PickMe has become a trailblazer by creating safety nets for those working in the gig economy. Currently, over 11,000 drivers are covered under the company’s latest insurance scheme. As PickMe expands their platinum and gold categories for drivers, the insurance scheme will provide cover to more people. Something unique about the scheme is that PickMe drivers are paid insurance claims even for accidents that may occur during periods they are off duty, making it the only digital platform to extend protection to gig workers 24 hours of the day.
“This program not only covers drivers, but also their families. 1,675 claims have been made to date, amounting to Rs. 38,467,610. 3 claims were paid following deaths of drivers, one while working on the app. Funeral expenses of members’ parents and spouses’ parents have also been covered for 405 drivers. Claims can be made for child birth and 421 drivers received a payment of Rs. 50,000 each. Hospitalisation for general purposes as well as covid were also covered. Allowances for grade 5 scholarship, O/Ls and A/Ls were paid for 189 children,” says Jiffry Zulfer, Founder CEO of PickMe.
The Rs. 4 million Insurance scheme provided by PickMe through Cooperative Insurance allows a maximum medical insurance cover of up to Rs. 3,000,000 in case of an accidental death or Permanent disability to a driver or a family member. Beneficiaries are entitled to a Life Insurance cover of up to Rs 1,000,000 and will receive compensation up to Rs 1.5 million and Rs 300,000 in case of critical illness. The terms of the Insurance scheme also allows for a payment of Rs 30,000/- as compensation in case of hospitalisation. The Insurance Scheme will extend financial assistance of Rs. 30,000 – Rs. 50,000 in the event of a funeral in the family.
Palitha Kodithuwakku, representative of the Co-Operative Insurance Company said, “Insurance premiums are given to children facing university entrance exams as well. We hope to increase the number of 11,000 PickMe drivers who are currently covered by the insurance to 25,000 – 30,000 in the future.”
As digital services gradually take centre stage in most economies, the PickMe platform is positioning itself as the second tier of public transport. At the same time, the company is also bringing value addition to app-based deliveries, which is becoming a popular solution for home and office utilities.
Whilst the platform’s taxi hailing services have expanded and have reached pre pandemic levels, the digital platform is experiencing large numbers of people joining them to create livelihoods for themselves.
“In the past there were various accusations levelled at digital platforms who use gig services as being impersonal and dismissive towards those providing services as employees. This is not the case with PickMe, as we in the past 5 years have been developing systems within a system where there is no employer-employee relationship, to ensure that we provide a sense of belonging and loyalty amongst our drivers to the platform. Insurance coverage for the driver and family is one such offering and it has had a great response,” says Zulfer Jiffry, CEO of PickMe.
PickMe’s insurance coverage for drivers, which has been in operation for nearly 4 years, is awarded free of charge to drivers who reach gold and platinum levels of service on their platform. The levels are reached based on drivers general conduct, performance and reliability.