IN CONVERSATION WITH: Covid-19 has affected the incomes and jobs of Singaporeans. For two fathers in Singapore, the need to continue supporting their family and young children drove them to seek out other sources of income after their employment was affected by Covid-19.

We listen to their story about how they came Deliveroo riders, what that has been like and why they chose to do what they did.

Since the outbreak began, some of the biggest casualties of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the incomes and jobs of Singaporeans.

An OCBC survey found that 47 per cent of Singaporeans had experienced a dip in their income through wage cuts, being forced to take no-pay leave, or a reduction in commission earnings.

In addition, even before the Circuit Breaker began, long queues were spotted at community centres (CCs) and social service offices (SSOs) around Singapore over applications for the Temporary Relief Fund.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing, and Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo, have also spoken on the importance of creating job at an unprecedented scale this year.

Amidst these times, two Deliveroo riders have since shared their stories with Mothership of how they made the switch to become food delivery riders.

Looked for alternate stream of income after being put on unpaid leave

A 38-year-old father found himself being placed on unpaid leave – a status which he is still under even now – due to the Covid-19 situation.

Faizal Razi told Mothership that he has worked in the travel trade industry for 20 years, since he was 18.

In all his years of experience, the scale of the impact came as a shock to him, given that even the SARS outbreak did not reach such a level.

With Covid-19's impact on the aviation and tourism industries, orders for trips from his firm eventually stopped completely.

Elaborating on the toll it has taken on his firm, Faizal further pointed out that two weeks before Hari Raya Puasa on May 25, his company went through an initial round of retrenchment, with around 50 people being retrenched from their jobs.

With no source of income during this time, the father of two children, aged five months and eight years old, decided to join Deliveroo as a food delivery rider.

There are "always options" in Singapore, he said, stressing the importance of working hard.

With regard to Phase 2, Faizal said that a second round of retrenchment would occur in his company if business did not pick up.

The likelihood of the second round affecting him did not perturb Faizal, however, who counts his blessings to have secured a job in the meantime.

He said, "I'm already prepared, if I get retrenched, then I still have confidence with my Deliveroo."

Company closed during Covid-19

A similar experience was also mentioned by Nik Fauzy, a 40-year-old father, also of two children, aged five and two years old.

Prior to joining Deliveroo in March, Nik worked as a commercial diver engaged in underwater inspection and construction – a role he was in for nearly a decade. He was also a diving medic.

The company he had been working at for five years had folded during this time.

For Nik, who he had done deliveries before joining his previous company, he decided to make the switch to become a Deliveroo rider.

His wife is also expecting their third child, he told us.

At the time of our interview with Nik on June 18, he shared excitedly that she might go into labour anytime at the end of this week or sometime during the following week.

As such, he has since stopped making deliveries for the past few days as he has to stay home to take care of their two children, given that his wife has been going through contractions.

Sacrifices have to be made, but they hope to spend time with kids

Both riders highlighted the flexible work schedule as a deciding factor as to why they signed up.

The freedom to login and log off at any time was highlighted by both of them as the biggest perk, thereby allowing them to spend more time with their family.

That being said, both riders added that they still kept to a certain schedule during the weekday however.

[Updated Jun. 22, 12:54pm] Editor's note: A previous version of the article had incorrectly stated that Faizal's target was 150 deliveries per day. Upon clarification however, we have updated the article with the correct figure.

On weekdays, Faizal would send his child to school at 7am, then return home to take his bike and ride into town with a daily target of 15-20 deliveries.

As for weekends, he only works on Saturdays from 8:30am to 2pm, with no delivery target.

"What I get, so be it."

Nik also has a similar schedule, riding into town after sending his children to school at 8am.

In his case, he simply aims to do as many deliveries as possible, with his knock-off timing contingent on whether his wife picks up their children from school.

Nik explained, "Me and my wife are flexible, (my) wife is working from home. During the day, if she is too busy, i will log out early (at about 5pm or 6pm) to fetch my kids. If not, she will pick up the kids and I’ll continue to the night (to about 8 or 9pm).”

He also varies the schedule of his five working days, which means that there are weeks where he might work two days on the weekend and other weeks where he rests on a weekend day.

The important thing for him is that he spends at least two days with his children every week.

Wore masks even before the government made it mandatory to do so

As for safety precautions that they took, both Nik and Faizal said that they wore masks even before the government had made the announcement that it was mandatory to do so.

Both of their families had also emphasised the need for them to prioritise safety, given that they have young children at home.

Some of Faizal's deliveries were for people staying at designated Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) facilities while in Nik's cases, his deliveries included people who were serving out their SHNs in condominiums.

Nik shared that he had felt anxious about the lifts of such condominiums and whether there was the lingering presence of the virus.

However, they would take the necessary precautions to stay safe.

For SHN deliveries, both riders shared that the procedure involved simply food at the door, then either knocking or ringing the doorbell, and leaving the place without making any contact at all with the person in question.

They would also sanitise their hands after returning to their bike.

Patience and hard work

On this matter, Nik stated that it was important for people to sit down with their spouses and parents and plan their finances amidst such times.

In the case of retrenchment, Nik added that it was important for people to not be "picky or choosy." Rather, they should "grab whatever is in front of them."

As for Faizal, he said patience and taking things easy was key.

He said, "Be patient, don’t give up, try your best to move on, find another job, make yourself happy, don’t stress out. Be happy with your family."

Top image: Photos courtesy of Faizal Razi