Ruido

Information is at risk of becoming just “noise”

Glovo is a digital platform operating in a fast and changing global environment. Our operations bring together the digitalisation of local commerce, new urban mobility options, and the innovative use of data to offer everyone convenience, time-saving, and earnings, in a disruptive way. But change always generates friction, and these many simultaneous waves of innovation can only be expected to make a lot of noise.

“Noise” increasingly characterises the way we access information in our society. There is a constant flow of news, public statements, and conversations about technology and digitalisation — including other developments of which Glovo is a part of. This noise, on many occasions, bypasses the actors that shape the very topics of conversation: platforms, partners, riders, communities, and so on. It is this noise that, in the particular case of Glovo, often deals with the relationship with our couriers from an antagonistic and negative perspective, assuming incessantly ideas and figures that do not match with reality. Without asking the very people that can have access to first-hand information, this information risks becoming a myth, hearsay — or “noise”.

The case of Spain is perhaps one of the most illustrative. In our home country, the public debate on work and digital platforms is very advanced, and it involves not only the media but also the public, social, and business spheres. Glovo, along with other associations and companies in Spain, has developed a policy brief that informs our position, providing arguments and data aimed to add colour to an apparently black and white matter. For instance:

PRECARISATION

“RIDERS EMBODY THE PRECARIOUS WORK OF THE XXI CENTURY”.

The average income of a courier in Spain that collaborates with delivery platforms ranges from €8 to € 11 per hour, while the equivalent Spanish collective agreement in the food delivery employment labour regime, which has been approved by the main trade unions (UGT and CCOO), establishes a salary of €4 per hour.

The platforms offer the opportunity to generate a competitive income — either in a complementary way, or in some cases, as a primary source of income for a short period of time — to different groups of people (students, freelancers, recently arrived migrants, the unemployed who are in professional transition, among others) who benefit from being able to choose how and when to provide their service, and to whom platforms offer an opportunity to generate money with low barriers to entry.

In Spain, two out of three delivery riders provide services for platforms for periods of less than 20 hours per week, and around 65% work for less than six months. Before registering on the platform, 21% were unemployed before registering on the platform, 17% were already self-employed and one in three came from another country.

SOCIAL VULNERABILITY

“THE RIDERS ARE HELPLESS; THEY DO NOT HAVE ANY TYPE OF SOCIAL PROTECTION.”

In December 2018, the Spanish Government agreed, along with the representatives of the main self-employed worker’s organisations (ATA, UPTA, UATAE and CEAT), upon the approval of a decree with measures aiming to improve the situation of the autonomous workers. Among them, it is worth highlighting the expansion of mandatory social protections and coverage.

In addition to these protections, digital platforms provide accident insurance and civil liability at a global scale, covering any contingency that may occur while delivery drivers are connected to the platform.

Finally, the Government, through the Secretary of State for Social Security declared that “in 2019, the level of protection of the self-employed in Spain will be one of the best in the world”. Also, the Minister of Labour, Magdalena Valerio, said that with these new measures, “Spain joins the group with the largest coverage of self-employed workers together with Luxembourg”.

LABOUR DEPENDENCE

“THE COURIERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN CONTRACTED BY THE PLATFORMS”.

A key feature in this type of activity is flexibility: couriers have the freedom to choose the hours and days to work. They decide where, when and how they want to collaborate with the platform, and do not have exclusivity with us.

This means that they can combine this economic activity with studies, other occupations, personal projects, and even providing services for other platforms or companies which are not directly linked to the sector.

Various experts in labour market regulations and organisations, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Commission, say: “When looking for worker protection, we should not differentiate if it is an employed or self-employed worker”. This is a position that we defend from Glovo.

WORK DESTRUCTION

“DELIVERY PLATFORMS ELIMINATE JOBS”.

The activity of delivery through digital platforms is not eliminating jobs or converting traditional jobs into self-employment.

These platforms offer “last-mile” delivery services in less than one hour. This new service generates additional income for local commerce, SMEs and food chains. To date, most of these businesses did not have the opportunity to digitalise their sales, while now they can do rapidly and without the need to make a costly investment in infrastructure.

It is fundamental to be proactive in explaining our reality with this type of data. But, even a bigger challenge, is how to do so in an environment in which there may be no reply forthcoming and no conversation to be kickstarted. The policy debates are not about imposing our reasoning, but about finding a space with clear rules of the game, allowing us to learn, contrast ideas, and listen to each other. Debates and conversations are the opposite of noise. We hope this space contributes to this purpose.