The company has also confirmed it is scrapping its controversial £150 fines for missing work, which it said will be replaced by a “more consistent and transparent points-based” system.
The announcement follows the death of a DPD driver, Don Lane.
Mr Lane died in January and his widow, Ruth told BBC News he had missed several appointments to treat his diabetes because of work pressures and was even fined by the company after attending one appointment.
The courier said it will become the first parcel delivery company to introduce a new self-employed worker contract, and give its drivers the choice between being directly employed or work with them on a self-employed franchisee basis.
It added all its drivers will be given a chance every year to change their employment status between employed and self-employed franchisee.
Drivers on the new self-employed work contract will receive paid annual leave, pension entitlement and sick pay.
“We recognise that we need to improve the way we work with our drivers,” said chief executive, Dwain McDonald.
“While the self-employed franchise scheme has benefited thousands of drivers over the past 20 years, it hasn’t moved with the times and needs updating.
“Our plan is to completely transform our overall driver offer, as well as the day-to-day working relationship we have with our drivers.
“At the moment, we have drivers who are self-employed and those that are employed directly by DPD, while the vast majority of our self-employed drivers tell us they want to remain self-employed, we want to provide them with a choice of options, including the new worker status.”
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
