Managing Occupational Balance in Platform and Remote Work

Project Overview

This project seeks to examine discourses about gig work and explore the experiences of immigrants working in different facets of the platform economy, as well as those employed in remote work.

The project will focus on the everyday occupational experiences of immigrant platform workers to understand how they perceive and navigate their employment and daily routines when engaged in ‘non-traditional’ forms of work. It aims to understand these in relation to contemporary and dominant discourses on gig work.

Research Questions

What are the discourses shaping the platform economy?
What contextual factors shape the occupational experiences of immigrant workers within the platform economy?
How does engaging in platform and/or remote work reconfigure traditional borders and boundaries in immigrants’ lives?
In what ways do platform and/or remote workers nagivate “occupational balance” among the different revenue-generating occupations they engage in?

Methods

Discourse Analysis
In-Depth Interviews

Collaborators

UBC Centre for Migration Studies

Principal Investigator: Suzanne Huot (Assistant Professor, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy)

Toronto Metropolitan University

Anna Triandafyllidou (Professor, Sociology)
Marshia Akbar (Professor, Sociology)
María Cervantes (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UBC Centre for Migration Studies)
Hari KC (Research Fellow, CERC in Migration and Integration)
Aziz Rahman (Research Fellow, CERC in Migration and Integration)

University of Toronto Mississauga

Samantha Jackson (Postdoctoral Fellow, Language Studies)

Research Assistants

Laura Lam (Research Assistant, CERC in Migration and Integration)

Outputs

Presentations

“Adjustment, balance and belonging among newcomers engaged in remote work in Canada” presented by Samantha Jackson and Suzanne Huot at the 27th Canadian Ethnic Studies Association Biennial Conference, Edmonton, November 15, 2024

“Uneven Development in the Digital Economy: The New Landscape of Transnational Social Protections” presented by María Cervantes at the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, March 26, 2025

“Immigrants’ occupational experiences of remote and hybrid work in Canada” presented by Samantha Jackson and Suzanne Huot at the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists Annual Conference, May 9, 2025

Project Status

This project is currently in the Planning phase.