With Prop 22 passing in California last month, Doordash drivers, as well as all app based gig drivers have remained independent contractors. If the proposition would have been defeated, all gig drivers in California would have been classified as employees. I was confident all along and did not worry much about Prop 22 being defeated, but I still can't help to wonder, what would have happened if it was? What would life be like in California if we all of a sudden became employees?
Most Dorodash drivers would not have been hired
My rough estimate would be that at least 80 percent of Doordash drivers in California would have had their Dasher accounts disabled. Does anybody really think that Doordash would have hired all the drivers that they have? No way! That payroll would have been humongous! Most Dashers would not be Dashers anymore.
That's why it was kind of funny when you had a gig driver voting "No" on Prop 22. Did they not realize that they would have most likely been part of the 80 percent that was disabled. I know, they probably thought that they were a special Dasher. This is not uncommon.. Most Dashers think that they are at a level above other Dashers, but I'm sorry to spoil the party. Fortunately, Doordash didn't have to bring these Dashers to reality because Prop 22 was successful.
How would Doordash have chosen their employees?
Again, thank God we can only speculate and did not really have to find out. One way would be to use seniority as a way to determine which Dashers to hire. This would probably require a telephone call to these Dashers along with a ton of paperwork that new employees would have had to fill out.
There is probably a lot of dead Doordash accounts. What I mean by this is active accounts from old Dashers. We are talking about Dashers that used to dash back in 2015 and 2016 but have not since then. For many years they haven't used the Doordash driver platform. If Doordash went by this method, they would have to realize that many of their senior dashers probably don't even Dash anymore and would have no interest in Doordash at all.
Another option would have been to choose all the Top Rated Dashers. I'm sure all the Top rated Dashers would have loved this, but by doing this, Doordash would have really missed out on keeping many of the best Dashers. As many know, a high acceptance rate is needed to be a Top Rated Dasher, and many of the best dashers out there would not ever give in to accepting bad calls; which is the reason they are not Top Rated Dashers. You never know though, Doordash could have looked at Top Rated Dashers as dedicated Dashers and chose them.
The customer rating could have also been the determination of what Dashers were hired and which ones don't. The customer rating shows customer's happiness with a Dasher, and it is certainly the most important rating. Doordash could have chosen the highest rated drivers to hire.
Maybe Doordash would have started from scratch and had everybody fill out applications. In my opinion, this is how Doordash would have done it. This would weed out all of the people that really had no interest in becoming a Doordash employee.
After taking applications, Doordash would choose who they wanted to call back, and if they didn't choose you, you wouldn't have received a call and would have just been out of luck. They would not have told anybody how they picked and chose their new employees, and they would be under no obligation to do so.
What would Dashing have been like as an employee?
First off, as a Doordash employee in California, drivers would be entitled to all the laws and protection that all California employees have. These are the kind of things that those against Prop 22 were for. Doordash would pay into an unemployment fund like all employers do, drivers would get vacation pay and earn minimum wage, etc. Working as a Doordash driver would be just like working for any other deliver company that has employees.
Now, as far as the actual Doordash job goes, there would of course be scheduled shifts. Gone would be the days of working when you want and where you want. Dashers would be scheduled to work from this time to that time in a certain area. Starting work late would be reason for disciplinary action such as a write up. Of course, just like a regular job, too many write ups and you would be fired.
For the responsible on time employee, there would be no write ups for starting work late or leaving early. This full time Dasher would be earning the California minimum wage whether they were on a call or not. Dasher's earnings would be capped by this minimum wage with no opportunity to earn more. At $14.00 per hour (California's minimum wage starting January 1, 2021) an 8 hour shift would earn a Dasher $104.00 for the day. That is $520.00 per week minus payroll taxes.
The example that was just given was that of a full time employee. Most believe that if Dashers were made to become employees that Doordash would have made all of their employees part time drivers. There would be no full time schedules. If that were the case, Dashers would earn $56.00 per day which comes out to $280 per week.
When out in the field actually dashing, drivers would have to accept all calls. There would be no more declining calls. Surely most of a driver's time would be active time driving as Doordash would not want to pay that much for drivers sitting around. Doordash would make sure to not schedule too many drivers in a certain area.
There would also most likely be mandatory uniforms. If Doordash drivers are employees, there's no doubt that Doordash would want their drivers to represent the company with what would become a recognizable uniform. Gone would be the days when Dashers could wear whatever they want.
Some might wonder how Doordash would know if drivers were wearing uniforms or not. That's easy. There would have surely been regional supervisors that patrolled and kept an eye on Doordash drivers. These supervisors would have been the ones to call whenever there was a problem. Some Doordash drivers might have even aspired to become a Doordash field supervisor, but trust me when I say that the stress would not have been worth the $1 more per hour.
It would have been terrible for Dashers if they were employees
All in all, the whole Doordash driver as an employee experience would have been terrible. It would have been a normal job for normal people, and all Doordash drivers know that we are not normal people. Most dash as a part time gig and already have full time jobs or run a business. None of these people would have turned in an application to be a Doordash driver employee. The housewife that occasionally dashes a couple of hours a day while her kids are in school probably would not have applied, nor the college student who has an ever changing schedule week after week. None of these people would be able to dedicate themselves to a set schedule.
Thank God that Doordash drivers in California did not become employees. Some Dashers in other states probably looked at this like it had nothing to do with them, but if Dashers in California were forced to become employees, trust me when I say that other states would have followed. Since Prop 22 passed though, and Dashers have remained as independent contractors with added benefits, it is highly unlikely that other states will try what California tried to do. With that said, I believe that Dashers across the whole United States is safe and will not have to worry about not remaining independent contractors.
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