Evri has announced plans to hire 5000 new couriers following their proposed merger with DHL’s UK e-commerce business – a move that might sound impressive until you realise the company has spent the past year making it increasingly unattractive to actually work for them.
The DHL Deal Driving Expansion
The recruitment drive comes on the back of Evri’s proposed merger with DHL’s UK operations, which would create what the company optimistically calls “the pre-eminent parcel delivery group in the UK” – though whether that refers to volume or the sheer number of complaints remains to be seen.
The combined operation is expected to handle over 1 billion parcels annually, which explains why Evri suddenly needs thousands more couriers to manage the increased workload.
What’s less clear is why anyone would want to join them.
The Irony of Evri’s Recruitment Push
Here’s where things get interesting. Evri’s aggressive hiring comes against a backdrop of the company systematically making life harder for its existing courier workforce.
Over the past year, Evri has been busy slashing courier pay rates, reducing round sizes, and generally making the job less attractive – all while struggling to recruit and retain drivers.
Now they’re essentially asking 5000 people to sign up for what their current couriers are increasingly unhappy with.
Of the 5000 new positions, only 1000 will be permanent roles, with the vast majority joining as “Evri Flex” couriers – casual workers who pick up deliveries via an app when they fancy it.
This represents Evri’s revamped courier scheme, rebranding their old SE+ and Lifestyle courier categories to “Evri Flex” and “Evri Plus” (in a move that definitely doesn’t copy Amazon Flex at all).
However, the reality for these new Evri Flex workers is that work volumes will plummet after Christmas when parcel volumes inevitably drop off.
CMA Throws a Spanner in the Works
The recruitment drive might be premature anyway, as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced it will investigate the Evri-DHL merger.
The watchdog is examining whether the deal could reduce competition in the UK parcel delivery market.
Given that the combined entity would become a major rival to Royal Mail and handle such a significant portion of UK deliveries, the CMA’s scrutiny is hardly surprising.
The investigation could delay or even block the merger entirely, potentially leaving Evri with thousands of new signed-up couriers and no additional business to justify their “employment.”
Can Evri Hire 5000 New Couriers? A Tough Sell in a Challenging Market
With Evri’s reputation for customer service issues and their recent track record of making the courier job less appealing, convincing 5000 people to join their ranks might prove more challenging than anticipated.
The company will need to overcome not just their recruitment difficulties, but also convince potential couriers that there’ll be enough work to make the casual Evri Flex model worthwhile – particularly given the seasonal nature of parcel volumes and the company’s history of squeezing courier earnings.
For now, prospective couriers might want to carefully consider whether the gig economy promise of flexible work actually delivers when the company controlling the app has been steadily reducing what that work pays.
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