Flipkart to give workers leave with full pay if quarantined

Flipkart has pledged to give delivery workers leave with all benefits and full pay if they contract COVID-19 or are placed under quarantine. Flipkart also said that they have made temperature screening using infra-red thermometers mandatory for everyone in the office - vendors, employees and visitors. Anyone with suspected flu symptoms have also been advised to stay home.

"For our supply chain and logistics network, we have organised more than 3,000 awareness sessions covering over 100k employees across all our facilities on how our employees and partners can minimize their exposure by following simple precautionary measures," Amitesh Jha, Senior Vice President, eKart and Marketplace at Flipkart, said in a blog post on Wednesday.

Jha also informed that all their delivery executives are covered with life insurance and medical insurance.

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Besides ensuring that delivery executives and vendors are taken care of, e-retailers also have to deal with the increased demand for digital services. Amazon announced this week that they are going to hire one lakh employees in the US in fulfilment centres and delivery networks since people are relying extensively on online deliveries for daily needs.

Flipkart also said that it has seen "overwhelming demand for essential products".

"We appreciate the dedication and customer-first approach of our supply chain executives, wishmasters and delivery partners during this challenging time. They have reiterated their commitment to serving customers and overcoming many challenges to meet the overwhelming demand for essential products," Jha said.

"The onus is on e-commerce to rise to the demands of the occasion, and we are sparing no effort to ensure that we meet our customers' needs," he said, adding that Flipkart is taking all preventive measures as advised by the World Health Organization.

Flipkart also asked customers to cooperate and requested them to use digital payment gateways for all cash-on-delivery shipments. The company said that they were working on making additional delivery options like contactless delivery in certain locations.

"Customers also have the option of requesting the delivery partner to leave their packages at the security booth of their residential complexes in line with their complex's guidelines (in case of online payments)," Jha said.