In addition to increasing route prices, actions seek to improve the working conditions of delivery drivers
Increase the value of routes carried out by delivery people It's one of the ways to value your work, but not the only one. “Listening to their demands on a daily basis, we are responding not only to their request for increased earnings but also for improvements to the application and working conditions”, explains Claudia Storch, iFood’s director of operations. “We started with the readjustment because it was the most urgent issue, but other actions are to come.”
In 2021, before defining its goals in this area, iFood carried out an opinion survey with delivery drivers to understand what their biggest pain points were. “We want to bring more and more delivery drivers closer, to build a new path together. This is a change in mental model for the continuous improvement that we are going to promote”, he states.
With this in mind, iFood has been designing new strategies to value delivery drivers for 2022. “By improving our listening process, we place delivery drivers at the center of our strategies. We have the largest network of delivery partners in Brazil, it is our role to help value this profession”, comments Claudia.
Below, she reveals six initiatives that iFood is implementing to improve the work of delivery partners.
Increased earnings
Route prices have been readjusted and, from April 2022, delivery men and women will have an increase of 50% in the minimum value per kilometer driven and 13% in the minimum route value. Thus, the value of the minimum route becomes R$ 6, and the minimum value per kilometer traveled reaches R$ 1.50.
Campaign for more respect
Another important point that emerged in conversations with delivery drivers was respect for their profession and working conditions, especially in cases where they suffer discrimination and even aggression during deliveries. “iFood rejects this type of attitude and there is a reporting channel in the app”, says Claudia. “Anyone who commits any moral or physical violence against delivery people is unregistered from the platform.”
Furthermore, in 2022 iFood will launch a campaign to reinforce the importance of respect between consumers, partner establishments and delivery people. “The appreciation of work does not only involve gains, it also involves respect. Therefore, we will carry out continuous campaigns to reinforce the importance of the profession and professionals”, says the director of iFood.
Expansion of support points
iFood offers more than 1,300 support points in 14 cities, which are places where delivery drivers can take a break to drink water, go to the bathroom or rest. This support network, says Claudia, will continue to grow.
“We’ve made a lot of progress and now we’re closing new partnerships,” he says. “We want to have more rest points, which are larger spaces where delivery drivers can take a break during deliveries, use the microwave and charge their cell phones.”
More transparency in blocking
In response to the delivery drivers' request for more information about the reasons for the suspension or blocking on the platform, iFood revised the entire communication flow regarding this action to provide more transparency to the process.
With these changes, professionals who violate any rules set out in the terms and conditions will receive a notice explaining the problem and what they can do to avoid permanent deactivation. “It will be an educational instance. Content via WhatsApp to understand what the problem was and how to avoid it in the future”, reveals Claudia.
Changes to the app
iFood listened to the demands of delivery drivers and is making improvements to two features of the application. One is related to grouped delivery, when the professional picks up more than one order from the same restaurant and takes it to different addresses. “We reviewed the parameters to improve the grouping of orders so that deliveries are not too far apart from each other”, says Claudia.
Another change will be in scheduling, an application feature that allows the delivery person to reserve a period to deliver in the following days. In dialogue with delivery people, they asked to improve the usability of this tool. “We are reformulating the schedule and solving the problems highlighted. In the coming months, we will change the entire value proposition of scheduling so that it is a feature that the delivery person loves.”
Biannual listening forums
To complement the initiatives to listen to delivery drivers, iFood will hold two forums per year in the largest cities with the logistics service—the first will be Recife (PE). “We will promote events on an ongoing basis. There will be biannual listening forums, another channel to hear what is working and what is not”, says the director of operations at iFood.
