#KaafiCool: Your Next Food Order From Swiggy Might Just Be Delivered By A Woman

Swiggy is identifying 'safe zones' for female delivery personnel to operate in and will complete their deliveries by 6 pm

By: News Desk |
July 27, 2019 5:16 pm

Till now, most of us have only had our food delivered by ‘delivery boys’, but things are about to change. In a move to diversify the male-dominated industry, food aggregator Swiggy is hiring 2,000 women in Bengaluru.

In a statement on November 13, the city-based online food delivery start-up said that by deploying more women, the company aims to create an inclusive workforce. According to Swiggy,

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

Currently, Swiggy is identifying ‘safe zones’ for female delivery personnel to operate in and will complete their deliveries by 6 pm. Out of 1 lakh delivery personnel who deliver food for Swiggy, as of now, around 60 of them are women and deliver food across 10 cities including Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Nagpur.

Courtesy: The Indian Express

According to Rahul Bothra, Chief Financial Officer, Swiggy is trying to create a safe working environment before bringing them onboard,

“We need to incorporate it in our standard operating procedure as well as create separate toilet facilities for women.”

Though e-commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart and Domino’s have started hiring more women as riders, the major problems women face is the proximity of the workplace from their homes, availability of toilets at the hubs and the lack of gender-sensitive infrastructure.

According to TOI, other food aggregators like Foodpanda and Zomato also claim to have hired women as food delivery executives but are yet to declare the figures. Uber Eats has also hired women delivery personnel in Kochi, Chennai and Ahmedabad. They have also almost doubled the salaries of their delivery executive and also provide them with better incentives during peak hours and rains.