What festive season hiring holds for companies and candidates

As we move towards the festive season, e-commerce companies need to plan their resources to get ready for the mega shopping festivals. That means, hiring more people. But most hiring at this stage would be done in a gig mode.

What are the imperatives, both from the companies’ side and from the workers’ perspective?

Seasonal gig demand

Annanya Sarthak, Co-Founder & CEO, Awign, already has an idea of the expected demand. “To address the surge in demand, companies onboard gig workers to meet business needs during the festive period. We are already seeing early signs of demand coming from various large players in the e-commerce, BFSI, FMCG/CD sectors for the next few months — projecting a 25% QoQ growth. Consequently, we expect to engage with over 60,000 gig workers for the rest of the year,” she says.

HRtech at work
It is not easy to quickly process such a massive number of applications and documents so that the workers can be onboarded on time.

Sumit Sabharwal, CEO of TeamLease HRTech, has some guidance on the processes that might help companies to manage this seamlessly. “Utilising chatbots can streamline candidate screening can help, with 26% of recruiters completing screenings in just one day. Additionally, leveraging AI-powered tools for interview scheduling can save 36% more time compared to manual methods. Such technological integrations will ensure swift and agile recruitment, allowing the industry to capitalise on the festive rush effectively. In embracing these advancements, e-commerce can navigate the recruitment hurdle and fully harness the potential of the upcoming festive season,” he says.

These are enabled by HRtech platforms that facilitate recruitment, automate paperwork, ensure timely remuneration disbursement, integrate payroll, insurance and benefits, providing a centralised view of financial commitments. Additionally, advanced analytics enable real-time performance tracking, helping in remuneration decisions. Some also try to look at health satisfaction, and safety from an overall perspective.

What should the people joining such jobs be clear about?

Labour laws in action
Pooja Ramchandani, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, says there are some things that these workers should be aware of.

“Gig workers in India are not granted the status of employees under labour law. The significant characteristic of the gig economy is flexibility in engagement of workers. Owing to the flexibility in the nature of the arrangement, a gig worker has been accorded a definition under the Code on Social Security, 2020, as a person who performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside the traditional employer-employee relationship.” she says.

In order to address the concerns of welfare of the gig workers, Ramchandani says the Code on Social Security has prescribed that the central and state governments (as the case may be) will frame social security and welfare schemes for gig workers and platform workers on matters relating to life and disability cover; health and maternity benefits; old age protection; provident fund; employment injury benefit; housing; educational schemes for children; skill upgradation of workers; funeral assistance; old age homes; and any other benefit as may be determined by the central government.

States are also realising the need for proactive support to gig workers. Ramchandani gives the example of The Rajasthan Platform-based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023, that the Assembly passed on July 24 to promote the welfare of gig workers operating in the state. The primary focus of the bill is on social security. It envisages framing of social security schemes and establishment of a social security fund for the benefit of gig workers.

While the festive season would be over by the end of the year, these timely interventions would ensure that workers get the right support even beyond that.