‘There is no support, they don’t care about us’: Urban Company’s beauty segment workers protest against ID blocking

Partners at the Urban Company office to demand that IDs be unblocked.

Home services company Urban Company has been rocked by protests yet again, this time in Delhi-NCR over allegations of unfairly blocking the IDs of partners on the platform.

The company has witnessed protests for two days in a row, as partners with blocked IDs demand that they be reinstated, and that they be given a chance to air grievances. Those protesting are primarily in the beauty services segment, with up to 70 workers protesting. Partners say that the company has asked for a week’s time, but do not seem optimistic that their IDs will be reinstated.

Partners say that before being onboarded on the platform, they have to pay the company for the training depending on the category they are going to work in. For example, under Salon for Women there are three categories — Classic, Prime, and Luxe — and each is more expensive. Partners even have to undergo a training prior to being onboarded on the platform, and partners say they pay costs up to Rs 1 lakh initially (including for equipment), with the amount varying depending on which category they have chosen.

This is apart from the money they spend to purchase perishable materials for everyday services and other requirements. The cost of the materials used for the services has to be incurred by the women too.

However, partners allege that IDs are blocked indiscriminately, which impacts them all the more as they have invested the amount in training as well. Many take out a loan for this amount as well.

Speaking to Moneycontrol, Neha*, a partner in the Prime category who had been on the platform for several years before being blocked over cancellations, terms it unfair that workers are never even given a chance to appeal decisions that affect them, and they are blocked indiscriminately.

ALSO READ: Urban Company beauticians protest at Gurgaon office over ID blocking, booking woes

Partners in the Classic and Prime categories are required to have a minimum rating of 4.7 and Luxe partners a rating of 4.85 out of a total of 5. Women Moneycontrol spoke to say it is nearly impossible to maintain, and failing this bar, allege they are automatically blocked by the platform.

A partner is also blocked if they have above four cancellations a month. Neha alleges that the partner is often penalised for mistakes of even clients. While clients are penalised Rs 200 for cancelling at the last minute, she says they choose the option of saying the partner did not show up to save on the charge, which ends up penalising the worker.

According to Neha, IDs are even blocked if a worker’s response rate — or the rate of accepting bookings offered — falls below 80 percent.

Another partner, Rita*, also in the beauty segment said that while she has a rating and hasn’t been barred from the platform, she supports the protest, terming it unfair for such IDs to have been blocked. “People can be questioned, if they had a mistake they can learn. They should not block IDs permanently, as it severely impacts earning potential and all the more so when they are the only earning member in the house,” she says.

Both Neha and Rita say that workers must at least get a chance to rectify an error there may be — such as a penalty or a minimal suspension period — before being booted off the platform.

Women Moneycontrol spoke to allege that they also face issues of safety due to which sometimes a customer cancels a booking, but they are penalised for that as well.

“There is no support, there is no support, the company does not care about the girls working on the platform,” says Neha.

However, responding to Moneycontrol's queries, Urban Company said it maintains an open-door policy and encourages dialogue with partners.

"Our investments in training (which is free of cost and not paid for by partners), technology, tooling, products, free life, accidental and health insurance etc., go a long way in having a controlled experience on the marketplace, enabling service partners to deliver best-in-class quality and earn a decent, middle-class livelihood," a company spokesperson said.

"We had recently asked a few partners who were not meeting the marketplace standards despite multiple prior notices and re-trainings, to part ways with the marketplace. We continue to maintain an open-door policy and encourage dialogue with our partners. We remain committed to building a safe, high-quality home services platform," they added.

The All India Gig Workers Union (AIGWU) said in a statement that the partners are being barred due to stringent norms by the company despite paying heavy fees for products and the company’s MG (minimum guarantee) plan. The minimum guarantee plan only guarantees partners a certain number of bookings, but it doesn’t make promises about the value, partners say.

AIGWU’s memorandum with the demands submitted to the company states that similar issues are being faced by workers in the Electricians, Plumbers and Carpenters segment, men’s grooming etc, and that IDs are being blocked permanently without warning or offering time.

“Sometimes in the name of rerating, sometimes cancellation, sometimes response rate, sometimes no calendar marking or less input, randomly blocking IDs and being put out of work. The system may be automated, but it is made by humans. This system also contradicts Urban Company's claim of providing 'flexibility' to its workers,” it states.

The demands put forth by the union include enabling all blocked IDs, abolishing the practice of blocking IDs permanently, lowering the minimum rating required and eliminating multiple rating systems.

It asks that until partners themselves block their IDs, they should not be permanently removed unless there is serious misconduct. Performance criteria should be rule-based, and should only be used for 'warning' purposes, it says.

Additionally, the demands ask for workers only to be rated on their performance, and not for cancellations, response time or input rate.

For lower ratings, it asks for the reason for the low rating by the customer to be clearly written on the partner dashboard.

It also asks for workers to get off, and allege that workers have to work continuously. “If we take 1-2 days off due to health reasons, the company's representatives threaten to block us on phone because of 'Low Input Rating', or directly block us. The company should provide them one day off in a week,” it asks.

This isn’t the first time that Urban Company is facing the ire of workers on its platform, with a larger protest having played out in late 2021 as well. At the time, the company did respond, coming up with a 12-step programme to improve partner ratings and their livelihoods as well. However, as the protests continued to persist, Urban Company even sent a legal notice to the workers, and had also an injunction from the court directing the police to disburse protesters.

According to a report, the suit was withdrawn by the company three months later after a court in Gurugram found it to be devoid of merit.

*Name changed

Note: This story has been updated to reflect Urban Company's response.