Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal Says Will Significantly Increase Women Delivery Partners in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune in 2021

Zomato has said it has set itself a goal to significantly increase the participation of women in its fleet of delivery partners by the end of this year. Company CEO Deepinder Goyal said in a tweet on Friday, June 25 that women comprise less than 0.5 percent of Zomato's current fleet of delivery partners and that "needs to change” to make the food delivery service company a more inclusive workplace. Initially, the company plans to increase women participation in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune. Zomato acknowledged that the plan is not as simple as just “targeting more women” but it will have to change its policies to attract and retain them in this job.

Goyal hoped people would soon stop generalising “this community as delivery boys''.

The company said, in a statement, that it is launching four key initiatives to achieve a goal of 10 percent women participation in the three pilot cities. The initiatives will be aimed at:

Access to safety-related education and tools. Zomato will provide self-defence training to new recruits and it will be mandatory for all women delivery partners to attend. Women will also be given a first-aid kit and a handy hygiene and safety kit.

Contactless deliveries by default. For women delivery partners, the company has decided to make late-evening deliveries contactless by default.

Extended support from our restaurant partners. It said restaurants have come forward to ensure access to basic facilities such as separate washrooms for the women employees. Zomato plans to highlight these partner restaurants on its app.

SOS button and dedicated support. Finally, the company will be setting up a 24x7 dedicated helpline to expedite emergency requests. Once a woman employee triggers the SOS button, her live location will be shared with other on-ground teams and delivery partners in the vicinity.

Twitter users appear to have appreciated the idea, with nearly 6,000 of them hitting the “like” button on Goyal's tweet so far and many others commenting to support it.

Safety of women delivery partners being the biggest concern, one person asked Zomato to test the SOS system in areas with poor network coverage like basements.

Zomato's customer support service thanked the Twitter user for bringing the issue to its notice.

Goyal, too, has asked people to send their feedback directly to him at d@zomato.com.

Zomato was launched in 2010 as an online platform connecting restaurants with customers through its app, website, and delivery partners.