High-Growth Platform in the Delivery Economy (WOLT - The Hungarian Case)

Abstract

The following case study presents the working conditions and the room for collective bargaining for couriers working at the app-based food delivery company Wolt in Hungary. Interviews were made with both the management and the couriers. Wolt was founded in 2014 in Finland and has been expanding globally ever since, delivering in over 100 cities from 23 countries, and to seven million customers by 48,000 food couriers, from 27,000 restaurants. They entered the Hungarian market in 2018, and by early 2021 they deliver food from more than 2000 restaurants with 4-5000 couriers. The demand for food delivery has increased significantly due to the pandemic, providing much needed job opportunities for primarily young men. The first section of this case study presents the history and evolution of the company from a Finnish start-up to a global player, the second summarizes the most important lessons of the interviews with the management, and the third contrasts experiences of the platform workers based on: a) the basic socio-demographic characteristics of the interviewees, b) their most important sources of motivation, c) their perception on the advantages and disadvantages of this type of job, d) their economic situation compared to other unskilled jobs in Hungary; and finally e) the problematic aspects of the algorithmic management Before drawing our conclusions, we also briefly describe the driving and inhibiting factors of collective action and collective voice as well as how the pandemic has impacted the ecosystem of the food delivery business sector.