Microjobbing platform M4JAM (Money for Jam) has found that the most important aspect of users’ interactions on the platform, besides financial rewards, is their status and progression through the levels; the company aims to assess and develop this ‘game aspect’ to drive increased user satisfaction and engagement.

M4JAM co-founder André Hugo says users, also called Jobbers, press the ‘find jobs’ button on the platform about 250 000 times a month, followed by the ‘status’ button.

Users want to improve their status and progress through the ranks, named after types of jam, such as apricot, raspberry and strawberry. As a result, M4JAM is reviewing what the drivers are and will be launching the new levels and mechanics soon.

“The philosophy of the M4JAM platform is that it empowers Jobbers to take control by deciding what brands to engage with and remunerating them accordingly,” he says.

Users can earn between R350 and R500 a week when using the platform, depending on the number of microjobs they do, which typically involve Jobbers providing companies with crowd-sourced data, including in-store price checking, product and advertisement research, mystery shopping and completing research questionnaires.

“M4JAM paid out more than R1-million within the first month of the platform’s existence and aims to engage with more than 1.5-million Jobbers this year. Further, the company has signed up 60 new brands to the platform within the past 45 days.”

Jobbers, typically average South Africans, including students, youths, office workers, but also retirees, are presented with a microjob on the M4JAM platform on their smartphones or through M4JAM’s Facebook site that they must accept, complete and submit. M4JAM and the company that requested the task then vet it for quality before the Jobbers’ earnings are transferred into their M4JAM electronic wallet, from which they can withdraw money at partici- pating retail outlets countrywide.

“The quality of the jobs performed is paramount and if Jobbers do not deliver high-quality work or perform poorly three times, they are blocked from the platform.

“Companies are recognising the value of crowd sourcing to support their own initiatives, including consumer-facing or internal initiatives, and gathering data in real time from a geographi- cally diverse mix of Jobbers provides significant benefits to companies and brands using the M4JAM platform,” Hugo adds.

Further, as all the jobs are verified and quality- controlled, M4JAM is developing a facility for Jobbers to build up a ‘mini curriculum vitae’ of the number and types of jobs they successfully completed. So far, the pilot project has proved successful and this feature will be rolled out to the broader Jobber community.

“Microjobbing does not replace permanent work, but enables people to earn small amounts of money or [people] who are not employed to bolster their earnings while going about their daily routine.

“Microjobs do not necessarily provide Jobbers with the experience that they would gain from working in a traditional office environment, but it does enable them to demonstrate initiative and earn money, improving their confidence and self-esteem.

The value of rewarding personal initiative is significant,” he says.

“South Africa should promulgate regulations or laws to stimulate microjobbing and the digi- tal labour ecosystem. The current regulatory framework does not recognise microjobbing as a form of employment because it is not considered sustainable. The digital economy is a growing segment of economic activities globally and, as digital media and interactions grow, the role and importance of the digital economy and digital work will grow proportionally,” he concludes.