Deliveroo is expanding its rider proposition to offer free and flexible childcare hours for parents, as well as a new education and skills programme.
The rapid delivery company has formed a new partnership with childcare app Bubble, offering a total of 15,000 free childcare hours to parents.
It will be offering 15 hours of free childcare to 1,000 riders on a first-come, first-served basis.
The move comes as a recent survey of Deliveroo riders found that the majority (88%) with caring responsibilities look after children and 81% would find care support useful.
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Deliveroo has also partnered with Lynx Educate to offer riders a range of more than 1,500 online educational courses including business management, coding, project management and photography, which can be taken flexibly around their schedules.
The company is sponsoring 100 riders to take higher qualification certificates, ranging from web development to cooking.
The initiatives build on Deliveroo’s existing partnership with City & Guilds which has seen over 2,000 riders completing short courses and foundation level degree courses since the launch of the Academy in 2018.
Deliveroo SVP of care and rider Camilla Kater said: “At Deliveroo, we’re committed to investing in our riders’ development, welfare, and future, and the flexible work we offer is often a stepping stone to progress in other careers, or a way to juggle earning with caring responsibilities.
“The new free childcare offering not only gives parents more flexibility and opportunity to ride when they want, but means they can use the time in their busy lives to develop through our expanded education and skills programme.
“Alongside this platform, these new initiatives provide our riders with a unique opportunity to think about the future, upskill, and broaden their learning.”
It comes as CEO Will Shu praised the development of Deliveroo’s grocery arm but stressed there was still “a real expansion opportunity” for customers who had not interacted with the division.
“We’ve got a big opportunity just to drive the small baskets. We also have a real expansion opportunity,” he said.
