Mumbai: Some of the country’s top technology startups are rolling out a slew of initiatives to help employees as well as their families cope with medical emergencies, financial upheaval due to untimely deaths and for vaccination against Covid-19, amid the second wave of the pandemic.
While Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has said the online payments company will continue to pay salaries to the families of deceased employees throughout the current financial year, food delivery platform Zomato said it would provide 100% of the deceased employee’s income for two years to the family.
Home and personal services marketplace Urban Company as well as ed tech giant Byju’s have set up dedicated funds to support employees.
“Mohit’s loss has created a void in our company that can never be filled up,” Abhiraj Singh Bhal, cofounder of Urban Company wrote on Twitter, mourning the passing of his colleague Mohit Agrawal, director of engineering, due to Covid-19.
The startup has set up the Mohit Agrawal Covid Relief Fund, with employees contributing Rs 1 crore, which the company will match, to help service partners, their families and the community with medical assistance and bereavement support.
@urbancompany_UC has setup the Mohit Agrawal COVID Relief Fund, in the memory of our departed colleague @agr_mohit… https://t.co/J9aLNDmWHe
— Abhiraj Singh Bhal (@abhirajbhal) 1619751977000
Sharma of Paytm, which lost eight employees to Covid-19 in April, told ET, “The company will continue to pay salaries to the families of deceased employees throughout the current financial year,” adding, “We don’t even know how to help families in such dire need… We are considering providing term insurance to their families.”
Byju’s has set up a Rs 20-crore CEO’s fund for its 10,000+ employees to cover Covid-19 related medical expenses, founder Byju Raveendran announced in an email to employees a week ago.
“The second wave of the pandemic is affecting a lot of us close to home,” Raveendran wrote. “In the unfortunate event that you or your family is hospitalised due to the coronavirus, you can apply for reimbursement from this fund to cover the costs.”
Zomato recently implemented a policy to provide 100% of the employee’s income for two years to the family.
For several other companies, vaccination drives are a key focus area. Ed tech startup Unacademy has set up a Covid fund of $1 million to provide support and free vaccination for employees and educators.
We set up a no question asked fund for COVID impacted employees. Today, we had a team member reach hospital & neede… https://t.co/Bc67RVQNS1
— Amrish Rau (@amrishrau) 1619964033000
Ecommerce giant Flipkart is providing vaccinations for free to employees and five of their dependents each. “We are covering the vaccination costs to help combat the spread of the pandemic,” a Flipkart spokesperson said. “We are also organising plasma and blood donation drives to help those in need.”
Covid 2.0 takes toll
During the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, startups largely implemented policies to ensure a smooth transition to work from home and offered psychological support. However, the ferocity of the second wave and increased fatalities have triggered a spate of initiatives this April, including Covid-19 emergency and insurance helpdesks, provision of medical supplies, as well as reduction of work intensity to avoid burnout.
“The situation from last year to today is incomparable,” said Vidit Aatrey, founder and chief executive of social commerce startup Meesho. “Last year, the number of cases were few and our efforts were mainly focused on providing psychological support since our employees or their families were not directly impacted.”
“(Now,) with more people getting infected in clusters daily… is leading many to experience acute stress, grief, emotional duress and burnout… Many (employees) are donning the role of caregivers to their friends and families,” said Aatrey.
Last year, credit card repayment platform Cred’s initiatives were focused on infrastructure support and community-building efforts for team members while they worked from home. This April, Cred implemented a policy that allows its employees to avail of their salary up to six months in advance for medical emergencies.
“I have not seen one startup founder talk about their business,” said Paytm’s Sharma, assessing the impact of the crisis on business. “Everybody’s talking about what is the next crisis that we are getting in because Covid-19 has taught us that we are unprepared, fatality can increase so fast and the morale could go down. What if there’s a third wave?”
Consumer firms chip in
Similar trends are visible among consumer product companies. Borosil, Borosil Renewable and their subsidiaries announcing grant of two years of salary to the families of employees who have passed away due to Covid-19.
“(This) is no comparison to the scale of the loss but hopefully, will allow the family enough time to process the bereavement and reorient,” Shreevar Kheruka, managing director, Borosil, wrote on professional networking site LinkedIn.
Beauty major L’Oréal India is offering a one-time Covid-19 insurance for those who test positive and has extended this to its field ecosystem of distributors and sales representatives. The company also offers 3 years’ salary as insurance cover in case of the demise of an employee, not limited to Covid-related deaths, a spokesperson said.
