Individual Assignment by Anisah Class Mmc1103a

FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION & MEDIA STUDIES
DIPLOMA IN COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA
COURSE:
PUBLIC RELATIONS (PRO221)
ASSIGNMENT TITLE:
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT (20%)
ISSUE: BOYCOTT ON FOODPANDA NEW PAYMENT SCHEME
DATE OF SUBMISSION:
18TH OF JULY 2021
PREPARED FOR:
DR. NUR NASLIZA ARINA MOHAMAD NASIR
PREPARED BY:
ANISAH BINTI HISHAMUDDIN (2020180165)
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CONTENTS
NO. TITLE PAGE
1.0 SUMMARY 3-4
2.0 PROFESSIONALISM 4-5
3.0 CATEGORIES OF PR 5
4.0 ROLES AND CONCEPTS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS 6-7

4.1 ISSUE MANAGEMENT
5.0 REFERENCES 7
8-9
6.0 APPENDIX
2
1.0 SUMMARY
“If you don’t want to work, we are okay with it,” says the boss of Foodpanda. This comment
came into being a week after a protest by some 200 Foodpanda riders occur as a result of
an announcement regarding a revised pay scheme on the 28th of September 2019 by the
Managing Director of Foodpanda Malaysia, Sayantan Das. The protest was held at the
company’s headquarters at Southgate Cheras and Padang Bandara in Kota Kinabalu,
Sabah. The riders urged Foodpanda to revert to the previous payment scheme stating that
they will earn less under the new scheme especially if they work on a full-time basis.
However, according to Sayantan Das, the revised scheme would give riders the flexibility to
choose when and where they wished to work. They are also able to earn more based on the
orders they accept, with an increased rate per order received.
Mr Das further gave an example that if a rider who previously received RM5 per order
would now receive RM7. In addition, an RM100 bonus will be given as an incentive upon
completing 60 hours in a week. Riders will also receive an extra RM1 per order delivered
between 11:00 pm and 9:00 am daily. An additional bonus will also be given upon the
completion of 80 orders during the period (from September 30 to October 6). Furthermore,
insurance is provided for all riders as Foodpanda will continue to provide a safe and versatile
work environment. However, this scheme was not agreeable with some riders who argued
that they claimed more by the number of hours worked rather than deliveries performed
during their work shift under the old payment. Sayantan Das is not worried about the strike
as only a small number of the 12,000 riders were not satisfied and should find jobs
elsewhere if there are unhappy. This however continued on social media platform e.g. Twitter
with the viral hashtag #DeleteFoodPanda, #BoycottFoodPanda, #UninstallFoodPanda and
#MogokFoodPanda.
The former Youth and Sports Minister, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman even went on
Twitter to only support corporations that are fair to both staff and users. The government
then forms a task force for the gig economy amid Foodpanda woes. The ministries which
were involved were the Ministry of Human Resources, Ministry of Domestic Trade and
Consumer Affairs and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The government will try to heed the
woes of riders who also demanded safety nets such as EPF or SOCSO. Both ministries and
Foodpanda executives met to discuss a solution. However, in a gig economy characterized
by the prevalence of short term contracts or freelance work, the safety nets could never be
implemented.
3
Currently, during the pandemic, many people became jobless and most have resorted
to working as Foodpanda riders, cyclists and even walkers. Permanent jobs are hard to
come by and the gig economy is thriving. People are no longer demanding anything extra
but just a decent job to put food on the table. At the end of the day, Foodpanda won.
2.0 PROFESSIONALISM
Professors Lawrence W. Long and Vincent Hazleton describe public relations as “a

communication function of management through which organizations adapt to, alter, or
maintain their environment to achieve organizational goals.” The most recent definition was
formulated by the Public Relations Society America n 2012 which says that “Public relations
is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between
an organization and their publics”. The keywords used in modern public relations are
deliberate, plan, performance, public interest, two-way communication and strategic
management of competition and conflict. Meanwhile, professionalism in public relations is
the comprehensive code of ethics which includes advocacy (serving the public interest by
acting as responsible advocates for those we represent), honesty (adhere to the highest
standards of accuracy and truth in advancing interests and communicating with the public),
expertise (acquire and responsibly use specialized knowledge and experience),
independence (provide objective counsel to those we represent), loyalty (faithful to those we
represent while honouring our obligation to serve the public interest) and fairness (deal fairly
with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media, and the general public in the
profession).
In the case of Foodpanda, the piece depiction does correspond to the profession of
public relations. The article portrayed two of the professional code of ethics namely loyalty
and fairness. Firstly for loyalty, Mr Sayantan Das clearly showed his loyalty to the company
by being steadfast on the company’s decision to implement a new fee structure to riders
outside the Klang Valley. Even though some Foodpanda riders went on a strike to protest
against the new pay scheme, Mr Das explained that payment per delivery would amount
more daily with bonuses as compared to payment received on an hourly rate. He believed
that the company was acting on the employees' benefits.
On the other hand, fairness as a code of ethics was quite tricky in this case. However
from the articles read, fairness in the case of Foodpanda was evident in their dealings with
their employees, public, the government and media. The company laid out the terms their
riders will receive under the new scheme together with insurance coverage. The public was
4
also made known of the opportunities to work with Foodpanda whereby those who do a lot of
deliveries would earn more. The Foodpanda management also met with three ministries set
up by the government to find a solution and improve those working in the gig economy. As a
result of the meeting, Foodpanda will evaluate the outcomes of the new payment scheme for
a few months and decide whether to continue or revert to the old payment scheme. It was
however not known whether the woes voiced by riders for safety nets (EPF and SOCSO)
were discussed. For the boycott in social media for example Twitter with the viral hashtag
#DeleteFoodPanda, #BoycottFoodPanda, #UninstallFoodPanda and #MogokFoodPanda,
Foodpanda did suffer a fall in customers. This problem did not deter the management as
business pick up fairly fast with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019
and the subsequent Movement Control Order (MCO) imposed by the government beginning
March 2020
3.0 CATEGORIES OF PR
The categories of public relations include their nature of work which are monitoring, dealing
with the media, dealing with clients, drafting Public Relations materials and dealing with staff.
For this particular issue, the nature of work for PR was strongly evident through monitoring,
dealing with the media, drafting public relations materials and dealing with staff. The first
announcement made by Foodpanda was on the 28th of September 2019 of a new payment
scheme which will be effective beginning 30th September 2019. The news was first published
in the New Straits Time (NST) on the 30 th of September 2019 and then taken up by The Star
on 8th October 2019 (appendix) after a press conference by Mr Sayantan Das on the 7 th
October 2019.
In the week following the news in The Star, PR has monitored and dealt with mass
media especially online news portal e.g. MalaysiaKini, Free Malaysia Today and Bernama
which published news regarding Foodpanda. The news includes the strike by some
Foodpanda riders, the setting up of three ministries to resolve the payment problems,
address woes voiced out by affected Foodpanda riders and those working in the gig
economy as well as the boycott of Foodpanda by users published in social media such as
Twitter, Facebook etc.
In addition, PR would also be responsible for contacting the right journalists to publish
the news, write press releases and arrange press conferences. This includes attending a
special meeting to discuss the issue together with Mr Sayantan Das and the three ministries.
In light of the boycott made by the public, PR had brainstorming sessions with staff to
5
generate creative ideas on special offers, discounts and campaigns to rebuild Foodpanda’s
image and reputation.
4.0 ROLES AND CONCEPTS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
The public image makes up 63% of the value in most companies (Dobell, 2008) proving that
a company’s reputation is very important. Therefore the role of public relations (PR) is crucial
in spreading an organisation or company’s messages while also minimising the effect of
negative publicity in any way possible (Sherman, 2019). There are several PR roles and
concepts according to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) such as counselling,
research, media relations, publicity, employee relations, community relations, government
affairs, public affairs, issue management, financial relations, industry relations, fund-raising,
multicultural relations, special events and marketing communication.
The dispute surrounding the Foodpanda riders, the general public and their boycotts
towards the company on social media platforms could potentially ruin Foodpanda’s
reputation if not acted upon accordingly. Many PR roles and concepts can be used for this
dispute but the most important one is issue management.
4.1 ISSUE MANAGEMENT
When handling a situation that involves issue management, PR will identify the problems
relating to their respective company. An issue that includes a certain category will catch the
public’s eye and evokes various attention and concerns. Issue management is a process
that involves the management being both anticipatory and strategic. This will permit any
company to be aware of trends or problems relevant to the company thus allowing them to
respond appropriately to any problems (Moyer, 2020)
The dispute began on the 30th of September 2019 when Foodpanda, a renowned food
delivery company decided to renew its payment scheme. This caused an uproar not only to
some riders but also the general public when the matter was brought to social media
platforms as a strike against the company using viral hashtags. In a matter of a few days, the
situation escalated prompting the government to set up a tripartite ministerial committee
consisting of the Ministry of Human Resources, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer
Affairs and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The PR of Foodpanda liaised with The PR of
the three ministries to arrange a meeting to discuss the issue. The ministries were tasked to
look for appropriate measures to improve the livelihood of those working in the gig economy.
6
The outcome of the meeting was seen to be a win-win situation for both parties whereby
Foodpanda will re-examine the new payment scheme after two months.
In addition, PR countered the issue by holding a press conference for Sayantan Das to
explain Foodpanda’s stand apart from releasing press statements to the mass media. They
also offer a plethora of vouchers such as free deliveries, discounts etc. However, it is not
known whether the issue has resolved as the news just died down with the arrival of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia two months later. With the Movement Control Order (MCO)
in place beginning on 18th March 2020, Foodpanda has seen a rise in job applications as
riders, cyclists or walkers as well as an increment in deliveries. The new payment scheme
would have been in place with no complaints now as jobs are in high demand especially in
this current unpredictable situation.
5.0 REFERENCES
Angelin Yeoh. (2019), Users boycotting Foodpanda after company maintains new
payment scheme that upset riders (updated), https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-
news/2019/10/08/users-boycotting-foodpanda-after-company-maintains-new-payment-
scheme-that-upset-riders
Azzman, N. (2019), More than 200 Foodpanda riders protest over new payment
scheme, https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2019/09/525882/more-200-foodpanda-riders-
protest-over-new-payment-scheme
Fadhli, S. (2019), Kalau awak tak mahu kerja, kami OK, kata bos Foodpanda,
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/494776
Hashini, K. (2019) Committee to look into Foodpanda's new payment scheme,

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2019/10/526517/committee-look-foodpandas-new-
payment-scheme
Shin, W. C. R. (2014), THINK Public Relations (2nd ed.). Pearson Education Limited.
7
Moyer, J. (2020), Issue Management. Institute for Public Relations. Retrieved from
https://instituteforpr.org/issues-management/
6.0 APPENDIX
8
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FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION & MEDIA STUDIES

DIPLOMA IN COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA

PUBLIC RELATIONS (PRO221)

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT (20%)

ISSUE: BOYCOTT ON FOODPANDA NEW PAYMENT SCHEME

18TH OF JULY 2021

DR. NUR NASLIZA ARINA MOHAMAD NASIR

ANISAH BINTI HISHAMUDDIN (2020180165)

NO. TITLE PAGE

1.0 SUMMARY 3-4

2.0 PROFESSIONALISM 4-5

4.0 ROLES AND CONCEPTS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS 6-7

Professors Lawrence W. Long and Vincent Hazleton describe public relations as “a

4.1 ISSUE MANAGEMENT

Hashini, K. (2019) Committee to look into Foodpanda's new payment scheme,

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