It’s raining sops for delivery workers going the extra mile amid surge in online orders

Companies such as Zomato, Swiggy and Zepto are providing monetary incentives to delivery personnel and associates. Those who brave the weather during the monsoons also get free raincoats and other rain gear. Most delivery personnel are already covered under medical and accidental insurance.

Deliveries have increased in Delhi and the rest of the National Capital Region as most people avoid stepping out of their homes due to the rains, said executives at these companies.

“Impact of the rains has led to a surge in orders with people resorting to a work-from-home setup in the region,” said Vikas Sharma, chief operating officer at grocery delivery platform Zepto. “We have seen the app’s traffic increase by 10-15% in the last two weeks,” he said.

Zepto riders in 10 cities including the NCR are neither shown the estimated time for deliveries nor are they penalised for any delay. “…we are also giving an additional incentive to delivery boys, called a ‘rain fee’,” Sharma said.

Swiggy is offering an additional compensation for every order delivered in unusual weather conditions, said a spokesperson. It also provides them with rain jackets.

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Zomato, the market leader in food delivery, is providing its delivery staff with additional monetary incentives in the monsoon season, chief operations officer Rinshul Chandra said. Support Measures
Also, throughout India, Zomato has a ‘Spin the Wheel’ feature on the delivery partner app, to reward them upon undertaking a certain number of deliveries during rains. “Rewards include television sets, washing machines and refrigerators,” he said.

Zomato is also providing rainsuits and has organised more than 700 rain shelters for its delivery personnel in partnership with restaurant partners.

With heavy rains in North India, especially in Delhi-NCR, Adecco, a staffing firm, has shifted to weekly check-ins from monthly for around 8,000 associates in the region to track them more closely. “Here we try to figure out how we can help them in any issue faced due to rains,” said Manu Saigal, director, general staffing, Adecco.

Recently Zepto shared an advisory to its employees based out of Delhi-NCR to prioritise their safety when venturing out of their homes.

Zepto has a tech system in place that provides delivery riders with safer alternative routes when a road is blocked due to floods or other reasons.