The company’s “employee model” is expected to be restricted to seven cities.
The wheel is turning for Just Eat in France. At the beginning of 2021, the Anglo-Dutch meal delivery platform ensured that it was possible to earn money by employing salaried delivery people. It launched 4,500 recruitments on permanent contracts. A strong choice: Uber Eats and Deliveroo, the two market leaders, only rely on self-employed deliverers, synonymous with lower costs.
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Alas, Tuesday April 12, Just Eat France recognized that its model did not work up to its expectations. The firm is considering a job safeguard plan (PSE) to part with 269 delivery workers on permanent contracts out of the 800 to 900 it employs. “We plan to refocus our employee model on a limited number of cities to seven”, explains Meleyne Rabot, general manager of Just Eat France. Until then, the platform offered its services with CDI deliverers in 27 cities.
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The time to implement the PSE, this reorganization could be effective in the second half. Just Eat would keep deliverers on permanent contracts in Paris and its suburbs, in Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Lille and Roubaix, “who represent 75% of orders and two thirds of the workforce”, specifies Meleyne Rabot.
Unfair competition
On the other hand, in 20 cities, including Bordeaux and Nantes, the company “plans to switch from an employee model to an alternative mode of delivery” still to be defined. The solutions are not endless: either it calls on direct auto-entrepreneurs; or it entrusts the market to a company employing auto-entrepreneurs, like Stuart. Meleyne Rabot invokes a “volatile and competitive” market to justify her decision, assuring: “I am not saying that we are going to abandon the employee model. This PSE raises questions about the relevance of an organization with delivery people on permanent contracts. Especially since meal delivery no longer experiences the crazy growth recorded when restaurants were closed. “The consumption habits of our customers could be marked by more moderation this year,” warned Will Shu, founder of Deliveroo.
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