Little Help: The Downsides Of Working For A Top Cleaning Platform in Germany

In a time when the gig economy is facing a reckoning over workers’ treatment, Helpling’s business practices continue raising eyebrows. An online service that connects customers with house cleaners in ten countries, it not only takes a huge commission from the cleaners (between 25% and 41.50%), but also its lack of a flat fee forces the cleaners to compete with each other for work by bringing down their rates.

I’ve researched the company by cleaning a few houses in Berlin, creating accounts in different countries, and speaking with some cleaners and clients. So the piece would explain how this system works and how it takes advantage of society’s most vulnerable.

Not only do I have several years of experience as a journalist, but I’ve also taken part in the gig economy to sustain myself in the last couple of years since I moved to Berlin. And as a Latin American immigrant without an European citizenship, I know all the low-paying jobs that new arrivals have to take up to make ends meet.

Let me know what you think!

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