The delivery service Lieferando has significantly scaled back its previously announced layoff plans, though the underlying shift towards outsourced logistics continues to spark controversy and raise concerns about worker exploitation. Initially, the company signaled potential job losses for up to 2,000 of its directly employed delivery couriers, representing a 20% reduction in its delivery fleet, as part of a strategy to outsource 5% of its deliveries to third-party contractors.
Now, the cuts affect approximately 1,500 couriers, representing a 15% reduction. According to Lennard Neubauer, Head of Lieferando’s marketplace, the reduction was partly mitigated by natural employee turnover between summer and winter. Significantly, half of those affected are employed on a part-time basis as student workers or mini/midi-jobbers, a demographic particularly vulnerable to precarious employment conditions.
A social plan negotiated between Takeaway Express (Lieferando’s in-house logistics subsidiary) and its general works council provides affected employees with a severance package equivalent to one month’s salary per year of employment, plus €600 for professional development. This package extends to the part-time workforce as well, a small consolation in a climate of growing labor unrest.
However, the company’s approach has faced sharp criticism from the general works council, who allege a lack of genuine engagement in negotiations and a failure to provide requested information. The Food, Beverage and Hospitality Workers’ Union has further denounced Lieferando’s practice of terminating direct employment contracts only to re-employ affected workers through subcontracted companies, often at significantly worse conditions. This has fueled multiple courier strikes in recent months.
Parallel to the works council negotiations, Lieferando has already begun incorporating local logistics providers, a move Neubauer describes as initially successful. He claims that route consolidation, reduced distances and shorter delivery times have already improved by 10%, with on-time delivery rates reaching 85% in areas with focused outsourcing, resulting in improved customer feedback and “tangible growth” in the delivery service.
While expressing a desire to “combine the best of both worlds” Neubauer has not entirely ruled out further outsourcing in the future, although no immediate plans are in place. The implicit strategy – leveraging the parent company’s logistics capabilities in high-demand regions – underscores a broader trend in the gig economy: a push for greater efficiency and profit margins often achieved through a decoupling of labor and employer responsibility, potentially creating a two-tiered workforce with diminished rights and protections for those employed through third-party contractors. The long-term ramifications for courier welfare and the stability of the delivery service remain to be seen, but the current situation highlights the escalating tensions between corporate efficiency and worker livelihoods.