Warehouses were once dominated by men alone, but Grofers has trained its women staff in the areas of inventory, billing, audit, order picking, return processing and so on. The six-year old Indian online grocery delivery service, is taking its diversity agenda very seriously, and not regretting it one bit. The Company has hired women in large numbers to work at its warehouses and also experienced a peak in productivity following this move. The Company is also hiring women to deliver orders.
The startup presently has about 40 per cent women in its workforce. It has broken gender stereotypes by hiring women for a job, which has always been considered cut out for men alone. Women are rarely seen working in warehouses, but Grofers has employed about 500 women across Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Kolkata.
It will soon hire women for its units in Faridabad, Hyderabad and Noida as well.
The Company has made sure that the warehouses are safe for its women employees by installing cameras, women security guards, as well as women HR professionals and housekeeping staff. Grofers also provides pick up and drop facility for its women workers along with fixed working hours.
The company’s training programmes have helped women improve their skills.
Grofers witnessed an increase in efficiency and productivity, and a dip in absenteeism, which has definitely improved its employee engagement score.
It survived a rough patch a few years back to show extraordinary growth of 800 per cent, and earn annual revenues of $400 million!
Looks like India has begun to give women their due place in the workforce. Earlier this year, the union labour ministry had allowed women to be employed in mines too, provided they gave their written consent for the same.
