Daybreak - Why India's biggest employer of women gig workers refuses to listen to its own workforce

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

A decade ago, when platforms like Urban Company entered the scene, they were seen the beacon of hope for thousands of women like Selvi and Nisha, two beauticians based in in Bangalore—finally, an avenue that offered them the financial independence and support their families without the cost flexibility. Now, over one third of the platform's workers are female making it the largest employer of women gig workers in India.But in the last few years, the same workers have been raising their voices against the unfair nature of their job—from the one-sided ratings system of the app that makes female gig workers entirely dependent on customers and the arbitrary blocking of their accounts to the lack of basic safety and more.Their requests and demands seem to be falling in to deaf years. The Ken reached out to Urban Company with questions regarding these issues but so far we haven't received any response.In today’s episode, we will try to understand why Selvi, Nisha and thousands like them are so angry with the very company that was once a source of freedom for them.Tune in.Episode cover art by Kavipriya OGListen to the latest episode of Two by Two hereDaybreak is now on WhatsApp at [phone]. Text us and tell us what you thought of the episode!Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.Listen to the latest episode of Two by Two here

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcasts, you've probably heard me, my interruptions, my analogies and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too. It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Raman Ganeshan, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission. We want to tell the secret sauce stories of India's greatest companies. Stories of how they were born, how they fought to survive, how they build their organizations and culture,

how they manage to innovate and thrive over decades, and most importantly, how they're poised today. To do that, Sita and I have been reading books, poring over reports, going through financial statements, digging up archives, and talking to dozens of people. And if that wasn't enough, we also decided to throw in video into the mix. Yes, you heard that right. Intermission has also had to find its footing in the world of multi-camera shoots in professional studios, laborious editing, and extensive post-production. Sita and I are still reeling from the intensity of our first studio recording. Intermission launches on March 23rd. To get an alert as soon as we release our first episode,

please follow intermission on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or subscribe to the Ken's YouTube channel. You can find all of the links at the ken.com slash I am. With that, back to your episode. Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to meet someone very special. She came down to the Ken's studio in Bangalore. And her name is Selvi. She is a 37-year-old beautician who works for urban company. Asia's largest at-home services marketplace.

And when we say at-home services, we mean cleaning, painting, plumbing, repair work, and of course, beauty treatments such as waxing, pedicure, manicures, facials, etc. Selvi is among the millions of women in India who power the country's booming gig economy. She started working with urban company five years ago. I lost my two-wheeler also in COVID. How?

Financially, I lost. So I used to travel by bus, carrying so many things. That time, we were not in an auto scene. I used to travel by bus, get on by bus. And I need to walk like one and a half kilometer to kilometer inside the customer's house. Because the bus will stop only in Main Road. So I used to go ITPL. I used to go Kadugodi.

I used to go Wohom. So many difficult places I have. times I've gone through all this. Sometimes I feel like I quit this job and I work somewhere else. But again, I thought I need to, again, I have to invest somewhere. If I'm working, again, I have to invest. It is not possible. Okay, carry on, carry on.

A decade ago, though, when platforms like urban company came into the picture, things were very different. They were seen as a beacon of hope for thousands of women like Selvie. It was a way for them to gain financial independence and support their families. To get a better picture of what exactly it was like back then, I spoke to Anna Elias, a PhD scholar at Erasmus University in the Netherlands, whose study is all about the impact that digital platforms have on livelihoods in the informal sector. She specifically studied women gig workers who are partners at urban company. The initial period of platform work or the gig economy,

was very revolutionary, it was transformative, and the sentiment resonated with gig workers across platforms and across sectors. So it was very lucrative for the workers in terms of earnings, that is both income and the incentives, and also the regularity in the flow of work. So it gave them access to newer markets and newer customer base. And for many women, the gig economy offered a much-needed opportunity. opportunity. And urban company needs to be highlighted here because it's one of the few digital platforms where we see a significant number of women workers, particularly in their beauty and wellness service category. What Anna is saying was specially evident during the pandemic.

Actually, first, before I used to work in Paler, when the first lockdown, everything was shut down. We would not getting salary also in Paler because they also got lost. Like, K'i B' B' Dukkan N'u'u'u'r So completely. So I thought that time before also some of my friends was working

in urban company. When they also was working, they said it is really good for home service. We are not getting any jobs. So I thought I will join in here and go to some, because at least we need to run our family. We need to go. first my husband was like, no, you cannot go for home service, how safety it is.

He started fighting with me. I said, see, you cannot judge by anything like that. It is many women also working in there. We will see how it is. Even now, urban company is the largest employer of women gig workers in the country. More than a third of its workforce is actually made up of women. For this episode, I also went to meet another woman. who had no bookings for the day, so she very graciously invited me to her little two-room

rented apartment that she shares with her brother and sister-in-law in Bangalore's H-SR layout area. Okay, Nisha, thank you so much for giving us time. What language are you comfortable in Hindi, English, Nepali? Hindi. You sure? Nepali in Nepal. Yeah, it's. I don't know.

It's like, I'm off a lot. It's not, it's. It's, it's. I'm afterluck. Yeah, it's, it's. Yeah, it's. And what's your name, how's, how you, how many years,

been in Bangladesh, I've been in Nepal, in Bangladesh, I've been seven, eight years. And then, when have you been

working from? I've worked I've worked September, just September, one year, year, Nisha is originally from Nepal,

but she moved to Banglor about seven to eight years ago. She's been working with urban company for over a year now. Sura was really, it was not that kind of products, like the amount of the

amount of the product, like, that's not. I was at the first at the $1,000,000,000,000, like 20,000,000, this is the time. Nisha told me how it was great back then when she started working. For the first few months,

she was making over a lakh every month. But things went downhill pretty quickly for her. Bistair, bistair, very, bistar, bistar, All right, I mean, I've made, I've made, 50% don't have to pay it's not. Nisha says that now

she can barely make $50,000 a month. And please note that out of this $50,000, she has to also buy all the products that she uses for the services herself plus the fuel, travel cost

and the taxes. Naturally, she's been unable to send money back home to her parents for a few months now. And she's not alone. Over the last couple of years, women gig workers especially ones from urban company who usually work in silos

have been raising their voices and coming together against the appalling work conditions that they're faced with. Among the many things that these women are protesting against, there is the one-sided, unjust rating system of the app that makes female gig workers entirely dependent on ratings by customers. Nisha says that sometimes she feels like crying in Mrs. Homme but she doesn't have a choice. She has to be nice to every customer,

even if they are unfair or unjust to her, because she needs them to give her a five-star rating. Rune, I feel like, really, very hard for, it's all right, but what do you have to do? And rating for rating for, ma'am, please, my service really like, and I, give me, this way, give, this way, and, this way, and, you, ma'am, ma'am, five,

pay, or rating, four, or, or, if, if, And then there's also the issue of arbitrary blocking of accounts. Partners are getting blocked even if they have good ratings just because they cancel more than thrice or if they have a lower acceptance rate. Could be anything, Selvie tells me. Every reason they are blocking, ma'am. If you're not owning your calendar Saturday, Sunday, I will block you.

If you're not doing scanning. Jitna product you're purchasing. You're buying the product in company. You're buying the product in company. that we have to scan after the service. There's also something called product rating that Selvi is talking about here. Basically, these workers have to purchase all the products that they use for their services from urban company via the app.

And it is one of the main parameters that they are rated on by the company. So the more they buy, the higher their rating. But among the biggest concerns of all is the issue of safety. While the company boasts of one of the largest features, female workforces, it doesn't really have a solid practical mechanism in place for these women to protect themselves from harassment and abuse. Because think about it. They're literally having to go to a random stranger's house to work.

They have no idea who is inside and what kind of people they might be till they're actually inside the house. Selvi and Nisha both told me many horror stories about this. We are not getting anything from your side. You're getting a lot of business from our end, but we are not getting anything from your end. You don't have a courtesy to speak to us all until now. Abbe-a-a-companies to any one person to talk to-a-by-ne-a-call-be-any or anything.

We're company's property, there's no property. Just we're just as we're doing independently working, we're like, we're doing. We're not a company, not national company, and you're not considering us as a employee. Partners, we'll try and understand why Selvi and thousands like her are so angry with the very company that was once a source of freedom for them. Hello and welcome to another special episode of Daybreak.

I'm Snigda and every Friday my co-host Rahil and I come together to talk about something in business and tech that interests the both of us. This week though, it's just going to be me because Rahil is on leave. And depending on what we're talking about, we will have some really interesting people joining us on the podcast. In this episode, we were joined by Selvi and Nisha, two women gig workers and Anna Elias, a PhD scholar who is researching India's gig economy.

One of the biggest USPs of urban companies, especially for its women people, partners was the kind of flexibility that it gave them. We're talking about women with families and kids here, so this was something that really made a difference. Unfortunately, women in our societies, we know especially from a lower income household, face various societal and structural barriers to join the formal workforce, right? So when platforms like urban company came in, They sort of bridge this gap by offering flexibility, as you mentioned. So women could choose their working hours.

Workers in general, especially women, could choose their working hours, which allowed them to balance the family responsibilities, which is often a cultural expectation in Indian households. But I would say flexibility is one of the most misunderstood, misinterpreted concepts. within the gig economy. So I asked Selvi to explain to me how exactly she takes up a job through the urban company app.

Job, we will not take the company only automatically assign the job. So you can't choose? No, before we had two years back, we have an option to choose. Howtick how to killometer, what product, how to do you can plan. It was that flexibility.

Flexi, they told us to join when they joined us. That is how they said. You have a family, you can work only 10 hours, you can spend time with your family, etc, etc. Nisha too echoed Selvi's thoughts about auto-sign. She pointed out how they have no choice, no matter how far the job is, how much it is worth, rain or shine,

they just have to go. The other option is to cancel the booking, but that comes with a heavy price. You see, urban company workers are rated on four parameters. 1, customer rating, 2, number of cancellations, 3, weekend hours and 4 product score. And based on these ratings, the app ranks the workers as gold, silver and bronze. Selvi showed me her app to explain how it works. Compulsory Saturday, Sunday, have to work 13 hours.

And if you don't work? You'll get blocked. This is what you'll get blocked. So silver targets rating I was in gold partner They put me in silver Yeah So gold partner means what

Gold partner means C No profile pause for 30 days Personal loan of 30 thousand Medical insurance Oh so medical insurance is only for gold partner Yes yes That is what I want to show that to you directly

So that way people are thinking We are telling lies and everything etc, etc. No? Let did I see. This is what you'll get. Bronze, silver, gold. Okay?

So you have to be. I was in gold partner last March. Yeah. After that they put me in because due to rating. I will show you that. This is how it works. Okay. So silver is 4.7 plus rating.

three or less cancellations, 70 weekend hours and 70 product score. Yes. Silver is 4.8 plus. Two or less cancellations, 70 weekend hours, 80 product score. And gold is 4.9. One or less cancellation. Yes. 80 weekend hours, 80.

Yes. Nisha meanwhile told me that it is almost impossible for most people, including her, to be a gold partner. Gold in the cancellation only only only have to be able to and calendar marking only 90%

matthews, product score from 90% up to make in and rating but you have you have been up to be

not and who will suckens? Sokkinn'ten any? And that's I'll just I'll just know

I don't know I'd know what I'd know. Now the thing is that the customer rating system on the app is entirely one-sided.

It is skewed heavily towards the customers, which leaves the women partners entirely at their mercy. Another aspect of the rating system that urban companies' women partners have a special gripe with is the product's score, which I had explained earlier in the episode. The workers basically have to purchase all the products that they use for their services from urban company via the app. And it is one of the main parameters that they are rated on by the company. So the more they buy, the higher their rating. And the company keeps a tab on when a partner's product should be getting over. They used the scanning mechanism for this. Nisha showed it to me.

Barcode just so. And that's doing it. So you have to buy the products, then you have to scan this, and then you have to upload it on the app. Then what happens? Product score goes up. And they know, we know. If I'm here, I'm going to, I mean, I have a vaccine phasing.

facial did not, if I'm going to scan if they're not used not, it's wronged by then. So, so buying is not enough. You have to show that you have used it. So, it's... So, if she forgets to scan it, then immediately

it's, I mean, it'll get it's... So, if she forgets to scan it, the company will assume that the product has not been used. Nisha had a few instances where she forgot to scan and her product score fell. Selvi, meanwhile, explained to me how

auto assign also makes it worse for them by forcing them to buy more products. You will order three pedicure kit, three facial kit, three clean up kit, waxing. In four things, in one day, three pedicure deeer. You're in one day. You're in a day. So next day you're in auto. And next day, what you'll use? Again, you have to order.

minimum order is 1500. So why does such a problematic system even exist in the first place? Anna had something to say about this. So ratings and review mechanisms were introduced and implemented by platforms with the aim of maintaining customer satisfaction and service quality. So by design, it is a tool to keep a check on the work. And the algorithms behind these ratings, they lack transparency. They're prone to various inaccuracies.

Or, as I mentioned earlier, they are simply beyond the skills of a layperson to comprehend. And there are some things beyond the workers' control which can affect this rating. It's true that to a certain extent, the rating system is exploitative. And to maintain these high ratings, the workers are compelled, you know, to accept certain unreasonable demands from the customers, such as working over time or providing these additional services without compensation or even tolerating inappropriate behaviors from the customer. So, I think for women, it adds another layer of vulnerability. because many enter the gig economy thinking of the flexibility it offers, but the pressure to maintain these high ratings takes away their flexibility.

So they leave their apps open, their calendars open throughout the day, all days of the week. So it becomes a tool of exploitation on certain levels, especially considering that these workers often lack the resources or the negotiating power to challenge these systems. To give you an example of how unfair it can be, Nisha, whom you've been hearing so far, suffered an accident on Diwali day this year while driving her two-wheeler. A drunk man came in the way, she swerved and fell,

and the bike fell on top of her, injuring her angle. Selvi showed me pictures before I met Nisha and it was gruesome. Oh. And then, okay. I'll see. First, I'll show you. Fresh, how do you? Oh.

Scootie's from get. And then, then what happened? And then what happened? Company blocked. Because he's already job had. Four, four, come and back and bide. What is she will do?

She will go work like this? The day of the accident and the following day, Nisha had taken. in and off on her app calendar. But she had five bookings the day after that. So she called a representative from Urban Company and gave her all the proof because she did not want to cancel her bookings. It would affect her ratings.

But the woman told her to cancel anyway and also pointed out that her weakened hours were falling. When Nisha expressed her fear about getting blocked on the app, the woman told her that she would unblock her when she got better. She did unblock her ID for some time, but later her ID was blocked again. They asked her for a meeting and all the medical proof again and finally unblocked her ID. But Nisha lost multiple days of work because of this. And even prior to this, she was blocked for almost the whole of October because she had two debts in her family and had to cancel summer for bookings.

In the next segment, we will talk about. the lack of basic safety that women gig workers face on the job. Stay tuned. This segment contains descriptions of harassment and violence against women, so please consider this a trigger warning. When, when we go to the service, only we provide service for the women. So, as you may have guessed,

what often happens is that the husbands or male partners book on behalf of women. And women partners of urban company have not, way of knowing who the service is for till they are actually inside the client's house. I went to the service. I did the service to her. She made me to underarms to bring me underarms to make me to do the underarms vaccine. His wife for me, not only for me, whoever goes, she's forcing them to do their underarms. finally she made me to do I refuse to do

finally she forced me otherwise I will give rating like that only I will be everything depends on rating for you yeah everything is about rating only the customer doesn't know what is exactly happening

you will think if the customer gives you many other customer also will think oh she might have did this only but the customer doesn't know what I faced I'm also human no while urban company finally did apologize to Selvie, she later found out, thanks to her own network,

that the same customer who harassed her was also assigned to another woman partner again. She pointed out to me the imbalance in how their lives depend entirely on customer ratings, but customers, on the other hand, can get away with almost anything. Why you're not blocking that customer? When our rating is corrupt, you're not block us. When customers are corrupt, we're going to say, Selvi then went on to narrate another even horrific incident about an urban company woman partner who was from the northeast. The customer had an issue with her service and an argument ensued. The husband of the client hit her, snatched her phone away and locked her in the washroom for close to an hour.

My CEO is saying we are giving safety, trust everything. When this happens, what is the safety you have given? to her that girl. Nisha too told me about an incident of being Eve teased by a group of men because she had been auto-assigned to a shady area of the city. They recognized her uniform and kept asking her to give them a massage. I asked Anna about these incidents and here is what she had to say. These platforms undertake enormous background verifications and checks for the worker.

There is the customers are not subjected to the same. scrutiny right so I think at its core the there is a neglect the neglect stems from the fact that gig workers particularly women workers they are not considered as the central stakeholders in the gig economy so it is a system that prioritizes it's it is profit-oriented and of course the priority is customer retention and expanding the customer base but But yeah, for things to change, I think it's important that the gig workers are recognized and are considered as key stakeholders within this whole system.

And more importantly, I would say it's important to develop emergency and safety tools that are practical and reliable. And along with the trainings that are provided to the workers related to their products or the practices, the tools, they should be like considerable time spent on training them on how to use these safety features. So like, you know, some simulations on how to respond when there is an unsafe situation.

Like, you know, so very practical, very like a role play-based training needs to be provided to the workers, especially women, to keep them safe from such situations. So you see, it comes as no wonder now that Selvi and Nisha and more and more women like them are becoming vocal about the issues that they face. Selvi is in fact now the leader of the Gig and Platform Services Workers Union here in Bangalore. She joined it last year and has been using WhatsApp groups extensively to organise women gig workers in the city. We want to allow for the gig workers.

That's why I'm a weapon that my son's a child that we're a company to talk to a weapon is. In June this year, the Karnataka Assembly introduced the draft of the Karnataka platform-based gig workers' social security and welfare bill. This made Karnataka the second Indian state to initiate such a move. The first was Rajasthan.

Also, I think it's important to tell you that we asked urban company a bunch of questions for this episode, but so far we have not received any response from them. Meanwhile, I asked Selvi if she has a message for anyone from urban company if they're listening to this. She said that the leadership should meet workers at all branches and hubs and ask them about their issues. She says workers want the company to do well. They don't want to fight. and that they would feel proud to tell others one day that their CEO actually made an effort to come and talk to them

and try to solve their problems. That is why we are still working in our company. That is the reason we are working in your company. But at the same time, you have to understand from our side also, especially women for women for the problem that you're in your category in, more women people who are doing,

what are the problem? This is about to us, that we can't verify so we're happy with say we're talking to say we're talking to

our company CEO and we're talking about we're doing just that's just that's why you're why you're

why you're a woman not going to make a lot of the daybreak is produced from the newsroom of the Ken India's first subscriber-focused

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Today's episode was hosted and produced by Sinkda Sharma and it was edited by Rajiv Sien.