Urban Company to allot Rs 150 crore in stock options to gig workers

Bengaluru: Urban Company said on Wednesday that it will allot stock options in the company worth Rs 150 crore to its gig workers – who comprise plumbers, electricians, cleaners, groomers and so on – through a ‘partner stock ownership plan’ (Psop). Founder Raghav Chandra told ET that the Psop would be similar to employee stock option plans (Esops) of companies across the world that use stock options to reward employees.

How will it work?
Under the plan, the company will allot shares worth Rs 150 crore to thousands of service partners over the next five to seven years. It will set up a trust to manage the Psop plan and the shares will be allotted to gig workers over and above what they already earn. The company said it has received board approval for the first tranche of shares worth Rs 75 crore, which are to be disbursed over the next three to four years.


Who is it for?
The Psop is only for India, where the company employs more than 32,000 gig workers. It also operates in Australia, Singapore, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

How big is it?
Chandra did not disclose the percentage of total shares that will be allotted to the Psop but said the number of shares in it was “substantial”.

How will the options be allotted?
Chandra said the company was yet to figure out the mechanics of the Psop – that is, how the stock options will be disbursed and redeemed. He added that this programme would materialise over the next five to seven years.

“It will be based on partners' merit and on how long they have been with the company. With these two [factors] in mind we should be able to draft the structure,” he said. He said that the company has shortlisted 15 gig workers to be part of the programme.

“The entire process will be rule-based and transparent, with an advisory panel providing overall guidance,” the company said in a statement.

What’s the context?
The decision to set aside stock options for gig workers comes at a time when tech companies have been facing protests from gig workers for what they claim is “unfair compensation and work practices” by ride-hailing, food-delivery and other firms. Hundreds of women beauticians protested against the company last October last year, demanding better pay. The company had told ET then that it would not shy away from “doing the right thing for its stakeholders.”

But Chandra said that the Psop was in no way related to the protest. “It is disconnected with the protest. We have always maintained a very open dialogue with the partners. Covid made it harder. Even when the protest happens we take it in the spirit of building a business,” he said.

How has the news been received?
Shaik Salauddin, the national general secretary of the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers, welcomed the move but said that he wanted more clarity on how the stock options would be allotted, apart from a written agreement from Urban Company to all its gig workers.

Is this a first for gig workers?
Not quite. We reported last July that edtech company Unacademy plans to issue stock options worth $40 million to teachers on its platform over the next few years.

“Unacademy educators will be eligible for fully vested stock grants on completion of three, four and five years... On Day One (which is today), we already have more than 300 educators eligible for the grant which they will get immediately. Over the next few years, we will give grants of over $40 million to our educators,” chief executive Gaurav Munjal wrote in a series of tweets.