I have been Swiggy loyal user for many years now. Was happy to learn about their recent launch of Pawternity and Pawlice!
So this recent news about their delivery partners' health insurance came across as a bit of a shocker:

"Gold-rated workers receive health insurance for themselves and their families; in the silver category, the family is ineligible for insurance. Bronze-rated workers are only eligible for insurance coverage in case of accidents."

You can read the Rest of World article here: https://restofworld.org/2024/swiggy-health-insurance-quotas/

Healthcare costs and insurance premiums have skyrocketed in the last few years. The truth is for most of these folks, one medical emergency is enough to wipe off their savings and at times, push them into a debt trap.

Along with the employee / partner, extending health insurance to family members is up to the company. It's not mandatory.
For group insurance, adding family members comes at a cost.
So many companies in India do not. But if someone decides to do so, that ideally should not be linked to performance. We all have our bad days, weeks, and at times, months!

This gamification creates that unwarranted anxiety of maintaining a good score to make sure that the family is secure.
If the company is worried about profitability, and it should be, nothing wrong with that, they can go the "opt-in" route with additional contributions from partners.
Solves a problem for both parties. No cost burden for the company. No constant anxiety for partners.

When it comes to culture, at least I have heard only good stories about Swiggy. So, I am quite hopeful the Swiggy CXOs will take a hard look at extending the same cultural ethos to delivery partners as well (along with the pet parents). :)

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At ProjectHero, I had worked on launching bank accounts and (paid) health insurance for construction workers so I will always remember their stories. The rise of the Internet economy created many opportunities for gig workers across the world. High time, we start paying attention to their working conditions. Our convenience shouldn't come at the cost of someone else's compulsion. No?!

May 2022, Chennai