Uber Eats in the Netherlands is starting a small trial on November 13 with Adecco to allow food couriers to work via a temporary employment structure.

According to a post by Uber Eats, the pilot programme involves a small number of couriers, across seven cities in the Netherlands for the duration of a few months. The company said it wants to understand how couriers experience this way of working.

It comes after the Supreme Court in the Netherlands ruled earlier this year that delivery drivers for food courier Deliveroo were employees and not self-employed.

The Uber Eats test will start small and initially offers a limited amount of couriers the option to join across Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Groningen, Rotterdam and Bergen op Zoom. The team will have conversations with the couriers who join the test to learn more about their preferences.

As part of the test, Adecco is recruiting new couriers who want to work via the Uber Eats app.

Uber Eats added that it will continue to offer independent work via its app and nothing will change for its couriers and they can keep working via the app ‘as they are used to’. This means couriers can decide their own work schedule.