20% Urban Company Employees Professionals Earning Atleast Rs 38,000 Per Month: Rs 312/Hour Is The Hourly Income!

Urban Company (UC) said that the top 20% of its gig workers earned at least Rs 38,263 per month, an 11% raise in the December quarter.

Salary Increment

The majority of the money earned per gig is credited to the partner’s account after deducting commission & fees.

The 11% increment was achieved through a 12-point program it launched last October which focused on improving partner earnings and happiness.

Around 50% of the service professionals who completed more than 30 orders or worked more than 100 hours per month earned Rs 30,455 per month.

Fewer Hours Worked 

The 100 or so hours a month is said to be 60% less than the ~220 hours worked by offline beauticians.

UC further claimed that the average payout to partners increased to Rs 297 per hour, net of all commissions, fees, product and travel cost incurred by the person to provide their service.

Compared To Outside Workers

Hourly earnings for female partners at Rs 312 per hour was about 5% higher than the platform’s average.

UC cited a third-party benchmarking study done by Praxis Global Alliance (PGA) Labs which reports that its partners make about 50% higher monthly than their offline counterparts.

They also make nearly 4x the hourly earnings at Rs 320 per hour.

Worker Benefits

The report mentions the following value added offerings provided by the company:

• Monetary Advances

It offers monetary advances (via NBFCs) for Rs 10,000 to all the gold partners and Rs 5,000 to all the silver partners.

UC claims that it offered interest-free monetary support of Rs 10,000 to all salon partners during Covid.

• Training

It offers free training and upskilling sessions for all the service partners at the time of joining, launch of new product/service, or if the partner’s ratings are low.

In comparison, offline workers are expected to mostly learn on the job.

• Insurance 

All the active partners (have rendered at least one service in the last 30 days) are covered under life and accidental insurance provided by insurance firm Acko.

The report, which included inputs from conversations with 100 UC partners, says that the partners themselves admit they wouldn’t be able to afford insurance had it not been for UC.

• Health And Safety 

Free PPE kits for each client were delivered directly to the partner’s doorstep. 

The report says, “Partners also appreciate the SOS/emergency helpline facilities and various health & safety measures taken by Urban Company.”

First Co To Sue Own Workers

In December, Urban Company became the first company in India to pursue legal action against its own women gig workers protesting against a number of issues outside its Gurugram office.

The company had introduced a new subscription system in which workers have to pay an upfront fee of Rs 3,000 (for prime) and Rs 2,000 (for classic) per month under a ‘minimum guarantee plan’.

The payment has to be made in order to be guaranteed work on the platform.

Considered Partners, Not Employees

It was also alleged that UC refused to acknowledge the workers as “employees”.

They are instead considered ‘partners’ who are freelancing, thereby leaving them bereft of benefits they would otherwise get in jobs which treat them as employees. 

Pay For Customers’ Discounts

UC was further accused of asking its high-performing workers to offer customers discounts in the range of 10% from their own earnings.

The incentive or discounts UC provides to its customers comes out of the pockets of the gig workers.