They will be held in different cities to understand local demands
In 2021, iFood began a process of making active listening meetings with small groups of delivery drivers, occasions where the company listens carefully to partners to understand their day-to-day work and what the main challenges they face are.
“We want to listen and collect information. We already carried out frequent research and collected a lot of data, but we realized that the best insights they really came from direct conversation”, says Alexandre Martinez, logistics manager at iFood. “Nothing replaces eye to eye. When we talk, we feel the weight that each demand really has. This brings us clarity and a sense of urgency to resolve.”
At the end of the year, iFood held the first National Delivery Drivers Forum, also in the spirit of listening to leaders to understand their needs, which resulted in a commitment letter signed by foodtech.
“Our previous routines looked at the micro, like evaluating the app’s functionality, for example. The Forum began the process of improving listening and brought us a macro view of the demands of delivery people, at a national level. But we also saw that some problems are more important in certain squares than others”, says Alexandre.
From these experiences a new idea emerged: holding regional meetings regularly to understand more clearly the different needs of professionals in each location and, thus, improve operations. Starting this month, these regional meetings will be held monthly in different cities across the country — the first took place in Recife (PE) on April 13th.
In these meetings, iFood looks for delivery men and women with different profiles. “We are going to listen, understand different points of view to know what is most important and prioritize these points. We want to build solutions and improvements in partnership with everyone”, comments Alexandre.
For Alexandre, this active listening process is a game changer in iFood's culture, as the result of these conversations will guide the company's future actions in relation to its partners. “We are placing delivery men and women at the center of our reflections and actions. As a technology company, the more we talk, the more we have input for continuous improvement.”
