Online food delivery platform Zomato is to increase the number of women in its delivery partners network to 10% by the end of the year, as part of its workplace inclusivity initiatives.
At present, about 0.5% of Zomato’s delivery partners are women.
“We are taking our first step towards increasing the participation of women delivery partners in our fleet. To begin with, we have set ourselves a goal of reaching 10% participation by the end of 2021 starting with Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal wrote in a blog.
“Adding more women to our delivery fleet is not as simple as just targeting more women for this job. That’s because our policies need to change in order to attract and retain more women delivery partners,” he added.
To achieve the goal of 10% women participation in the three pilot cities, Zomato is working on four key initiatives:
Access to safety-related education and tools: The platform is adding self-defense training to our onboarding process which will be mandatory for all women delivery partners to attend. In addition to first-aid kits, all women delivery partners will be equipped with a handy hygiene and safety kit.
Contactless deliveries by default: To prioritize women delivery partners’ safety, the company will be making late evening deliveries contactless by default.
Extended support from restaurant partners: According to Zomato, many restaurant partners have come forward to ensure access to basic facilities such as separate washrooms for women partners.
All such restaurants will be highlighted with a #GirlPower tag (subject to change) on the Zomato app to showcase their support towards an equitable society, Goyal said.
All women partners will be able to rate restaurants on “ease and safety”. Zomato will utilize these ratings to improve working conditions for all delivery partners, he added.
SOS button and dedicated support: “We are setting up a 24×7 helpline – a dedicated support team for our women partners – which will focus on expediting emergency requests to prioritize safety. Once triggered, the SOS button, on our delivery partner app, will automatically share live location with our on-ground teams, central rider support, and other delivery partners in the vicinity,” Goyal wrote.
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