Swiggy Votes For Inclusivity; Soon To Hire 2000 Delivery Girls

The food delivery startup Swiggy opts for gender inclusivity by announcing to train and employ 2000 women delivery personnel by March 2019. "About 2,000 women will join our delivery team by March next year. Over the last few months, we have been working on training women for opportunities in this growing food delivery sector," the online food delivery platform said in a statement.

The app-based startup that caters to 45 Indian cities currently wants to increase the number and create an inclusive workforce by deploying more women as delivery personnel across the country. While the concept of delivery girls is fairly new in India with only a few companies having women delivery personnel, the company is positively creating new policies to accommodate women workers in the delivery sector. To make it safe for women to work, the company is finding ‘safe zones’ where women can deliver fearlessly and complete their deliveries by 6 pm, it said.

"We are creating a women-friendly work environment with a dedicated helpline for any concern, as well as appointing more women in managerial roles," the company said.

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We are creating a women-friendly work environment with a dedicated helpline for any concern, as well as appointing more women in managerial roles.

The four-year-old startup and founded by IIM graduate Sriharsha (Harsha) Majety, Swiggy, claims to receive about 20 million orders a month across 45,000 restaurants in 45 cities, including New Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Gurugram and Pune. The company currently employs over 4,000 employees and reported an operating revenue of Rs 442-crore for fiscal 2017-18. It has so far raised over $460 million (around Rs 3,350 crore) from multiple investment firms.

Companies often have misconceptions regarding women not “being able to” work in jobs that require travel, Swiggy is opening up to breaking that stereotype and as more startups come forward, society will see gender equal work opportunities.

Picture Credit: The Hindu

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