Delivery company Dáme jídlo has created a new position for communication with partner couriers. The company wants to respond better to their suggestions or complaints. The company also wants to offer them rewards based on positive evaluations. In an interview with ČTK, the company’s logistics chief, Tomáš Kýček said.
In Prague this month, some couriers from rival company Wolt protested over changes in the remuneration system, which they say have resulted in a drop in their earnings.
The organizers of the protests said they were setting up a trade union for all workers in the sharing economy and had received support from the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (ČMKOS).
Communication with the couriers is an essential element of the company’s development, according to Kýček. “We want to connect couriers more with the company,” he said.
Couriers primarily work for the company as freelancers on a partnership basis, yet Kýček said they need to be treated as another type of employee.
Couriers can also work for so-called “fleets,” external companies that work with Dáme jídlo and can rent cars to couriers, for example.
The new position at the company does not yet have an official title. It will focus on direct contact with couriers, and the aim is to respond to their daily needs, comments, and suggestions to improve the whole system.
According to Kýček, the company had already planned to establish the position before the protests by the couriers of a competing company. He said they, too, can influence Dáme jídlo, given that the courier community is interconnected and remuneration is a sensitive issue for them.
The company, therefore, wants to be as transparent as possible. “It is important that couriers know how the company rates them,” he added.
Give Food currently works with more than 4,600 couriers. According to Kýček, some people, such as students, come as couriers to earn extra money.
Others only go seasonally, and some devote most of their time to the job as if working full-time. This year, the company wants to make cooperation more effective through better communication and offer them the opportunity to receive significantly higher remuneration for quality work.
The protests by Wolt couriers will likely lead to forming a new union called the Platform Workers Union. The organizers of the protests said last week that they had met with ČMKOS chairman Josef Středula.
Dáme jídlo was founded in 2012 by internet entrepreneur Tomáš Čupr, who is behind, among other things, the online supermarket Rohlík.cz and the discount portal Slevomat. Since 2014, Dáme jídlo has been part of Delivery Hero.