AskGlovo. A Step Towards Transparency

How are algorithms actually used for delivery? Are couriers paid if they have an accident while delivering? These and many other questions about the platform economy and our company are answered daily in Glovo’s open-ended FAQ, AskGlovo. We like simplicity and frankness and that is why our “frequently asked questions” are made of real inquiries that we answer and publish for everyone to read; hot or cold, we don’t shy away from conversations.

More is expected from companies

In a recent study by Sprout Social, 86% of Americans say transparency from businesses is more important than ever before. When zooming into consumer-packaged goods (CPG), 81% of shoppers say transparency is important or extremely important. Glovo has been operating for over 7 years in an industry that is less than a decade old. The fact that the delivery sector has not been around for long means that we have often faced uncertainty and misinformation in the public eye. In this ever-evolving business, we keep upgrading and developing new technology to meet the demands of our users, partner shops and restaurants, and couriers. Coupled with the inevitable competitive character that exists in our nascent industry, there is a tendency to share little. Yet, every company has to be accountable for their impact on society and there are certainly many ways of doing it. At Glovo, we are betting on transparency. We firmly believe it is the greatest builder of trust, especially in times of growing distrust. Today, the majority of people, about 60%, tend to not believe facts until evidence proves that they are credible.

Edelman’s Trust Barometer highlights that companies remain the most trusted institution. Internally, we have been transparent since day one. It helped us to grow at such a fast pace because it was and remains the core of our strategic process. It doesn’t matter if we are 30 people or 3,000; business decisions, company growth, and the highs and lows have always been shared at Glovo. This keeps teams engaged and united towards the same mission and able to make well-informed decisions.

AskGlovo: a tool and a mindset to kick off the conversation

AskGlovo has come to life with the desire and need to respond to the main questions about our business. It is our main accountability tool for transparency, allowing us to have our own voice and to establish rich dialogues with whomever wants to connect with the reality of the sector and our own initiatives. Glovo is about giving everyone easy access to anything in their city. This tool is no different: open to everyone and to any question, and easy to understand.

It’s simple: just ask. On average, we receive around 500 questions per month and have provided an answer to all of them. If a question has never been asked before and follows our community guidelines, it can make it to the public feed! This is a clear message – there is more information needed. And as the right thing to do, Glovo is ready to cover topics around our business, but also answer questions about our sustainability initiatives, life at Glovo, and tech innovation among others. Our goal is to turn AskGlovo into a collaborative source of information about the platform economy.

Internal transparency culture

In-house, our transparency goal is no different. Throughout the year, we like to check the temperature on how our employees feel about our transparency efforts and our yearly survey has seen some improvement. The most recent results showed that employees know more about business objectives and expansion plans and we have improved at explaining what each team is working on. Employees do, however, ask us to improve our transparency on career paths and salary policy.

Just like with AskGlovo, we don’t shy away from answering questions from our employees nor providing the right tools to make information and feedback accessible to all. Transparency at Glovo means:

During stand-ups, VPs answer the top 3 most voted questions from employees, share the latest business metrics to celebrate our achievements and not shying away when news are not so great. We even have a #NailedItOrFailedIt section!
Processes and platforms such as Confluence, in which we share open documents and ways of working.
Open and accessible data sources for anyone to check specific business metrics.
Feedback sessions, through which employees are given ongoing non-vanilla feedback on their performance and values alignment.

Information is power and we want to empower our employees through transparent decision-making and sharing. We firmly believe that, as a result of a trusted relationship, the employee advocacy, loyalty, and engagement rises.

Transparency is now a north star

Now that the industry is facing distrust, external transparency has become a north star for us. Transparency is in our DNA and has always been part of our cultureculture. It is time to bring it outwards. AskGlovo is a project as well as a mindset to lay down industry standards when it comes to accountability in what we believe should be the norm and not the exception. Along this journey, there are some things we have learned that we hope will help others embrace transparency in the workplace and into their business:

Transparency is being accountable and open to scrutiny.
It means showing the full picture, acknowledging our pain points and showing the process behind finding solutions.
It’s a proactive effort and the right thing to do. Do more of what’s expected of you.
It is a mindset that has to be embedded in all internal processes by all the company, top to bottom.

And if there is more you want to know, you can always Ask Glovo.