Finnish delivery firm Wolt has hired its first food couriers as employees, in accordance with a Supreme Administrative Court decision handed down last year.
However, the terms of employment are exceptional by Finnish legal standards. Under the terms, Wolt couriers will only be paid for time spent actually transporting deliveries, not the time they spend awaiting orders – and they must use their own vehicles without compensation.
According to labour law expert Keijo Kaivanto, Finnish firms usually either provide workers with equipment or reimburse them for the use of their own tools.
In May, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that food couriers should be considered employees rather than independent entrepreneurs. Wolt has filed an appeal, seeking to overturn that decision.
Wolt's Chief Operating Officer for Northern Europe, Joel Järvinen, tells Yle that the Helsinki-based firm plans to hire 100 couriers by the end of March.
The first group of about 20 employees started work in mid-January.
Yle has seen a courier's employment contract, which Wolt has confirmed as genuine.
Järvinen says that employees can decide on their own working hours. He explains that performance-based pay is adjusted according to factors such as the estimated time and distance required for work.
Järvinen adds that courier workers must use their own vehicle and phone to do their work.
"At this point, the courier has the freedom to choose the tool. In this employment relationship, the salary is performance-based, i.e. based on completed deliveries. Since we don't have any equipment, couriers can apply for the kilometre allowance deductions in their own taxation. We do not pay separate kilometre allowances," Järvinen says.
He adds that hiring employees is an opportunity for Wolt to try out how employment and entrepreneurship can work side by side in platform work. He says that Wolt ensures that employees receive at least 12 euros per hour of actual delivery time, but not for time spent waiting for assignments.
Meanwhile, Wolt co-founder Mikko "Miki" Kuusi has been Finland's highest earner for the past three years, with income of more than 80 million euros last year.
