Wanted more women in taxi, logistics lane
logistics providers, who traditionally employed men as drivers, are increasingly hiring women to drive cars and commercial vehicles and deliver ecommerce orders on two-wheelers. Demand for female drivers is growing faster than that for male personnel — 20% against 14% year-on-year — though on a low base, according to data from staffing services provider Teamlease. Staffing companies and fleet operators said they are facing a shortage of female drivers to fill the growing demand. One of the reasons for this, they said, is the work from office mandate that more companies are adopting.
This is leading to more women working from offices and on night shifts, and companies prefer female cab drivers for scheduled drops of these employees who work late hours, said Balasubramanian A, vice president and head of consumer and ecommerce at TeamLease Services.
“Usually if it’s a male driver, the company would send a security guard to accompany women employees which is an extra cost, but with women cab drivers, this is not a challenge,” said Balasubramanian. “It is a smart and cost-efficient option too.” The demand is mostly concentrated in metro cities, he added. However, women still account for just about 1% of the 1.7-2 million pool of cab drivers. Data show southern and western parts of the country are employing more female drivers than in the North, where it may still be a taboo for women to drive cabs or commercial vehicles, said experts.
Besides, there are
