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Urban Company will scale keeping the needs of service professionals in mind

<ul><li>Despite it being a year when people are social distancing and staying away from socializing or meeting friends and relatives, Urban Company has managed to convince people about the safety of its services, thereby resulting in people welcoming them into their homes.</li><li>It is this focus on safety and also the brand's continuous reiteration of its safety protocols in its communications that has won people's trust. It is already witnessing a resurgence in demand in most of its services categories.</li><li><keyword id="2144064" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tarun-Menon">Tarun Menon</keyword>, Director-Marketing, Urban Company spoke to us about all that the brand has been doing to get back into the hearts and homes of its consumers in this difficult year.</li></ul>Home services marketplace Urban Company (UC) has a good run so far this year. Not only has it seen good recovery in business during the various unlock phases, the platform also expects to see its revenue double in the current fiscal over last year. While the first few months of the lockdown meant that there was a complete shutdown for its business, owning to the fact that it offers in-home services, things are slowly falling into place now as consumers are again opening up to the idea of letting people into their homes. What is helping the brand get back on its feet is the fact that it has been focusing on offering safe at-home services and has been using its marketing campaigns to convey messages around how safe its services are. With the help of a brand ambassador like <keyword id="6354535" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ayushmann-khurrana">Ayushmann Khurrana</keyword> who people connect with instantly, the brand has been able to win over its consumers’ trust and is already seeing positive results. In a recent conversation with Ad &amp; Media Insider, Tarun Menon, Director-Marketing, UC walked us through all that the brand has been doing to get back into the hearts and homes of its consumers. The year so far The year has been challenging for most businesses across the world. However, what differentiates the ones who have been able to bounce back from the ones that are still struggling to find their footing is their agility and the rate at which they were able to adapt to changing consumer sentiments and demands. Owing to the fact that UC offers in-home services, it meant that it would take the platform some convincing before people opened up their doors to the platform’s partners. However, things have been moving in a positive direction for the past few months as the brand has been witnessing consistent growth. Urban Company Co-founder <keyword id="3012564" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Khaitan">Varun Khaitan</keyword> stated in a recent interview that despite the months of lockdown, they are already crossing their pre-COVID peak by more than 30%. He also shared his optimism about seeing 2X growth in FY21 over FY20. On how things were right after the lockdown, and during the early phases of Unlock, Menon told us, “The first 2 months were quite a struggle, like all other businesses. However, the first categories that started to pick up were the ones that could be deemed as essential services, like plumbing, electricians, carpenters and subsequently appliance repairs.” Across the width of categories that UC is present in, there are some for which the pandemic provided tailwinds to and there were others for which the negative consumer sentiments acted as headwinds. UC had launched men’s grooming and haircuts at home in the last quarter of 2019. “That is a category that has seen tremendous growth in the past few months and its actually buoyed our business significantly,” Menon added. However, the platform has had to work tremendously hard on categories like Salon at home, owing to the fact that it is a high proximity service. That’s where its advertising has helped it win its consumers’ trust back. The brand launched its ‘UC Safe Salon campaign’ which comprised TVCs featuring TV actors like <keyword id="166349" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neena-Kulkarni">Neena Kulkarni</keyword> and <keyword id="27383" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shweta-Tiwari">Shweta Tiwari</keyword> who had themselves availed UC services. The aim was to spread the message about how safe its salon at home option was. “Following the launch of the campaigns, we've seen resurgence across all categories, some obviously moving faster than the others. And it's a function of sentiment and maturity across categories. To give you a sense of where we are relative to July, our salon category has grown by about 50-56% and that's been on the back of structural problem-solving, to deliver on the core quality of experience and safety. We’ve re-skinned the way we talk about ourselves in our communications,” he explained. The team built video communication for each of its services on its app to assure people about their safety protocols. And all these videos featured Tiwari. People responded to the videos, owing to the fact that Tiwari as a brand is relatable and trustworthy. The effort has also been towards coming up with offerings that drive value for consumers in the salon category. “Initiative like Super Saver Week and Salon Spree have helped us meet our monthly targets for the salon category,” he added. He also added that the pandemic provided tailwinds to the men’s grooming category which has seen around 57% growth since July and is coming close to the salon category in terms of volumes. Of new users and markets While the salon at home category had been a winner for UC, it launched its Men’s grooming services right before the lockdown. And owing to the fact that salons had to be shut for a long time, once the unlock process started, the brand saw a lot of demand for the men’s grooming services. And all of the people using these services are new users. It is also witnessing good demand for other services like painting and professional cleaning. And is the platform witnessing more demand from smaller cities? “A significant portion of our business still continues to remain in urban cities. However, our focus has also been on building demand in Tier II cities. We have tried to build relevance at a regional level through our influencer marketing programs, specifically in the salon and men's grooming business. On the salon business, through the month of September, we've worked with about 165 micro-influencers who have a following between the range of 5000- 50,000 but are locally relevant. The aim has been to drive resonance of salience on the message that UC salon services exist in your city, to reiterate our safety protocols and to introduce our roll-on waxing,” explained Menon. UC has also been trying to talk to the slightly older audience, to again assure them about the safety of their offerings, however, the demand is still being driven by the younger audience. Marketing strategies during and post lockdown Usually during the times of crisis, marketing budgets are the first to be cut off. For UC too, the marketing budgets were put on hold for the first two months of the pandemic. “However, once we saw some supply return to the platform, and there was a certain demand to supply ratio where demand was lagging, we activated our marketing budgets. It's been about tracking our numbers and coordinating with the rest of business to identify moments, categories and regions, in terms of building where demand needs to be built,” he explained. It is also spending its marketing monies in a phased manner. “Today we might be slightly below par to where we were pre-pandemic in terms of our marketing spends and that’s a conscious choice. We are spending and have invested on IPL. However, right now its more about optimizing our spends with a view of what the cost of conversion is, and build that based on the structural changes we’ve made to our business, to focus on quality and safety. The larger belief is that if we get these two things right and are able to drive it in a credible, demonstrable way when it comes to experiences, that in turn will lead to repeat business, and even word-of-mouth,” said Menon. TV and Digital continue to be the biggest spends for the platform. During the IPL, the brand launched a campaign with its brand ambassador of 2 years, Ayushmann Khurrana. The vision for Urban Company UC, which was formerly known as UrbanClap, was founded in 2014 with a handful of service professionals. In the last 6 years, the platform has diversified its business and has also expanded to global markets like Australia, Singapore, and the UAE. So where will the next phase of growth for UC come from? “There are several things we have been discussing, like introduction of new services within each category or the tier-ization of services to appeal to different price points and consumer sets. The company's ethos is to pilot, learn, iterate, fail fast, and then deploy. So there are active pilots across each of these, whether it is service expansion, depth of service or segmentation exercise,” shared Menon.

How Urban Company’s continued focus on safety and targeted communication is making people open their doors to the brand

<ul><li>Gurugram-based home services startup <keyword id="2811049" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="UrbanClap">Urbanclap</keyword> plans to launch in 4 Indian cities in the next quarter. </li><li>The startup recently announced its plan to expand to Abu Dhabi.</li><li>Two new services – men’s grooming and on-demand maid for cleaning – which are currently live in Delhi will soon be launched across India. </li></ul>Urbanclap was a small startup based out of Gurugram in 2014, offering home services digitally. Today, it has operations across 10 cities in India, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It recently announced its Abu Dhabi expansion, and plans to grow its UAE business twice over, on a monthly basis. What’s more, the company has plans to become a ₹100 billion company! In an interview with Business Insider, <keyword id="3012564" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Khaitan">Varun Khaitan</keyword>, co-founder, Urbanclap said that there are many plans in store for their India business as well. Urbanclap will soon launch in four more cities by the next quarter. Two new services – men’s grooming and on-demand maid for cleaning – which are currently live in Delhi will be launched across India. “Our investments are on constantly improving the business,” said Khaitan. Profitability vs Scale UrbanClap recently raised ₹16 million from Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, according to paper.vc, a business intelligence firm. It has marquee investors like Ratan Tata, SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners on board, and raised a total funding of $110 million. The startup has about 6 lakh users per month with 20,000 service professionals on-board. But the main question is – how far is profitability? “If we want to, we can turn profitable in the next three months. Instead, we want to invest in our future and build our scale to one day make Urbanclap a ₹100 billion company,” said Khaitan. Recently, Urbanclap <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/urbanclap-revenue-up-309-losses-down-25-in-fy18/articleshow/64008938.cms?from=mdr">reported </a>a 309% jump in its operational revenue to ₹450 million for 2017-18. The losses however were at ₹750 million. “In the last three years, our jump in revenue has been significant while the losses in quantum have remained flat. The amount of burn remaining flat with revenue increases, is a sign of scale. If you want to keep growing, you will have to be investing for tomorrow’s growth,” said Khaitan. An offer they couldn’t refuse All the founders Abhiraj Bahl, Raghav Chandra and Khaitan, came back from the US hoping to build a business. They had the common goal of solving a problem for the masses. After extensive research, the idea of helping people run their homes appealed to them. They also realized that professionals like electricians and beauticians too barely make any money due to middlemen or employers. “We realised very early on that the problem that we were solving was not just building a marketplace and connecting users. We ended up removing the middlemen and transitioning these employees or service professionals into microentrepreneurs,” said Khaitan. Service professionals like electricians, beauticians and carpenters had nothing to complain as Urbanclap made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. “We told them you keep 80% of the earnings, Urbanclap will keep 20%. Overnight their earnings went up. Today, every other service professional through Urbanclap earns makes an average of ₹40,000 per month. Hundreds of our beauticians make more than ₹1 lakh a month,” said Khaitan. Making a difference to professionals also improved service quality to consumers. When they started, the founders were hoping to have at least 100 users per day, by the end of 2015. However, they had 1000 per day. The founders got what they wanted – solving a systemic problem in the country – as opposed to building a business, to sell and chill in a yacht. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/EXCLUSIVE-This-Indian-startup-has-made-a-profit-solving-1100-police-cases-with-just-one-round-of-funding/articleshow/69871636.cms">EXCLUSIVE: This Indian startup has made a profit solving 1,100 police cases with just one round of funding</a>

INTERVIEW: Urbanclap claims it can turn profitable in 3 months but it won’t – here’s why

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> has quietly launched a new website and jumped straight into the <keyword id="3074110" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="hyperlocal-services">hyperlocal services</keyword> market in India. Their newest offering features a list of local services and businesses that can be searched and shortlisted based on location. There are 80 plus categories including general and personalized services. All these businesses are listed on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a>’s website, are rated and include its user ratings. 
 
India’s hyperlocal services market is crowded by players like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Urbanclap&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">UrbanClap</a>, <keyword id="2828896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="QuikrServices">QuikrServices</keyword>, Zopper and Zimmber to name a few. However, while <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword> revealed in October last year that there were over two million small business listed on its platform, segment leader <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Urbanclap&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Urbanclap</a> isn’t much worried. 
 
“They (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a>) will probably have more detailed pages. However, it’s still just a listing. On <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Urbanclap&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Urbanclap</a> it’s a more end-to-end platform based on your needs and budget. Platforms like those have some supply, but since the mechanism of connecting the professional to the customer is so bad, it doesn’t quite work for both sides. That’s why Just Dial as a marketplace never quite took off for local services”, <keyword id="2811049" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="UrbanClap">Urbanclap</keyword> co-founder <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Varun+Khaitan&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Varun Khaitan</a> told Business Insider. 
 
Currently <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=hyperlocal+services&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">hyperlocal services</a> platforms charge businesses a small fee to be featured on their platform, or take 10-20% commission from their total fee. There has not yet been any word on how <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> plans on monetizing its hyperlocal service. However, Facebook’s entry into this crowded space is expected to only increase the competition. Recently, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> also launched tools that are designed to help users communicate with businesses via its Messenger. This will allow users to communicate with businesses using short URLs and codes. 
 
The idea behind <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a>’s new portal is to connect users with local businesses and organizations with the best <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Facebook&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Facebook</a> reviews and ratings. The portal currently lists quite a few businesses categorized under broad fields like plumber, spa, beauty and personal care, event planning, pet service, medical and health, arts and marketing, automotive, and business services. Each listing includes the business name, address, working hours, and a star rating based on users’ reviews. 
 
This push by larger companies is putting considerable pressure on smaller companies in the space who have to grow rapidly, merge, or simply shut down. The three large firms apart, others in the space have cumulatively raised close to $15 million. 
 
<a href="http://www.bloncampus.com/multimedia/dynamic/02514/Co-Founders_-__Fro_2514976g.jpg">Image Source</a>

Urbanclap Co-founder Varun Khaitan is giving Mark Zuckerburg something
serious to think about

After a dull week and indifferent performances, <keyword id="143" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bollywood">Bollywood</keyword> is rocking once again as <keyword id="193380" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Debutant-director">debutant director</keyword> <keyword id="1801086" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shashank-Khaitan">Shashank Khaitan</keyword>’s <keyword id="1800884" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Humpty-Sharma-Ki-Dulhania">Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania</keyword> (<keyword id="2253052" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="HSKD">HSKD</keyword>) is grossing big moolah at home and abroad. But that’s not really surprising as the <keyword id="1636016" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="rom-com">rom-com</keyword> released on July 11 has all the right masala punched in, including the star cast. Yes, you have <keyword id="6354526" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Alia-Bhatt">Alia Bhatt</keyword> and <keyword id="383666" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Varun-Dhawan">Varun Dhawan</keyword> back here and the chemistry you saw in <keyword id="549195" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="80" keywordseo="Student-of-the-Year">Student of the Year</keyword> is still sizzling. Riding on hits like 2 States, Highway and Student of the Year, Alia’s Midas touch makes this feisty flick quite adorable while the storyline, a new millennium version of <keyword id="88064" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Dilwale-Dulhania-Le-Jayenge">Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge</keyword>, is another sure shot way to win hearts. So here’s another hit as HSKD, produced by <keyword id="3778" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Karan-Johar">Karan Johar</keyword>, netted Rs 33.74 crore at the <keyword id="827271" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Domestic-Box-Office">domestic box office</keyword> in the first three days (trade figure stands at Rs 33.41 crore) and grossed around Rs 5.55 crore overseas in the first weekend. 
 
“HSKD surpasses ALL expectations and has a FANTABULOUS Sunday: Fri 9.02 cr, Sat 11.25 cr, Sun 13.46 cr. Total: Rs 33.74 cr nett. India biz,” tweeted film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh. 
 Monday and Tuesday collections were pegged at Rs 5.60 crore and Rs 5 crore, respectively, as per industry estimates, taking the five-day total at home to around Rs 44 crore. Released in about 2,200 screens, the movie had a comparatively low budget of Rs 29 crore (including cost of production and P&amp;A) and collections at the domestic <keyword id="25892" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="box-office">box office</keyword> are way ahead of the amount. Going by the current trend, HSKD is bound to hit the <keyword id="2368887" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rs-50-crore-mark">Rs 50 crore mark</keyword> in this week, but whether it can enter the coveted Rs <keyword id="6567206" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="100-crore-club">100 crore club</keyword> is yet to be seen. 
 
 
 
But ask us the secret behind Humpty Sharma’s resounding success and we will falter after a couple of points. Yes, there is Alia Bhatt, aka <keyword id="2256596" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kavya-Pratap-Singh">Kavya Pratap Singh</keyword>, playing the spirited Ambala lass and getting her way in everything – be it buying an exuberantly priced <keyword id="170" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Designer">designer</keyword> lehenga for her upcoming shaadi with too-good-to-be-true NRI bridegroom <keyword id="26339" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Angad-Bedi">Angad Bedi</keyword> (<keyword id="31020" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Siddharth-Shukla">Siddharth Shukla</keyword>) or falling in love with the chance acquaintance Rakesh or Humpty (Varun Dhawan), a Delhi lad ready to go all out to claim his sweet<keyword id="24479" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="heart">heart</keyword>. While Alia charms all and looks like a modern-day Simran, Varun seems to be lacking Raj’s confidence and charisma. Still, pitted against the picture perfect Angad, Humpty’s vulnerability easily touches our heart. 
 However, there the pluses end. Rehashing an insanely popular <keyword id="2148473" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bollywood-classic">Bollywood classic</keyword> is no easy task but a total lack of logic, shallow emotions, a ‘sudden’ change of heart and a make-believe climax can hardly support a great love story, even if it’s a millennial love story. It has its moments of warmth and sweetness, but the freshness wanes too soon and <keyword id="303" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Director">director</keyword> Shashank Khaitan leaves the story to meander through painful predictabilities. However, Bollywood buffs are still big-hearted enough to love a love story and that is one of the key reasons why Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania is rocking the box office. 
 
Images: Indiatimes

Box Office: Alia-Varun’s Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania Nears Rs 50 Crore
Mark; Will It Be A Superhit?

Business Insider is hosting an annual business conclave on the <keyword id="1967222" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="future-of-work" source="Orion">Future of Work</keyword> this year on March 17th in Mumbai, focussed on India’s biggest audience base: job seekers. The event is being co-powered by Google Cloud. This year has ushered in a new paradigm for work, workplace and the workforce. To thrive in this post-pandemic environment, the lens is shifting to strategies that help retain talent, with a renewed focus on people. It is a crucial year as organizations look to make workplaces more humane amidst digital adoption, find a balance between hybrid and physical work space and create a more equitable environment overall. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Human capital at an inflection point" comment="subhead" text="Human capital at an inflection point">Human capital at an inflection point</cmsannotation> With a changed talent landscape, companies have to rethink workforce strategies beyond the traditional Bottomline-driven approach. Human capital is at an inflection point because companies have had to adapt to too many changes too soon through the pandemic years. One needs to re-imagine human capital strategies keeping that inflection point in mind, which includes culture shifts, rising influence of AI, quiet quitting, mental health and layoffs. And most importantly, the evolving role of leadership and human resources in the changing world order to find the confluence between work, technology and human experience. Register here to know more about FoW summit: <a href="https://future-of-work.in/#popmake-497">https://future-of-work.in/#popmake-497</a> These are themes that we will be focussing on in our one-day event: <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;" class="redcator-table-advance"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><ul><li>The future of work and technology and the tools driving digital transformation across workplaces over the next decade</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><ul><li>How are HR leaders looking to reshape the human capital management landscape in 2023?</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><ul><li>Redefining a performance-driven culture and work towards an inclusive, collaborative approach to enhance productivity and talent retention</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><ul><li>Learning and Development: Upskilling is crucial to remain relevant in the modern workplace across sectors</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-right:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;border-top:solid #cccccc 0.6000000000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:2pt 2pt 2pt 2pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><ul><li>The need for policies to align employee growth and business strategies to ensure that both workforce and business can thrive</li></ul></td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody><tbody></tbody></table> Our previous edition of Future of Work featured former CEA KV Subramanian, <keyword id="1175200" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sanjeev-bikchandani" source="Orion">Sanjeev Bikchandani</keyword> of InfoEdge, <keyword id="25725" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ronnie-screwvala" source="Orion">Ronnie Screwvala</keyword> of Upgrad, Oscar nominee Guneet Monga, National Award winning filmmaker Rakesh <keyword id="339527" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="omprakash-mehra" source="Orion">Omprakash Mehra</keyword>, Best selling author global keynote speaker &amp; podcast host <keyword id="1859852" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="dan-schawbel" source="Orion">Dan Schawbel</keyword>, Varun Khaitan of Urban Company, Global expert on Future of Work &amp; author Ben Pring and many others. Business Insider’s FUTURE OF WORK is the knowledge sharing platform where we bring forth cutting edge thinking from the world’s leading thinkers, enablers and doers. Simply put, a platform for all to bring conversations and ideas together and learn from each other. We are proud to have Aon on board as our knowledge partner of the conclave. See you in our one-of-a-kind annual gathering on March 17th in Mumbai. Register here to know more about FoW summit: <a href="https://future-of-work.in/#popmake-497">https://future-of-work.in/#popmake-497</a>

Future of Work 2023 ⁠— a confluence of the brightest minds reimagining the new era of work, workplace and workforce

<ul><li>Even though the ‘<keyword id="3080230" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gig-economy" source="Orion">gig economy</keyword> workforce’ is a new concept, the <keyword id="37465" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="film-industry" source="Orion">film industry</keyword> has been working with such a model for decades.</li><li>The Indian film industry employed over 2.5 lakh people in 2017 alone.</li><li>Despite the unionisation of the Indian film industry that protects the rights of freelancers, there are a lot of issues left to be dealt with.</li></ul>Gig workforce is the hottest new trend that has emerged with the rise of the digital economy leading to the advent of companies like Zomato, Swiggy and <keyword id="8681398" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="urban-company" source="Orion">Urban Company</keyword>. Widely overlooked, but the concept of hiring contractual employees has been around for decades, if not centuries. That’s right. The Indian film industry has been one of the biggest employers of gig economy workers since its beginning. The Indian film industry employed over <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/731218/employment-in-the-film-industry-india/">2.5 lakh </a>people in 2017 alone. Business Insider hosted Academy Award winner and Indian film producer Guneet Monga and Urban Company’s cofounder Varun Khaitan in its Future of Work event — held on September 16 and 17 — to throw more light on the topic. Monga said that the film industry in general has been employing several freelancers for decades, whether it is light boys, dancers, junior artists, art directors, cinematographers and more. The term <keyword id="7771650" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gig-workers" source="Orion">gig workers</keyword> has come up with the advent of the digital economy. “It can seem unstructured, but it actually works very well in the <keyword id="278613" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="freelance" source="Orion">freelance</keyword> business there… There is a union in this segment and that brings about a structure. But there are also some major challenges that come with it,” she added. She elaborated that the many freelancers have spoken about how difficult it is to get into the union or how expensive it is. Besides this, the segment does not get health benefits, does not come under labour codes and more, even though the payments are fixed due to the existence of a union. Watch More: What film producer Guneet Monga talks about unionisation in Indian film industry and what challenges it presents <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Khaitan, on the other hand, elaborated how Urban Company, an at-home services startup, has managed to overcome such challenges in the beauty and home segment. He noted that a salon or a service shop would employ 10-15 professionals and were essentially the “middlemen”, therefore a professional’s income would be capped. Urban Company has not only offered a more flexible working environment, but also increased their take home income and offered them health benefits. Khaitan also noted that allowing these service professionals to get in touch with customers directly has provided them with more respect and business prepositions as well. “There is actually a very high price point here [Indian film industry] even to become a part of the Union. And then there is a supply of enough and more people are constantly getting inducted, but there is definitely a bottleneck on how unions function. They do protect them [freelancers] in terms of providing for jobs, but the kind of structures that you [Urban Company] are talking about is still, I feel, not in the best shape here right now. And this has just been our industry that has been thriving on freelance,” Monga added. She elaborated that while the Indian film industry has been striving for freelancers, it's not with a vision of bringing people together or offering insurance or health benefits or looking into labour laws. Watch More: What Urban Company’s Varun Khaitan had to say on the current conditions of freelancers in Indian film industry <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Khaitan, sharing his experience, said “There are middlemen who claim to be good representatives and good samaritans of the workers, but are actually not. They are in some sense the heart of the problem, because a few things that just came up in this chat show there is no sense of balance between supply and demand in what is happening across the trade in the film industry and what that leads to is there is no sense of actual monthly earnings. So everyone just fights for what I can make on this job and it leads to an unheadly spiral.” SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/the-only-way-to-beat-the-bots-from-taking-your-job-is-to-be-more-human/articleshow/86282273.cms">Future of Work 2021: The only way to beat the bots from taking your job is to be more human</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/easemytrip-touches-market-cap-of-a-billion-dollars/articleshow/86285130.cms">EaseMyTrip touches market cap of a billion dollars</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/biocon-hero-motocorp-tvs-motor-banks-and-other-top-stocks-to-watch-out-for-on-september-17/articleshow/86281250.cms">Biocon, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Motor, banks and other top stocks to watch out for on September 17</a>

Here is what the Indian film industry can learn from gig economy firms like Zomato and Urban Company

<ul><li>Gurugram-based home services startup <keyword id="2811049" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="UrbanClap">Urbanclap</keyword> has signed an MoU with <keyword id="161653" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="National-Skill-Development-Corporation">National Skill Development Corporation</keyword> on World Skills Day.</li><li>With the partnership, Urbanclap will train 30,000 professionals and aims to create 1 million micro-entrepreneurs.</li><li>NSDC will help Urbanclap be a Skill India certified company.</li></ul>Indian home services startup Urbanclap has partnered with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) on World Skills Day. Under the signed Memorandum of Understanding, NSDC will help Urbanclap become a 100% Skill India certified company. The startup meanwhile promises to create micro-entrepreneurial opportunities under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana and will train 30,000 partners over the next year. “UrbanClap is committed to the vision of creating 1 million plus successful micro-entrepreneurs for India and contribute to the Skill India mission. Our association with NSDC will give this mission a boost and will enhance our capabilities in on-boarding and training new service partners,” said Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Co- founder, UrbanClap. NSDC falls under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and supports the skilling and upskilling of working professionals in the country. "As our cities grow smarter, the demand for professional services will increase further. This presents a huge opportunity for skilled workforce at all levels. Platforms like UrbanClap are a great example of e-market place which can support sustainable livelihood," said Manish Kumar, MD &amp; CEO, NSDC. Urbanclap has over 20,000 professionals in its network with over 6 lakh users. It claims that professionals like electricians, beauticians and carpenters earn better on their platform. “We told them you keep 80% of the earnings, Urbanclap keeps 20%. Overnight their earnings went up. Today, every other service professional through Urbanclap earns makes an average of ₹40,000 per month. Hundreds of our beauticians make more than ₹1 lakh a month,” co-founder Varun Khaitan had told Business Insider. UrbanClap recently raised ₹16 million from Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, according to paper.vc, a business intelligence firm. It has marquee investors like Ratan Tata, SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners on board, and raised a total funding of $110 million. Recently, Urbanclap <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/urbanclap-revenue-up-309-losses-down-25-in-fy18/articleshow/64008938.cms?from=mdr">reported </a>a 309% jump in its operational revenue to ₹450 million for 2017-18. The losses however were at ₹750 million. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/urban-clap-founder-reveals-new-business-plans/articleshow/69951901.cms">INTERVIEW: Urbanclap claims it can turn profitable in 3 months but it won’t – here’s why</a>

Urbanclap to become Skill India certified, will create a million micro-entrepreneurs in the country

How would you feel if your company allows you to get your pet at work, or what if they organize a cake-fight for all the employees in the office itself? 
 
Sounds fun right? This is what <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Indian+startups">Indian startups</a> are currently doing to make their employees imagine more and brainstorm for innovative ideas. What else? On-demand service company, UrbanClap has specially formed a team of four members to organise<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-25-Most-Creative-Companies-In-The-World/articleshow/26221035.cms"> fun activities for the employees</a>. 
 
As reported by The Economic Times, startups like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=TinyOwl">TinyOwl</a>, LivSpace, DogSpot, Junglee Games and Intellipaat belong to a separate generation of startups with a goal of having greater work engagement and more <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/12-Weird-Things-That-Tech-Companies-Do-To-Make-Their-Employees-More-Creative/articleshow/21096431.cms">out-of-the box ideas</a> that help the startups stand out. 
 
This new breed of startups, fuelled by liberal doses of funding, is basically designing a work culture that emphasizes on creative thinking and collaboration among different departments, which doesn’t happen on a daily basis. To do this, they provide a plethora of activities including health and wellness sessions, team outings, hobby classes, provisions for indoor games, movies, book clubs and much more. 
 
Suresh Bhagavatula, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore says, "I have a feeling it's a function of boom time. 
 
In a boom time there is a lot of exuberance and positive thoughts or energy around; then people may want to invest in all this. If there is a recession, all this will become much more serious—it's a reflection of what is out there in the economy." 
 "China is not doing too well and I am sure Chinese startups won't be doing the same thing <keyword id="982553" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-startups">Indian startups</keyword> are currently doing," Bhagavatula added. 
 
Bhagavatula, personally, isn’t much convinced with the idea of workplace fun. Bringing in light the other side he says, "It needs to be studied in greater detail than to just say that cool culture leads to better work. There has not been much research done to see whether it is actually a distraction. I assume so at some point it will become." 
 
Recently, DogSpot, a four-year-old pet supply store, has allowed its employees to bring their pets along at work. As per the company’s co-founder Rana Atheya, “it helped fill gaps in inter-department communication.” 
 
For gaming company Junglee Games, one of its periodic poker nights led to the creation of a new variant of the popular three-card game 'teen-patti', called Royal Teen Patti, which has attracted almost 2 million users. 
 
Not just this, but LivSpace, a home design and decor platform held a 48-hour design hackathon that included beer and pizza in the office. The designers were presented 1,000 photographs and design software and "we asked them to create beautiful imagery," said co-founder and CEO, Anuj Srivastava. The company revamped its website with these images, and has been attracting at least 10,000 page visitors since June, from about 3,000 earlier. 
 
"Designers haven't worked in the crazy internet world. They come from partner-driven firms where the culture's different, where owners are God. They take calls from them and here we ask for ideas," said Srivastava 
 
Anand Lunia, founder of seed-stage venture fund IndiaQuotient and also an investor in DogSpot however says, "Startups have realised (that) in their world it's not the number of people but amount of efficiency and effectiveness of each employee (that matters). This needs an environment that is conducive. Ordinary people have to perform extraordinary tasks and have to go beyond their past results." 
 
Even so, investors, too, are beginning to ask entrepreneurs about how they plan to build their startup's work culture, although this is not a prerequisite to signing a cheque. "Smart, experienced investors understand that apart from numbers and metrics it's important to build an organisation, especially at a time where companies are growing fast," said Varun Khaitan, co-founder of UrbanClap, which is backed by SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. 
 
But the litmus test will be when the chips are down, said entrepreneur-turned-investor Ronnie Screwvala. "If you are 15 days late with salary, will it make a difference if you have a dart board in the office, are eating 'pani puri' on Wednesdays or going to the pub on Fridays? I don't think so," said Screwvala. 
 
"No one has gone through that right now, because they are still in their multiple funding rounds," he added. 
 
Image: thinkstock

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