For Example, Spain-Switzerland, Grab Considers The Employee Appointment Scheme To Disrupt Driver Partners

JAKARTA - Grab Indonesia's Country Managing Director Neneng Goenadi assesses changing the status of driver partners to permanent employees has the potential to have a negative impact on online motorcycle taxi driver partners.

According to Neneng, if all driver-partners must be appointed as employees, only a small part of them can most likely be absorbed by the company. The limitations are based on the considerations of rights that must be fulfilled by the company to employees such as salaries, leave, pensions, and others.

He gave an example of a case in Spain where in 2021 the state government issued a Coders' Law policy which requires online courier partners to be appointed as employees. During its implementation, one of the applications operating in the country is only able to raise 17 percent of driver-partners to permanent employees.

"Imagine if only 17 percent in Indonesia can be absorbed, where do others go? How do they get income?" Neneng said as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, June 14.

He emphasized that the status as an employee has different rights and obligations compared to the partnership scheme.

With the status of an employee, the driver will have permanent working hours, through strict selection processes such as interviews and routine evaluations, and can be dismissed if the performance does not meet company standards.

"Once he is laid off, panic looking for work, it's not easy. Unless there are so many jobs available," he explained.

In addition to its impact on drivers, Neneng also highlighted the domino effect on the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector.

According to Neneng, the shrinking number of driver-partners will have a direct impact on food and goods delivery services from MSME players, which have been dependent on online platforms.

He set an example in Geneva, Switzerland, where after Uber Eat was required to make driver partners employees, food service demand decreased by 42 percent.

"As many as 90 percent of GrabFood merchants are MSMEs. If the number of partners shrinks, this could erode the economic flow of MSMEs, which the majority rely on online orders," he said.