In Terms Of Fair Working Conditions For Gig Workers, Bigbasket Has The Greatest Grade, While Ola And Porter Get Zero.

According to research published on Monday, Ola, Porter, Uber, Dunzo, Amazon Flex, and Flipkart are the poorest performers in India in terms of fair employment and working conditions for gig workers.

The gig economy encompasses all platforms that recruit independent workers in industries such as e-commerce, technology, food and drinks, and home services, to name a few. India has long had a big pool of casual laborers. Many of them were laid off as a result of the epidemic. With many sectors in the doldrums and individuals looking for new opportunities, the gig economy became their major focus.

Only BigBasket scored the highest point 6 out of 10 across five principles (fair pay, fair conditions, fair contract, fair management, and fair representation) among the 12 digital platforms evaluated by the Fairwork India Team, led by the Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP), International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B).

BluSmart, Swiggy, Urban Company, and Zomato all received five points, while Zepto received four. The Fairwork India Ratings 2023, which assesses organizations based on the basic requirements of fair work for gig workers, gave Ola and Porter a duck (zero).

Fair Pay

BigBasket, Flipkart, and Urban Company were the only platforms with a minimum wage policy that required all employees to receive at least the hourly local minimum wage after deducting work-related expenditures.

Fair conditions

According to the Fairwork India 2023 study, Amazon Flex, BigBasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy, Urban Company, Uber, Zepto, and Zomato provide proper safety equipment and frequent safety training to their employees. BigBasket, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato, on the other hand, provide workers with free accident insurance and monetary compensation for lost income if they are unable to work due to medical reasons.

Fair contracts

Seven of the 12 platforms (BigBasket, BluSmart, Dunzo, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato) assure contract accessibility and comprehension.

Fair management

The notion of fair management was followed at Amazon Flex, BigBasket, BluSmart, Flipkart, Swiggy, and Zomato, which provided due process in decisions impacting workers. Whereas BluSmart and Swiggy have institutionalized the performance of frequent, external audits to check for biases in their labor allocation processes, as well as regulations prohibiting platform worker discrimination.

Fair representation

All 12 platforms scored zero in fair representation. “There was insufficient evidence from any platform that showed a willingness to recognize a collective body of workers,” the report said.