WOMEN ON WHEELS DELIVERING CHANGE IN INDIA
When Parvati Kumari, 21, went out to deliver KFC chicken for the first time to a house in Lucknow in March, she was scared and nervous.
She was the first woman in India to be employed by the company to get on a scooter to bring orders to customers. She was also the first woman in Lucknow to do deliveries of any kind for any food outlet.
Even today, she is still the only woman delivering burgers, snacks, rice bowls and beverages to customers in the cantonment area of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state, 550 kilometres east of New Delhi.
But she may soon have some company. “I have accompanied Ranjana (not her real name) on a few home delivery jaunts in the last 15 days. She likes it and may become the second KFC woman rider in Lucknow soon,” she told Asia Focus.
An arts graduate from a local degree college, Ms Kumari has become a pioneer for KFC in India. Though women make up 25% of the local workforce of the multinational restaurant chain — the figure is as high as 50% in the east of the country — and it even has a managed-by-women-only restaurant in Darjeeling, it had no women in home delivery services because their safety and security is a major concern.
Aman Lal, chief people officer with KFC India, says the company is now preparing to encourage other female staff to consider working in delivery services if they like the idea.
“One of our core principles is providing equal opportunities to both men and women in the workplace. Our goal is to continue developing and increasing our female leadership — not just in the boardroom, but also in our restaurants,” Mr Lal told Asia Focus.
While KFC is making encouraging strides, it trails some other big names when it comes to employing women in the field. They include the US-based e-commerce giant Amazon.com, which entered India four years ago and is now expanding aggressively; Clovia, an online seller of lingerie; and the delivery firms Hey DeeDee and Even Cargo. Domino’s Pizza and Yakult, the Japanese drinking yoghurt, also employ many women in their delivery operations.
Amazon started t wo women-only centres last year i n Chennai and Parvati Kumari of Lucknow is the first female delivery driver with KFC in India.
Thiruvananthapuram, the capitals of Tamil Nadu and Kerala states respectively. It says the experience has been highly satisfying. Both the centres, where women deliver packages on two-wheelers, have witnessed a substantial increase in the number of female employees and in business overall. The Chennai centre began operations with three women and now has 10, while the number in Thiruvananthapuram has jumped from four to 15.
Domino’s, the American pizza chain, has more than two dozen women making deliveries within IT parks in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa and Pune.
At Yakult Danone India, a joint venture between Yakult Honsha of Japan and Danone Group of France, delivery is a women-only occupation. The company started with fewer than 10 delivery women in January 2008 and now has more than 200 in the Delhi National Capital Region, Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur and Chandigarh, according to Megha Kohli, deputy manager
and head of sales.
Most of these women come from poor families and their earnings have greatly improved their lives. Manju Diwakar, 25, a delivery woman from Ghaziabad and mother of two children, has put her children into good schools and is now planning to buy her own house.
“I save 50% of my salary. Hopefully, we will soon move into our own flat,” Ms Diwakar says before flying off on her gearless scooter.
Her colleague Poonam Som, 26, has opened a shop with the savings from her delivery job in Noida, outside Delhi. The mother of two sons pays a salary to her father to man the shop.
Ms Diwakar, Ms Som and their leader Pratima Singh believe delivery jobs have made them independent. “I don’t need to take anything from my father, an Indian Railways employee. Moreover, we know how to face day-to-day crises,” said Ms Singh, who is a native of Firozpur district in Punjab state.
The companies that employ delivery women find them more diligent, honest and polite and better at picking up soft skills compared with delivery men. They also have a lower attrition rate in an industry where employee turnover is as high as 50%. Besides, feedback from the customers is great.
“Housewives are more comfortable with delivery women in door-to-door services. They are hardworking and sincere, and we’ve had no reports of [product] shrinkage or leakage in their case,” said Ms Singh, who heads the Yakult women in Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida.
Revathi Roy, chief executive officer of Hey DeeDee, a parcel service in Mumbai, Nagpur and Bangalore, believes the entry of women in delivery services has opened up a new occupational field. Hey DeeDee has 65 delivery women and is training another 2,000 for the future.
Yakult Danone India, according to Ms Kohli, hopes to increase its strength to 300 delivery women in the next six months.
However, delivery women potentially face safety and security challenges, though the companies currently employ them only for daytime work, train them in self-defence and keep support staff on hand for any emergencies.
The companies have strict dos and don’ts for their female riders. They are told to avoid isolated roads and stretches, and not to enter homes or to eat anything offered by customers. As well, they are reminded not to argue with customers. One of the major dos is to inform the police and company officials in case of danger or a crisis, and to leave the office with other colleagues whenever possible.
“Generally, we avoid reacting to catcalls on the road. But once we had to call the police when a gang of boys started chasing us in Ghaziabad,” Ms Diwakar said.