(Yicai Global) April 29 -- Meituan and Eleme, China’s two biggest takeout platforms, have said that they will take steps to improve the working conditions of their couriers, following a stream of negative publicity over unfeasible delivery time targets, poor pay and long working hours.

Meituan will give its delivery men one day off a month to spend with their children and will provide more flexible scheduling, Beijing Daily reported, citing the Beijing-based firm. It will also try to provide more accurate delivery time targets.

Eleme is gradually removing the penalties attached to each order and changing them to an overall assessment over a certain period, the Shanghai-based takeout firm said. It is urging couriers to pay more attention to safety and not to hurry.

Takeout giants have been accused of paying their dispatch riders peanuts and setting unrealistic delivery times and conditions, fining them if they failed to meet them. There are more than seven million food couriers in China and they work under great pressure.

Earlier this week an official from the Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau spent a day experiencing life as a meal delivery man. Over the course of a 12-hour work day, Wang Lin delivered five orders and only earned CNY41 (USD6.30).

Takeout platforms should adopt more humane measures to increase the income of couriers and reduce penalties, Yang Yansui, a professor and director of the Research Center of Employment & Social Security of Tsinghua University, said today.

This is not the first time, though, that the two companies have said they will treat their delivery men better.

Editor: Kim Taylor