Zomato, India’s food ordering and delivery services platform, published a Delivery Partner Well-being Framework designed to prioritise and measure the well-being of the delivery partners. This framework, developed in consultation with worker rights experts, social research organisations and industry bodies, outlines a holistic approach to address the financial, social, physical, mental and professional needs of the delivery partners.
The framework encompasses five key areas of well-being: financial, social, physical, mental and professional. These areas are supported by nine elements which includes earnings and payouts, order delivery experience, grievance redressal, health and safety, financial inclusion and security, assets (t-shirts, bags, etc.), diversity and respect, knowledge acquisition, and growth and retention.
Each element is further divided into multiple sub-elements for more detailed assessment. For example, the "payouts and earnings" element includes sub-elements such as timeliness of payout, seamless access to tips, and support for other delivery expenses like charging and fuel costs through collaborations with third party(ies).
Rakesh Ranjan, CEO, Food Delivery, Zomato said “Through a year-long process of detailed interviews with thousands of delivery partners across the country and inputs received from worker rights experts, we’ve developed a framework that is not only relevant to our context but is exhaustive and practical for other gig work-based platforms in India. We believe that this framework can be adopted by gig-based platforms to evaluate delivery partner well-being initiatives through a holistic yardstick. We hope that more organizations use this and as an industry we are collectively able to elevate the standards of well-being for delivery partners in India.”
Rameesh Kailasam, CEO Indiatech.org, an organisation that represents multiple tech platforms on policy matters, said, “Gig worker well-being is a growing area for discussion and deliberation today. Hence, a comprehensive understanding of the factors that contribute to well-being is a must for sound policy making and corporate action. I believe Zomato’s proposed framework in this regard could help the overall platform economy take significant strides towards better gig workers’ well-being”.
Mukhtar Alam, member of Jan Pahal, a non-profit that is working with gig workers on their working conditions and social security needs, one of the experts who contributed to the framework said, “Well-being policy framework of Zomato for the delivery partners is indeed a trailblazer in the gig workers based platform economy which may be emulated by platform operators and complemented by the Government of India with a clear vision for comprehensive social security that is granted to all gig workers.’
Social Compact, a Dasra initiative to support corporates on worker well-being, conducted a review of the framework and made several recommendations. Sonvi Khanna, Lead, Social Compact, said at the release of the framework “The gig economy is expected to grow significantly and the growing millions of gig workers deserve a dedicated focus on their well-being. Social Compact’s role was to ensure workers’ experiences and experts' diverse perspectives get deeply embedded in every sub-element of Zomato’s Delivery Partner Well-being Framework”.
Over the years, Zomato has successfully launched multiple initiatives to improve the well-being of the delivery partners including the ‘Shelter Project’, real-time weather notifications, facility to file incomes taxes and facilitation of EV renting services, maternity benefits, among others. The addition of this comprehensive framework is an endeavor to help communicate these efforts to different stakeholders.
