Deliveroo: 96% reduction in time-to-hire

Since its inception in 2013, Deliveroo has become one of the largest food delivery companies in the world, raising $860 million and serving 12 countries (at the time of this story’s publication) and counting. This exceptionally fast growth has been fueled by Deliveroo’s 30,000 riders across the globe, about half of whom work in the United Kingdom. Operating in some of the most competitive and metropolitan cities in the world, Deliveroo is constantly fighting to be the preferred company of riders in cities such as London, Paris, and Melbourne.

Tom Morrison, Deliveroo’s Head of Supply Operations, leads the team responsible for supplying 120 markets across the UK and Ireland and considers Fountain to be indispensable to his team.

Cutting time-to-onboard in half

Today, Deliveroo processes up to 10,000 applicants per week just to maintain its rider pool and growth. In order to process this volume, the team has worked to develop an efficient and streamlined application flow.

Previously, it could take three-and-a-half weeks on average to onboard each rider. Now, diligent applicants can make it through the whole process in a single day. 

“In today’s competitive work environment, the longer and harder the application and onboarding process is for an applicant, the lower the conversion rate you’ll see,” Morrison said. “The applicant gets bored, they drop out, they get another job, or they’re not engaged, which makes the challenge of meeting demand even harder. With a shorter process, we get riders on the road quicker.”

Automating the process to deliver a pool of qualified candidates on-demand

Instead of having his team sift through each application, call each applicant, and manually prod them to submit information, complete documentation, and set up background checks, the entire front end of the process is now completed automatically.

Today, an applicant moves from stage to stage seamlessly. When they arrive in the queue to onboard, they have already provided all relevant personal information, passed background checks, completed a set of online learning questions, submitted their bank details, and signed a supplier agreement. The final in-person steps are limited to Right to Work verification and choosing a safety kit before they get on the road.

This automated process also allows Deliveroo to easily ramp up rider supply in periods of high demand while maintaining a rigorous onboarding and screening process.

Seamlessly integrating technologies

Morrison uses a host of technologies to manage different portions of the rider onboarding process, and Fountain integrates seamlessly with all of them. Like many companies, Deliveroo uses a variety of internal and external support systems for background checks, learning materials, and document signing.

Applicant data flows among these systems automatically, with no need for double entry or spreadsheet imports. This was immensely important to Morrison because without these integrations, the process would need to be much more manual.

A/B testing and adjusting the screening process to improve conversion rate

In the past, Deliveroo considered building an onboarding solution in house, as several competing companies have done, but Morrison decided it would be far more costly and less flexible. The biggest factor is the ability to easily test different tactics to increase conversion rates, like rearranging the steps in the application process or changing the communication pattern.

“Fountain has not only allowed us to manage more applicants, but it has allowed us to test and adjust our process over time, which is the most important thing for a fast-growing company,” Morrison said.

He doesn’t need to endure a time-consuming process where engineers have to swoop in and scope out requested changes. Instead, non-technical members of his team can change workflows and create A/B tests on their own. This flexibility has allowed Morrison and his team to hone their strategy to keep up with the fast-growing demand.