The company is also rolling out a slew of initiatives for delivery partners.
“We want to treat our delivery partners the same way that we treat our customers – with the same love, the same amount of care, and with the same amount of empowerment. All our policies are formulated with that end in mind,” said Mihir Rajesh Shah, head of operations.
The company is looking to improve the quality of life for its delivery partners through three pillars – increasing their earnings, maintaining their safety and security, and building trust between the community and delivery partners, Shah told ET.
Recently, the company snagged five points out of 10 in conditions for gig workers, according to research firm Fairwork India.
In September last year, Swiggy rolled out a skills academy – a multi-skilling and multilingual learning offering with a focus on providing resources for building and honing skills in areas such as spoken English, time management, soft skills, computer use, personal finance, etc.
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The platform has curated learnings from Khan Academy for delivery partners and their children. On an average, about 30% of the delivery partners are using the platform for their learning, Shah said.“Our accelerator programme also gives an opportunity to those partners who want to move from their current flexible engagement to a dedicated, managerial role and transition into full-time employees with a fixed salary and additional benefits,” said Shah.
A few weeks back, the company also rolled out ambulance services for delivery partners and their dependents.
The service is free for delivery partners and their dependents — spouses and two children, who are covered under the insurance provided by the company. Delivery partners can also choose to avail of the ambulance for family members not covered under their insurance at a subsidised cost.
The company has partnered with Dial4242 Ambulance Services for the initiative. The process will require no documentation; delivery partners only need to confirm their partner ID.
Furthermore, the company is looking to hire women delivery partners.
“About 5% of our fleet is women, there’s still a lot of social stigma surrounding women coming into these roles. We’re trying to change this by creating programmes where women delivery partners can drop off their kids under supervision, helping them get access to vehicles through our tie-up with Yulu, giving them SOS training and safety kit allowances, paid time off during their period, etc. and access to hygienic restrooms,” said Shah.