Abhishek Kumar earns Rs 15,000 a month delivering food for Swiggy and Zomato. He didn't know that he is now eligible for life and disability cover, health and other benefits as India brought gig workers within the social security net.
The Case Of Multiple Gigs
Most gig employees look to supplement income, and work at their own time and switch between platforms. Freelancers, short-term projects workers and coders can also be referred to as gig workers. The market has exploded with the introduction of app-based services.
“The mobile is everything for me, I decide when to work and when not to, there is no one to tell me, why I’m not working,” said Singh, 30, who earns Rs 15,000-20,000 a month while delivering food for both Swiggy and Zomato. He didn’t want to share his first name to remain anonymous out of employment concerns.
“The fight with this kind of job is to make ends meet and any extra incentive and income is important for our survival,” he said. “While I need social security, as it will be beneficial for me in the future and for my kids, but this could impact my current income.”
New rules are yet to clarify flexibility of doing such multiple jobs or a small gig, TN Hari, HR head at BigBasket, said. He cited the example of an Uber driver who works for 10 days and then goes back to his village. “How do you cover social security. How will the fund percolate down to the single driver who has worked for only 10 days? We don't know how the fund will be implemented.”
It's also not clear if the new rules will alter contracts between workers and aggregators to address such issues.
That will depend on modalities, Prakash of Khaitan & Co. said. “How and what the limit of the coverage will be is to be seen. Unless we see the scheme and rules, it's hard to say.”
Chakraborty of Teamlease, however, suggested the government shouldn’t focus on providing gig workers anything more than health benefits and should make social security optional. “Going beyond and creating continuity of wages and other facilities defeats the purpose of gig.”
According to Hari of BigBasket, gig guys don’t need protection as they are already protected by platforms. The government, he said, should not do anything that destroys the model.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
POPULAR