Narrowing the Gender Wage Gap: Female Urban Company Service Partners’ Monthly Earnings Nearly 15% Higher Than Male Partners in Central and Western India

In today’s world, the gender wage gap continues to be a prevalent issue, with women often earning less than men for similar work. At Urban Company, one of our ESG commitments is to train and upskill 500,000 Service Partners by 2030, including at least 200,000 Women Service Partners, while driving decent work and economic growth, and reducing inequalities among all of them.

To understand the experience of working with Urban Company, we surveyed a cohort of 4,528 Urban Company Service Partners. Here’s what the findings show:

Empowering women with increasing earnings

15% more earnings for women in Western and Central India

Through the internal survey, it has been found that Service Partners offering services in the Central and Western regions of the country have seen the highest monthly net earnings, with female Service Partners earning almost 15% more than men.  

80% Women Partners claim an uplift in their total monthly earnings

According to the internal Partner survey, of which 37% were women from across the country, a staggering 80% of them also claimed to have witnessed an increase in their earnings post joining Urban Company. 

Upward social mobility for our Partners, especially women, has been the core driver for all our partner enablement initiatives. Our best-in-class training and upskilling modules that set the services of our Partners apart have helped them earn more than their offline counterparts.

To further substantiate these findings, a comprehensive earnings benchmarking study conducted by PGA Labs in 2021 revealed that our strategic investment in training and upskilling had led to a remarkable 4x increase in the Partners’ average monthly earnings compared to those in traditional offline service professions.

Additionally, our partners’ hourly earnings of INR 322 are ~200% more than the minimum wage in New Delhi which is INR 96, the highest among all states in India.

Increased Earnings: A direct result of our investment in Training and Upskilling

One of the key drivers in our efforts to narrow the gender wage gap is our commitment to partner enablement through training and upskilling. Understanding the importance of equipping our Service Partners with top-notch skills and knowledge, we have implemented best-in-class training modules that set our professionals apart from their offline counterparts in the market.

By providing these high-quality training programs, we ensure that our Partners deliver exceptional services, which results in greater customer satisfaction and a steady flow of clientele. As a direct consequence, the enhanced service quality contributes to an increase in earnings for our Service Partners.

In CY 2022, we invested INR 72 Crores in training and upskilling our Service Partners. As a result, 80% Service Partners said that they learned a new skill as part of their training. 

What’s more? 

Financial workshops for our women partners: Prioritizing financial inclusion for our women partners, 2,916 women Partners have been empowered through our Personal finance workshops that were conducted in partnership with Knowise Learning Academy, a financial training institution, across 11 cities, till date. Our women partners were trained on different modes of saving, and the various kinds of financial benefits available to women in India. 

By prioritizing the empowerment of our women Partners through effective training, upskilling, and security benefits, we have managed to narrow the gender wage gap significantly.

We continue to invest in partner enablement and gender equality to create a more inclusive and equal workplace for all.