Deliveroo defends new “flexible” pay conditions as protesters descend on HQ
Deliveroo has defended its new pay conditions, describing them as "flexible", amid protests at its London headquarters.
The delivery service said the action is over new pay conditions set to be trialled next week.
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Instead of being paid an hourly rate of £7, plus £1 per delivery, drivers will get, under a trial system, £3.75 plus tips. Deliveroo also pays for drivers’ petrol.
Riders gathered outside Deliveroo’s HQ near Tottenham Court Road on Wednesday night. And more were in the area today.
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On Thursday, Business Insider reported that UK managing director Dan Warne had addressed the riders, saying: "We're happy to speak with each and every one of you. We have a team upstairs that do that."
A Deliveroo spokesman told Morning Wire said that the new pay conditions were being trialled after gathering feedback from riders, who wanted more “flexibility”.
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“We’ve designed this trial to enhance flexibility, allowing riders to work whenever they want by logging on-and-off as desired,” they said. “Rider feedback is key to everything we do, and we’ve built in a process throughout the trial to ensure that continuous communication and drop-in information sessions are available to all riders.”
They added:
The 2.2km size of each delivery zone has been designed with delivery distance and time in mind. Following extensive testing, this zone size was found to be the optimum size to ensure that riders could complete two to three orders an hour safely and with plenty of time, while still receiving fees of more than £10 per hour across the lunch and dinner times our riders work.
Along with increased flexibility, we’ve seen average hourly fees for riders in previous trials rise to over 2.1 times the previous payment model at our busiest times. Our riders’ feedback is important to us and we’re keen to hear more about the London riders’ concerns, so we can continue to improve our payment model and delivery experience.