In the digital age, the nature of work has been transformed, with precariousness becoming the new norm. This has been labeled by scholars with fancy terms like Cognitariates (Berardi), Cybertariat(Huws), Technoprecariate (Ferrari), and Cyber-proletariat (Witheford). India, as the top outsourcing destination, is not immune to this situation. The ICT sector has created different layers of precariousness, even for administrative roles like managers who are hired on a contractual basis. While many studies have focused on contractual workers, this paper focuses on the mid-level information-decision workers.
The paper argues that precariousness is not just an employer-employee conditioning at home, but it stems from the outsourcing of easily replaceable jobs, leading to the opportunity of replacement of not just the employee but the whole contracted firm. It exacerbates the exploitation of cheap IT labor. The paper shows how these workers are often triple-blinded by the cliche job name, the illusion of flexibility, and a short-term high salary. It also demonstrates the precarity through hire-fire culture, no social security and basic labor rights, and the de-unionization of the working environment.
In the world of info-labor, time is being purchased, leading to the abstraction of labor and the loss of individuality and concreteness in labor time. Tasks like knowledge transfer and on-call support are not compensated, leading to an invasion of personal space beyond the long working hours. To understand the impact of this multicausal precarity, the paper considers the psychological condition of workers and their job-switching decisions, especially in the vulnerable condition during COVID-19 layoffs. This paper also examines their awareness about their employee rights, labor unions in the IT sector to locate the illusion created by the corporate work structure. Ultimately, the paper concludes that the deprivation of info-workers from their task, time, and understanding of themselves requires a half-citizen framework.
