Swiggy expands Covid-19 related benefits for 150,000 delivery partners

Paid time off, insurance and hospitalisation cover, support of Rs 14,000 for two weeks under "Swiggy Suraksha" package; doorstep delivery of home-style meals in some cities

Food delivery platform Swiggy said Monday it was going to provide additional benefits and support to its 150,000 delivery partners, including paid time off and insurance and hospitalisation cover.

Under the care package, called "Swiggy Suraksha", all Covid-19 affected Swiggy delivery partners will be eligible to receive support of Rs 14,000 for two weeks without worrying about earning a livelihood during their recovery period. The company has been offering this support throughout the past year.

Delivery partners and their families who test positive will receive enhanced hospitalisation cover of upto Rs 1.5 lakh. It will also provide enhanced life insurance cover of up to Rs 5 lakh in the event of an untimely death of a delivery partner due to Covid-19.

In Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, if delivery partners choose to, Swiggy will provide doorstep delivery of homestyle meals prepared in Swiggy’s cloud kitchens.

In addition, Swiggy will provide income support for one week for delivery partners during bereavement (death of dependents/ parents/ siblings/ grandparents). This is not limited to Covid-19 related bereavement

As part of its ongoing efforts to ensure the health and safety of delivery partners, Swiggy has introduced a number of initiatives throughout the pandemic. 

This includes in-app access to free telemedicine consultations, vaccination cover and loss of pay cover during vaccination, safety kits with masks and sanitizers, hygiene stations at restaurants, tech-enabled features including ‘safety gear audit’, promoting no-contact delivery for safety of consumers and delivery partners and RT-PCR tests in cities in mandated cities.