you know, as a gig worker, what a minimum rate should be for your profession in order to make a decent living. A Living Tariff will help you to get an overview, on which you can make well informed descisions.

The Living Tariff is based on averages applicable to your country. We have also made some assumptions in the calculation, such as waiting times between jobs in delivery and time for administration and acquistion in other occupations. It is impossible to make a perfect calculation, but that has not stopped us from making an educated attempt with the aim of helping you, the working person, understand what you need to earn to have a good life. With the ability to adjust the variables on the third page of this tool, should you believe they are different in your situation.

We realise that in almost all cases, a Living Tariff will be higher than what you earn now by working via a platform. Does this make this unrealistic? No! Because we are convinced that everyone should be able to earn an income to live a normal life. With a Living Tariff, we simply show what you would have to earn to get a decent income in your situation with the work you are carrying out. It is then up to policy makers, unions and platforms to ensure that this actually happens.

The Living Tariff is based on what is relvant in your country, according to the law, or according to data collection from WageIndicator. You may wish to change certain variables to make the calculation better suit your personal conditions. On the third page of this tool, you have the option to change variables such as pension, health costs, waiting time to suit your personal situation.

The Living Tariff Tool is based on the Living Wage concept. In that concept two adults and for Kenya 4 children together make a Living Wage for a family. For the Living tariff we assume that one of the two adults is working fulltime, which is 52 hours per week for Kenya. The other between 3 and 4 days a week, the income from the other adult comes from an other income/job. It is not possible to adjust this in this tool.

The Living Tariff tool shows you how much you need to earn and work to get a decent life. That can be for one platfrom, or for many. It is not possible to include multiple types of work/occupations within one calculation.

The Living Tariff tool applies to anyone paid per job. Even if you do this work as a subcontractor via someone else's account and still get paid per job, this tool also applies to you.

Yes, for the calculation of the Living Tariff, it does not matter whether you perform certain work through an online platform or not: after all, the professional-related costs are the same. However, the interpretation of certain variables may be different in your situation. You can easily adjust this on the third page of this tool.

This Living Tariff tool is updated every quarter. If you believe that certain variables are incorrect for your country and situation, please report it in the contact form. In addition, you can adjust variables for your calculation on the third page of this Living Tariff tool.

The Living Tariff tool will never be outdated. Users who subscribe to the newsletter, get an update.

The Living Tariff tool does not account for emergency funds in the standard version - page 2 of the tool. In the more customised version - page 3 - the user can add speciall reservations. These reservation are more then what the law in Kenya requires. They are higher then the basic Living Tariff. In general it is very good to do more financial planning being self employed.

The Living Tariff tool assume what is need in a month or year. This assumes an average of one year. This basically means that extra financial planning is needed.

If there is a low reservation for medical cost, it relates to that there is free access to the health system. Only some small items as pills against headache are then involved.

No, there is not a provision for dental or other specialized healthcare included.

In the Living Tariff tool the costs of housing is based on a 3 bedroom appartment.

Transport cost for delivery is based on averages. Transport for selfemployed and platform workers who work from home or a small office is calcuated on the basis of commuting cost.

Work-related costs are ruccuring cost. We assume that either a laptop, a phone or bike needs to be repaired and a new/second hand needs to be bought.

Yes. The work related costs do account for repair and maintenance of equipment. There is always the option to adapt it to your situation.

The Living Tariff has as a basis the minimum what is needed to have a decent Life. It is based on cost of living, not on education or performence level.

The assumed working hours for Kenya are 52 per week.

Since the cost of living / Living Wage and there for Living Tariff will be updated quarterly the tool is resilient for inflation.

The Living Tariff tool is now availeble in Kenya, Pakistan and Indonesia. Soon the tool will be available in many more countries.