Our ESG Materiality Matrix reflects our pragmatic approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors and identifies the most relevant and pertinent issues to our organization that fall under the ESG umbrella.
With a focus on sustainability, social betterment, and transparent governance, this matrix serves as a navigational tool for our efforts, amalgamating with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs-3, 8, 1, 5 and 10).
In this article, we delve into the process of identifying our ESG commitments and structuring them under the matrix’s core dimensions.
Our Materiality Assessment
In designing Urban Company’s ESG Materiality Matrix, the first step in the assessment was to identify our commitment areas for all our stakeholders and our business as a whole.
This process involves looking at a number of factors through two prominent lenses – Impact on the organization and Importance to stakeholders.
We have determined promoting economic empowerment, equity, social security, safety and a better quality of life for all our stakeholders as we organize home and beauty services as the focus areas of our ESG commitments.
Based on this framework, we aim to ensure ten key ESG commitments through our business:
‘E’ – Environment
- Create awareness around urban cleanliness, solid waste disposal and clean water bodies
- Encourage reuse, repair and recycle of home appliances and build a supply chain of safe e-waste disposal
- Build an ethical supply chain and define clean sourcing norms
‘S’ – Social
- Middle-class earnings: Committed to Service Partners earning at least a living wage (1.8x minimum wage in New Delhi)
- Safety Net: Provide life, accidental and health insurance cover to all Service Partners on a voluntary basis
- Train & upskill 500,000 Service Partners by 2030, including at least 200,000 women Service Partners
- Wealth creation for Service Partners: Creating wealth creation opportunities for partners including through our Partner Stock Option Plan (PSOP)
‘G’ – Governance
- Independent and diverse board
- Increase women representation in leadership and senior management roles to 30% by 2025
- Create a diverse and inclusive workplace, helping people of all backgrounds unlock their potential
As a business, these areas of impact are of utmost importance to us and also tie up with the 5 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that we have identified as our ESG priorities.
These ten ESG commitments have been categorized based on the impact they have on our stakeholders and the business and are ranked by their relative importance, that form our Materiality Matrix.
Urban Company’s ESG Materiality Matrix
Our ESG Materiality Matrix
Commitments that are of high priority to both our business and stakeholders
We are in the pursuit to empower millions of service professionals worldwide. Ensuring their health, security, well-being and financial inclusion form the key pillars of our Partner enablement initiatives.
We empower our Service Partners through access to insurance and loans, enablement through training and upskilling, upward social mobility opportunities via increased earnings, and help them become shareholders of the company through wealth creation tools like our Partner Stock Option Plan (PSOP).
As part of our commitment to partner well-being, we rolled out a COVID-19 health insurance and income protection plan. Under this insurance cover, service professionals were offered a hospitalization cover of up to INR 25,000 and income protection cover of up to INR 14,000 in the event of hospitalization due to positive diagnosis of Coronavirus.
We take full responsibility for ensuring the security and maintaining the sanctity of data concerning our employees, Service Partners and customers. We have a Security Steering Committee that conducts quarterly reviews to improve security and privacy.
- Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Test (VAPT) twice a year
- Default denial of Database access to everyone
- Public bug bounty program on HackerOne
- Presence of disaster-recovery measures
In a recent employee survey, 99% of our employees claimed to resonate with Urban Company’s mission. Through our diverse and inclusive work culture, we are dedicated to helping employees unlock their full potential.
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Strong, independent board
We have a strong, independent and diverse board with directors having varied skill sets, experience and backgrounds. The independent directors also chair the organization’s independent Audit, Risk Management, Nomination and Remuneration, and Corporate Social Responsibility committees.
Our materiality matrix aligns with our 5 UN SDG priorities and has served as the guiding framework for the ESG initiatives at Urban Company.
Our efforts are targeted towards doing right by both our business and all the stakeholders. In doing so, we strive to deliver progress on our sustainability commitments with the same unwavering determination that drives us towards creating a ‘Win-Win’ marketplace for all.
