Delivery is a high-turnover, high-risk business. Max Speed’s leaders explain how belonging, smart benefits, and real expertise built a team that stays.
Behind every order that lands on your doorstep is a delivery agent, and behind every agent is a company working hard to keep them. Max Speed knows this better than most. The company outsources delivery agents and services to major restaurant chains, such as Americana, Papa John’s, and Domino’s, and runs a sister company in international logistics that exports fruits and vegetables.
We sat down with CEO Mohamed El Gazzar and Co-Founder Haitham Hany to ask what it really takes to build a workforce that stays.
The challenge: finding people and the wheels to get them moving
For companies in this industry, the headaches are familiar: workforce shortages and trouble sourcing delivery vehicles of any kind. Max Speed tackled both. It made vehicles accessible through motorcycle installment programs, then invested in training from A to Z, including soft skills for customer interaction, a clear code of conduct for every delivery agent, and health and safety training.
Belonging starts at the top
The biggest lever wasn’t a perk. It was culture.
“When you instill a sense of belonging in every department head, from the CFO on down, and build up goodwill toward the company, that spirit spreads to every employee and filters through all levels. That’s exactly what happened here. We’ve achieved 85% stability in our workforce, meaning our regular, permanent staff, and that’s a very high figure for a company in this sector. We got there because of this one thing.”
Haitham Hany, Co-Founder, Max Speed
That 85% is up from 50%, a jump the team treats as an operational win as much as an HR one. High turnover is expensive, so keeping people is a form of efficiency.
Benefits built for the realities of the job
Delivery means traffic, and traffic means risk. Max Speed responded with comprehensive health insurance, and it gives seasonal and part-time employees the same benefits as everyone else, including medical and social insurance.
Then Max Speed went a step further and established its own internal medical insurance company, dealing directly with hospitals and healthcare providers. The move let Max Speed reallocate funds and lower the costs it used to spend on outsourced insurance.
Financial support runs deep, too. The company lends employees an average of EGP 5 million a month, with repayment plans set case by case, because supporting people financially is key to helping them feel stable and secure.
From trusted friends to real experts
Operations is the engine of any company, and Max Speed’s leaders are candid about how they upgraded it.
“Operations is one of the toughest departments to run, and it’s really the engine of any company. In the early days, we relied on people we trusted. But as the company grew and expanded, we had to bring in people with real experience instead, and honestly, that took us to a whole new level. Experience is what lifted the department.”
Haitham Hany, Co-Founder, Max Speed
Their broader advice for any growing business: nothing beats learning from people who have the relevant expertise.
Planning for winter, and for paperwork
Seasonality is part of the game. Winter brings weather-related accidents and fewer available hands, as student employees head back to their university lectures. Max Speed prepares for those shifts in advance. On the compliance side, the team points to incomplete workforce documents as a risk that can cause issues with the National Organization for Social Insurance (NOSI) and other regulators.
Where dopay fits in
Max Speed pays salaries through four channels: dopay alongside several banks. When it comes to new hires, speed is what counts.
“Turnover was definitely a factor that affected our decisions. We could lose a new hire if he decides that he didn’t like the business by the time a bank account is finally open for him… dopay has been making things easier for us in dealing with this, especially in terms of speed. I really believe dopay is one of the strongest payroll services providers in the market.”
Mohamed El Gazzar, CEO, Max Speed
Key takeaways
- Belonging at every level of management drives retention more than any single perk.
- Match your benefits to the risks of the job and offer them equally to seasonal and part-time staff.
- As you scale, hire experienced professionals and plan ahead for seasonal changes.
- Fast onboarding protects you from losing new hires while they wait to get paid.
Guide