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Online home services marketplace <keyword id="8681398" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="urban-company" source="Orion">Urban Company</keyword> on Monday said it has awarded stocks worth Rs 5.2 crore to 497 service partners under the <keyword id="15640210" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="partner-stock-option-plan" source="Orion">Partner Stock Option Plan</keyword> (<keyword id="15640209" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="psop" source="Orion">PSOP</keyword>) programme.<br /><br />Of the total recipients, about 30 per cent were female service partners from the beauty and wellness vertical. <keyword id="6354321" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="bengaluru" source="Orion">Bengaluru</keyword> had the highest number of partner shareholders with 26 per cent, followed by Delhi-NCR with 22 per cent, the company said in a statement.<br /><br />The company in March announced the PSOP programme for its service providers, where it will award stocks worth Rs 150 crore at near zero cost to thousands of service partners over the next 5-7 years.<br /><br />"This is just the start and we are hopeful that in the coming years, the numbers will rise to thousands," said Abhiraj Bhal, co-founder and CEO of Urban Company.<br /><br />The company has already received board approval for the first tranche of Rs 75 crore worth of stocks, to be disbursed over the next few years.<br /><br />Seven partners, who were part of the first cohort of stock recipients in March, received it again for the second time, due to their consistently high performance, it informed.<br /><br />Urban Company said it has established a fair process for awarding these shares and the entire process is rule-based and transparent, with an advisory panel providing complete guidance.<br /><br />According to the recently released 'H1 2022 <keyword id="15640211" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="uc-earnings" source="Orion">UC Earnings</keyword> Index', the top 20 per cent of UC partners earned an average of about Rs 38,000 per month.<br /><br />All Urban Company partners have health insurance coverage of Rs 1 lakh, with up to 12 free medical consultations per year for themselves.<br /><br />The best-performing partners (nearly 5,000 service partners) also have family health insurance coverage worth Rs 2 lakh.<br /><br /><b>SEE ALSO:<br /></b><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/upcoming-new-car-and-suv-in-india-in-december-2022/slidelist/95823897.cms"><strong>Upcoming cars launching in India in December 2022</strong></a><b><u><strong><br /></strong></u></b><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/german-electronic-manufacturing-firm-hama-enters-india-market/articleshow/95827606.cms"><strong>German electronic manufacturing firm Hama enters India market</strong></a><b><u></u></b>

Urban Company grants shares worth Rs 5.2 cr to 497 gig workers

While <keyword id="6354720" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ola" source="Orion">Ola</keyword> and tech-enabled logistics company <keyword id="67819" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="porter" source="Orion">Porter</keyword> scored zero on a scale of 1-10, <keyword id="1042120" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="uber" source="Orion">Uber</keyword> and <keyword id="3275685" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="dunzo" source="Orion">Dunzo</keyword> received only one point, according to the 'Fairwork India 2023' report, spearheaded by the Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP) at International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B), in association with Oxford University.<br /><br />The report evaluated 12 platforms offering location-based services in sectors such as domestic and personal care, logistics, food delivery and transportation, in the country.<br /><br />This year, the report was structured around the theme of discrimination and alienation that often come up in experiences shared by platform workers.<br /><br />In a year that has seen the formulation of a significant regulation based on inputs from workers called The Rajasthan Platform Based <keyword id="7771650" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gig-workers" source="Orion">Gig workers</keyword> (Registration and Welfare Act, 2023, "we hope that highlighting the experiences of workers will point to the structural changes that platforms, consumers and the state alike will need to undertake if the platform economy is to offer its workers decent work," said Professors Balaji Parthasarathy and Janaki Srinivasan, principal investigators.<br /><br />Fairwork assessed platforms against five principles: Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, and Fair Representation.<br /><br />Each principle was broken down into two points: a first point and a second point that can only be awarded if the first point has been fulfilled.<br /><br />The report looked at 12 platforms, including Amazon Flex, Bigbasket, BluSmart, Dunzo, Flipkart, Ola, Porter, Swiggy, Uber, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato.<br /><br />No platform scored more than six out of the maximum of 10 points, and none scored all the first points across the five principles.<br /><br />In its first year of participation, ride-hailing platform aggregator BluSmart scored higher than more established platforms in its sector, with 5 points out of 10.<br /><br />"There is room for cautious optimism that BluSmart's operational model might represent a step towards better conditions for drivers in the platform economy," the report mentioned.<br /><br />Bigbasket, Flipkart and Urban Company were the only platforms with a minimum wage policy to ensure that all their workers earn at least the hourly local minimum wage after factoring in work-related costs.<br /><br />"No platform made the second point of the Fair Pay principle, which requires platforms to provide sufficient evidence that workers earn at least the local living wage after work-related costs," the findings showed.<br /><br />Under the 'Fair Conditions' principle of providing adequate safety equipment and periodic safety training to their workers, Bigbasket, Swiggy, Urban Company, Zepto and Zomato were awarded the second point.<br /><br />Bigbasket, BluSmart, Urban Company, Zepto, and Zomato met the requirements for the second point under 'Fair Contracts' by adopting a change notification clause in their contracts, reducing asymmetries in liability, adopting a code of conduct for their subcontractors, and making the variables of pricing transparent where dynamic pricing was used.<br /><br />Under the 'Fair Management' principle, there was sufficient evidence only from BluSmart and Swiggy to meet the second point.<br /><br />"No platform could be awarded a point for 'Fair Representation' principle this year," said the report.<br />

Ola, Porter, Uber & Dunzo worst digital platforms for gig workers: Report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>During the pandemic, many Americans left cities for exurbs, or more rural areas.</li><li>But higher wages and alternatives to gas-guzzling cars are making cities look increasingly attractive.</li></ul><p>Cities became <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-places-americans-moved-away-from-pandemic">less attractive</a> for many Americans during the beginning of the pandemic, causing some to pack their bags for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-from-suburbs-to-exurbs-pandemic-relocation-where-to-move-2021-7">exurbs</a> — areas beyond suburbs — and even more rural locales.</p><p>The state of the economy, however — particularly slow <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-wage-growth-outlook-real-wages-april-cpi-labor-shortage-2022-5">wage growth</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-inflation-high-causes-gas-price-outlook-forecast-2022-7">high gas prices</a> — could nudge people back towards the skyscrapers. </p><p>Between July 2020 and July 2021, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2022-05-26/goodbye-nyc-estimates-show-big-city-losses-sunbelt-gains#:~:text=needed%20to%20live.%22-,Eight%20of%20the%2010%20largest%20cities%20in%20the%20U.S.%20lost,residents%20and%2040%2C000%20people%2C%20respectively.">eight of the 10</a> largest US cities experienced population declines. New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/05/population-shifts-in-cities-and-towns-one-year-into-pandemic.html">lost</a> 305,000, 45,000, and 40,000 residents respectively, while San Francisco experienced the greatest decline on a percentage basis — falling 6.3%.</p><p>While many of these people flocked to suburbs, the largest population shift was from cities to rural neighborhoods and exurbs, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-from-suburbs-to-exurbs-pandemic-relocation-where-to-move-2021-7">according to</a> a 2021 Jeffries note. The ability to telecommute made these areas — characterized by lower living expenses and a greater distance from cities — an appealing alternative for many. </p><p>But the calculus could be changing yet again. While inflation-adjusted earnings are declining across the country at their <a href="https://twitter.com/jasonfurman/status/1547205450046767105?s=20&amp;t=zdp6TFftnMuPHwsJYZbJIg">fastest rate</a> in 40 years, it's even worse for rural residents. Some are exploring whether moving closer to the city could help their waning bank accounts, Iowa State University sociology professor Dave Peters <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/25/1112915507/inflation-rural-america-gas-prices-economy">explained</a> to NPR. </p><p>"A lot of people are beginning to think, 'If I have to continue to drive for everything and these fuel costs remain high and my wages aren't going up as fast as they are in cities,' some people are contemplating moving closer to a city," Peters <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/25/1112915507/inflation-rural-america-gas-prices-economy">told</a> NPR.</p><p>Peters is the author of a July <a href="https://smalltowns.soc.iastate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/163/2022/07/STR1063.pdf">report</a> that highlights the ways inflation has been weighing on rural households. Rural discretionary incomes — what's left of your paycheck after basic expenses — have fallen <a href="https://smalltowns.soc.iastate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/163/2022/07/STR1063.pdf">50%</a> since 2020, compared to a more modest 13% decline for urban Americans.</p><p>Per the report, the disparity has been exacerbated by the faster wage gains of city dwellers and the higher transportation costs of rural residents — many of whom require a car to get around. Rural Americans, for instance, are paying nearly <a href="https://smalltowns.soc.iastate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/163/2022/07/STR1063.pdf">$2,500</a> more for gasoline than they did two years ago, and in June, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/buying-owning-car-inflation-gas-prices-chip-shortage-interest-rates-2022-7">average monthly car payment</a> reached a record-high.</p><p>If this disparity continues, cities and suburbs could look more and more attractive, particularly if a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-definition-biden-white-house-gdp-inflation-outlook-economic-recovery-2022-7">recession</a> is on the horizon. </p><h2>The urban-rural tradeoff</h2><p>During the depths of the pandemic, when as high as <a href="https://www.gallup.com/workplace/288956/covid-teams-working-remotely-guide-leaders.aspx">43%</a> of workers were remote, many Americans enjoyed the lower living costs of exurban and rural areas while maintaining their higher <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2017/july/urban-areas-offer-higher-earnings-for-workers-with-more-education/#:~:text=The%20data%20also%20show%20that,by%20educational%20attainment%20and%20location.">city salaries</a>. Families led this movement — the number of children under five <a href="https://eig.org/family-exodus/">declined</a> in large urban areas by 358,000, or 5.4%, between 2019 and 2021, per an Economic Innovation Group Study. </p><p>But as employers have begun <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employees-defying-orders-return-to-office-great-resistance-remote-work-2022-7">nudging workers</a> back to the office and, in some cases, deciding to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-let-work-from-home-so-they-can-pay-less-2022-7">pay remote workers less,</a> the benefits of this lifestyle often aren't what they once were. Whether it's two or five days a week, a return to the urban office means higher transportation costs. For those who drive to work, <a href="https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/">elevated gas prices</a> are sending these costs higher. </p><p>Some exurban and remote workers may eventually lose their city salaries as well. Companies like <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/the-great-reboot/pay-cut-google-employees-who-work-home-could-lose-money-2021-08-10/">Google</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-09/facebook-says-it-will-expand-remote-work-to-all-employees">Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-11/vmware-twitter-cut-pay-for-remote-workers-fleeing-bay-area">Twitter</a> are among the companies exploring <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2022/01/25/location-based-pay-is-being-challenged-by-growth-remote-work/">location-based pay</a> — paying workers less if they live in lower-cost areas. While demand for labor remains <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/JTSJOL">high</a>, employers may be hesitant to roll out these policies, but this could change if the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-biden-recession-gdp-economic-report-2022-7">economic tides</a> turn.</p><p>Some rural and exurban workers, however, aren't former city dwellers. While they've enjoyed the lower cost of living in their area, they've also — as Dave Peters' <a href="https://smalltowns.soc.iastate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/163/2022/07/STR1063.pdf">report</a> describes — seen lower incomes and wage gains than urban Americans over the last two years. During the pandemic, rural Americans were <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23780231211022094">less likely to work remotely</a>, suggesting that many are among the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/4-reasons-remote-work-will-survive-recession-stanfords-nick-bloom-2022-7">55%</a> of Americans working on-site full-time as of this past June. With inflation eating away at their incomes, the idea of commuting to a higher-paying city job could be enticing. But two things are standing in their way.</p><p>"They would love to work and get city wages, but they can't commute. It's too expensive with the gas prices." Peters <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/25/1112915507/inflation-rural-america-gas-prices-economy">told</a> NPR. Why not move closer to the city to shorten the commute? "It's not so easy to pick up and move to an urban area because housing costs are expensive," Peters added.  </p><p>Despite the potential financial benefits of urban life, the tradeoff for some might simply not be worthwhile. </p><p>While it's unclear whether urban housing costs will decline significantly anytime soon, gas prices have begun to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gas-oil-prices-falling-inflation-relief-slow-rockets-feathers-2022-7">ease</a> over the last month and could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gas-prices-falling-oil-demand-waning-energy-inflation-cooling-2022-7">continue</a> to do so. If this sustains, the calculus could shift again for rural and exurban Americans. Their high transportation expenses might not seem quite so terrible, particularly when compared to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/homes/rents-for-june-2022/index.html">urban housing costs</a>.</p><p>That said, if the aforementioned rural-urban disparity in disposable income persists, Peters <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/25/1112915507/inflation-rural-america-gas-prices-economy">believes</a> this could "accelerate rural depopulation in parts of the Midwest and Great Plains" in the years to come.</p>

The pandemic drove Americans out of cities and into the exurbs. A recession could push some of them right back.

<p>Imagine that you have the right degree, you impressed the right people, and aced your interviews at Facebook and Twitter in Silicon Valley. While accomplishing that may have been a long, daunting task, your hyper-employable bad-to-the-bone self now faces the toughest challenge of all - deciding which place you'd rather work.</p>
<p>We checked out both companies' headquarters to see what they're like as work environments.</p>
<h3>First, we went to Facebook ...</h3>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Robert Johnson for Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">It doesn't matter where Facebook is located, it has the Mark Zuckerberg fame factor going for it along with an impressive design. This office space is where Zuck works with colleagues. The windows on each side have a piece of paper taped up saying, "Please don't feed the animals :)" That walkway is the same color as the Golden Gate Bridge.</p></div><p></p></div></div><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p>
<p>Facebook occupies the former sprawling complex of Sun Microsystems, just north of Palo Alto on the way to San Francisco. There isn't much around the campus, but once inside workers are treated to a mecca of urban amenities. There's an array of restaurants, everything from sushi to a BBQ joint employing a Georgia chef. There is also a styling salon, a transportation center, and vending machines to serve workers every tech-addled need.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Robert Johnson for Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Facebook also boasts plenty of old-school video games and pinball machines for that downtime when workers are not fully engaged with uniting the world.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h3>Twitter is in San Francisco's Tenderloin District ...</h3>
<p>It's in a throbbing urban center with fresh refinement alongside up-and-coming urban grit. Inside the 1937 Art Deco building's lobby, is the original sprawling array of stone and bronze designed to leave all memory of the 1929 stock market crash in the dust.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Robert Johnson for Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Twitter offers something that not even Facebook can match, San Francisco city life and an Art Deco era building.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Several floors up, Twitter inverts the lobby vibe with a rustic, woodsy themed decor inspired after its bird-based logo. Both places offer an expansive array of perks, and we'll be highlighting both tours in upcoming photo-essays. But these photos show what left us undecided on which company tempted us the most.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Robert Johnson for Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>

We Went To Twitter And Facebook And It's Impossible To Decide Which Place We'd Rather Work

<p class="drop-cap">Cities may be crowded, dirty, loud, and expensive, but they've always offered one clear advantage over America's rural areas: more money.</p><p>Workers in urban centers have traditionally raked in significantly more than their rural counterparts, a phenomenon known as the urban wage premium. For decades, both college-educated workers and those without college degrees reaped the rewards, even when factoring in the higher housing costs that come with city dwelling. Everyone benefited from the job opportunities and plumper paychecks that cities could provide.</p><p>But the golden promise of cities is cracking. In the past decade and a half, a steep rise in housing costs has flipped the equation for lower-skilled workers. A study published last year in the Journal of Public Economics found that instead of enjoying an urban wage premium, non-college-educated workers now effectively pay a penalty for living in a city. Based purely on dollars and cents, it appears they might be better off moving someplace less crowded. While college-educated workers are doing better, they're still moving to cities at a slower clip than in decades past, a sign of big trouble for the places that once promised prosperity.</p><p>In a <a target="_blank" href="https://eig.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/TAWP-Veuger.pdf">recent essay</a> for the bipartisan Economic Innovation Group, the economist Stan Veuger, one of the study's coauthors, argued that the problem is simple: Cities aren't building enough housing for all the workers who want to live in them. Places like San Francisco and New York City have fallen victim to strict zoning laws and tedious permitting processes that make it incredibly difficult to build new housing. This leaves a growing population to scramble for fewer and fewer homes, bidding up the prices of what is available. Cities are supposed to offer better job opportunities and wages than smaller outposts, but they'll lose that edge if people can't afford a place to lay their heads. There's hope, though. Forward-thinking cities like Minneapolis, Nashville, and Austin offer proof that building more homes does — shockingly! — ease prices for residents. The steps they've taken could offer a playbook for leaders in other cities who want to avoid becoming the next San Francisco or Seattle.</p><p>College grads may be better off working in cities for now, but there's no guarantee that will always be the case. And as more non-college-educated people get priced out of cities, everyone suffers: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurants-america-eating-out-crisis-your-fault-labor-shortage-tipping-2024-2">Restaurants struggle</a> to find workers, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cities-fight-homelessness-nationwide-spike-chicago-new-york-seattle-philadelphia-2024-2">rates of homelessness rise</a>, and basic services go understaffed. Office jobs can't power downtowns all on their own. If cities stop working for noncollege workers, they may very well stop working for everybody.</p><p>"It's not necessary to have these inflated home prices," Veuger told me. "We're just making housing artificially expensive by restricting construction in the places where people want to work and want to be the most productive. And that affects everyone."</p><p class="drop-cap">When lots of workers and employers cluster together, they create a positive feedback loop that lifts everyone. People have better odds of landing a job in their desired field, while companies can pluck employees from a larger talent pool. This is why cities often turn into hubs for specific industries, like San Francisco and software companies or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/detroit-downtown-urban-reinvention-doom-loop-historic-buildings-gm-2024-4">Detroit and auto manufacturing</a>. Workers want to be where the jobs are, and the Apples and Fords want to be where the workers are, especially if those workers have useful skills. This is also why, as my colleague Aki Ito writes, big cities offer a kind of "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-away-big-city-bad-career-job-market-suburbs-2024-4">career insurance</a>." Working in an area with lots of jobs, she writes, "sets you up for success to land your next job — and the job after that."</p><p>In many cases, city living also means bigger paychecks. Economists don't all agree on <em>why</em> the urban wage premium is a thing, but there's plenty of evidence that it exists: Workers who live in big cities like Chicago or Seattle tend to earn much more — without factoring in expenses — than similar workers who live in smaller places. The Harvard economist Ed Glaeser told me that workers who move to cities not only get a raise but often see their wages increase at a faster rate in the future. The problem for lower-skilled workers, though, is that this urban wage premium is shrinking. One leading theory, promoted by the MIT economist David Autor, is that the job market has changed in ways that hurt noncollege workers, with well-paying clerical or admin jobs shifting overseas or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/economist-ai-prediction-rebuild-middle-class-worst-case-scenario-death-2023-5">giving way to software</a>. The urban wage premium hasn't disappeared for these workers — in 2019, workers with only a high-school diploma or less earned about 10% more by living in dense areas than they would have by living in rural areas. But that's not nearly as strong as it was back in 1970, when the premium was about 35%. On the flip side, white-collar workers in 2019 still earned about 50% more by living in the biggest cities compared with the most rural areas. Concrete jungles offer the kinds of jobs that smaller cities or towns simply don't have, and highly educated workers still benefit from living where these opportunities are plentiful (especially since <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-wfh-jobs-application-odds-tech-market-rto-2023-9?utm_source=linkedin&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=insider-author-post">fully remote jobs are a lot harder to come by</a> these days).</p><p>The problem with these figures, though, is that people can't just stash away their entire paychecks. While city dwellers may earn more, the cost of living in these areas is also higher. So Veuger and his coauthors, Philip Hoxie and Daniel Shoag, went a step further by factoring in the most important of these costs: housing. They wanted to see if the big-city bargain still worked as promised — if higher wages were enough to justify the steep sums city workers were shelling out each month to keep a roof over their heads. They found that back in 1970, wages (minus housing costs) for all kinds of workers were about 13% greater in high-density places than they were in low-density places. But that's not the whole story. The fortunes of college-educated and noncollege workers diverged significantly; by 2000, noncollege workers basically netted the same amount in high- and low-density places. Rising housing costs had erased their urban wage premium. And by 2019, these workers appeared to be better off moving out of the city.</p>          <p>There are benefits of living in cities that aren't captured in this data, to be sure. Poorer residents, for example, have a better chance of getting around without a car in a city than in a suburb or rural area, saving them money. The plethora of job opportunities — that "career insurance" — may provide the peace of mind that smaller places don't. Or they may see more upside in their wages, a better chance of making more money in the future. At the end of the day, though, everyone would be better off paying less for housing. And the shift for noncollege grads isn't bad for just those individuals. Companies want to be in highly productive places with lots of workers, but the implication of these findings is that low-skilled workers end up leaving for less productive locales. And cities need all kinds of workers, not just lawyers and software engineers, to function. They also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-to-new-york-city-nyc-weather-expensive-jersey-city-2024-1">risk losing population</a>: New York City, for instance, had a net loss of 160,000 residents from domestic outmigration from mid-2022 to mid-2023. Even the highest-skilled workers are moving to bigger cities less frequently, implying that they're deterred by expensive housing — even if they might earn more by relocating there.</p><p>"There will always be people who are saying, 'Look, I don't want to pay these high home prices,'" Veuger told me. "At the margins, there are people who are not moving to the places where they would be most productive."</p><p class="drop-cap">The root causes of this mess are no secret. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-priced-out-of-cities-into-suburbs-housing-crisis-2024-1">Cities have been underbuilding</a> for decades, crimping housing production via <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/national-zoning-map-home-prices-down-real-estate-new-houses-2024-2">strict zoning rules</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/america-build-infrastructure-transportation-housing-regulation-environment-2023-11">lengthy review processes</a> that make new construction either more expensive or impossible. Concerned neighbors turn out in droves to public hearings where they shout down plans for new apartments and condos, complaining about traffic, noise, or a change in the "neighborhood character." Elected officials also play a huge role in turning down projects or slow-walking rule changes that might enable taller structures on limited available land.</p><p>"This sort of caution on the part of local governments, and delegating a lot of their power to existing residents, is kind of the heart of the problem," Jenny Schuetz, a housing-policy expert at the Brookings Institution, told me.</p><p>Homebuilders have also been more cautious since the global financial crisis, building at roughly half the rate of the prior three decades. That's especially <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-house-home-real-estate-mortgage-rates-rent-debt-boomers-2022-9">bad news for millennials</a>, who represent the largest living generation and are now in the thick of their prime homebuying years. Cities have also, in many cases, run out of the "easy" land to develop on the periphery of downtowns since workers are willing to commute only so far. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/affordable-home-house-prices-americans-danger-death-climate-change-2024-8">alternative to urban sprawl</a> is infill development, or filling in the spaces between existing buildings. But that's a lot <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/austin-housing-market-real-estate-prices-rent-multi-unit-adus-2024-4">harder and more expensive to do</a>, so cities see less new construction than they did in their heydays.</p><p>Coastal cities like Seattle, Portland, Boston, and New York are "very difficult places to build," Schuetz told me. The middle of the country, particularly the Sun Belt in the lower half of the US, has traditionally been more permissive of growth — think of places like Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta; and Phoenix. But again, those places also risk running out of easy development parcels.</p>          <p>So how can cities get their mojo back? Some of it comes down to patience: In the past few years, pro-growth <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yimbys-winning-lower-house-prices-rents-build-more-homes-neighborhoods-2023-9">yes-in-my-backyard activists have scored significant legislative wins</a> to loosen up local zoning laws and make it possible to build bigger and taller in places that previously allowed only single-family homes. But it'll take some time — three to five years, Schuetz told me — to start seeing the effects of any new statewide rules. Ultimately, these kinds of reforms leave their mark on the housing supply over decades, not overnight.</p><p>"We've been underbuilding for maybe about four or five decades in high-productivity places," Schuetz said. "It's going to take a long time before we start building enough to catch up."</p><p>Austin, Nashville, and Minneapolis offer examples of how pro-growth local leaders can spur more building to keep prices in check. Schuetz said Austin had encouraged a "ton of vertical construction downtown" while also trying to make it easier to do infill development in lower-density residential neighborhoods. Nashville is a similar story. Minneapolis has made changes to zoning laws to encourage apartments around light-rail stations. All three are pursuing changes to their building codes that would <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/single-stair-apartments-condos-housing-crisis-solution-rent-home-prices-2024-7">allow single-stair apartment buildings to stretch higher than three stories</a>, a seemingly small change that could have huge ripple effects.</p><p>Every city has a vested interest in making sure workers of all kinds can live there. Affordable housing is good for both individual workers and huge corporations — just look at the efforts of companies like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/company-towns-facebook-google-tesla-elon-musk-housing-real-estate-2023-12">Google, Meta, and Disney to develop more homes</a> in places where they have a ton of employees. If city leaders don't heed the call to build more housing, they risk throwing away their built-in advantage.</p><p>"At the end of the day, if your elected leaders want to make housing happen, they will figure out ways to make it work," Schuetz told me. "And if your elected leaders don't want to add housing, they will figure out ways to stop it."</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/james-rodriguez"><em><u>James Rodriguez</u></em></a><em> is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Discourse team.</em></p>

America's big cities are losing their one big advantage

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/UrbanRemedyUSA/photos/a.157222991007751.37614.135489659847751/1552269521503084/?type=3&amp;theater">Facebook/Urban Remedy</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>A low-carb, high-fat diet that's been described as "Atkins on steroids" is gaining momentum in Silicon Valley. The ketogenic diet - "keto" for short - encourages eating bacon, butter, eggs, nuts, avocados, and other healthy fats, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-keto-diet-ketosis-2017-3">tech workers say</a> it super-charges the human body.</p><p>Eat lots of fat might sound great, but the keto diet is harder to maintain than you might expect.</p><p><a href="https://urbanremedy.com/">Urban Remedy</a>, an organic food company that sells r<span>eady-to-eat meals, juices, and snacks in the Bay Area and online, launched a pre-made keto meal kit to help people dive in.</span></p><p><span>The plan includes three days' worth of low-carb, high-fat meals, so customers don't have to keep track of their carbohydrate intake in the early days of the diet. The plan costs $210.</span></p><p><span>I am an experienced keto-dieter, and I decided to give Urban Remedy's Keto Meal Plan a try. Here's how it went.</span></p>

Silicon Valley's favorite diet is now available in a three-day meal kit that costs $210 - we gave it a try

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table center"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Rob Price/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Facebook's office in Menlo Park, California, features an outdoor green space.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Rooftop parks and gardens are becoming an increasingly popular office perk for urban companies, according to a New York Times report.</li><li>The trend stems from the health benefits provided by exposure to the outdoors.</li><li>Studies have shown contact with nature reduces stress and fatigue and can help combat depression and anxiety.</li></ul><p>In recent years, companies have tried to lure potential hires with all kinds of <a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/best-job-perks-companies-twitter-facebook-google-2018-5">office perks</a>, including beer fridges, arcade games, and ping-pong tables.</p><p>But according to a recent report, a new perk is catching on that could not only keep workers happy, but change the way office buildings are designed.</p><p>The New York Times' Jane Margolies <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/business/office-buildings-nature-biophilia.html">reported on Tuesday</a> that developers and owners of urban office buildings are turning their rooftops into park-like spaces where employees can work and relax in an outdoor setting.</p><p>The trend stems from increased awareness of the health benefits that come with exposure to the outdoors, The Times reported. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-spending-more-time-outside-is-healthy-2017-7">Several studies have shown</a> that contact with nature reduces stress and fatigue and can help combat depression and anxiety. Exposure to the sun can make us <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/desk-workspace-designs-increase-productivity-2018-5">feel more awake and happy</a>, too.</p><p>All that means is affording workers more chances to get outside is becoming a top priority for companies.</p><p>"There's not a developer or forward-thinking building owner today that doesn't have this top of mind," Paul J. Amrich, a vice chairman at CBRE, a New York real estate services company, told The Times.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/best-job-perks-companies-twitter-facebook-google-2018-5">16 mind-blowing job perks that real companies offer</a></em></p><p>The Times attributed the trend to tech companies like Facebook, whose <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photo-tour-of-facebook-headquarters-2014-4">Bay Area headquarters</a> boasts a nine-acre park on its roof.</p><p>In a more urban environment, like New York City, retrofitting outdoor terraces onto existing office buildings isn't so easy - or cheap. Amrich said landlords can charge tenants 10% to 15% more rent for offices with outdoor areas. </p><p>But the benefits may outweigh the costs. In Brooklyn, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kickstarter-office-tour-2017-4">employees of Kickstarter</a> maintain a rooftop garden that provides the office with fruits, vegetables, and herbs. According to the Times report, United Airlines employees frequently relax and eat lunch in their Houston office's 12th-floor terrace.</p><p>"Access to outdoor space is a critical component of a healthy work environment and a vital part of sustainable development, as well as a major recruitment tool," Jordan Barowitz, spokesman for the real-estate company the Durst Organization, <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/07/04/city-cracks-down-on-office-roof-terraces/">told the New York Post</a> in 2017.</p><h2><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/business/office-buildings-nature-biophilia.html">Read the full report at The New York Times »</a></h2>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-are-we-all-so-stupid-episode-2-2018-12">Understanding this one cognitive bias may help you better negotiate a pay raise</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Tech giants like Facebook have moved beyond beer and ping-pong to the next office must-have, and other companies are following their lead

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></strong></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>A slew of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/amazon">Amazon</a> delivery service partners (DSP) nationwide have announced layoffs this month.</strong></li><li>Business Insider has learned that Letter Ride, an Amazon DSP, is laying off nearly 900 workers in California and Texas. These companies deliver Amazon packages to customers' homes.</li><li>Several outlets previously reported layoffs in Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Mass., and Conn. after those DSPs lost their Amazon contracts. </li><li><strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></strong></li></ul><p>A slew of its Amazon's delivery service partners (DSPs) that deliver packages to customers' homes have announced layoffs this month.</p><p>Business Insider has learned that Letter Ride, an Amazon DSP, is laying off nearly 900 workers in California and Texas. The last-mile delivery company filed Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications in both states. It did not immediately respond to requests for comment. </p><p>Nationwide, more than 900 employees at Urban Mobility Now and Inpax, both of whom also provide last-mile delivery services for Amazon, learned in recent weeks that they would be laid off. Drivers, dispatchers, and managers will be affected. </p><p>DSPs are small, third-party delivery companies that typically work exclusively for Amazon. Amazon puts DSPs in charge of drivers' wages, insurance, health benefits, and vehicle maintenance.</p><p>"We work with a variety of carrier partners to get packages to Amazon customers and we regularly evaluate our partnerships," a company spokesperson told Business Insider. "We have ended our relationship with these companies, and drivers are being supported with opportunities to deliver Amazon packages with other local Delivery Service Partners."</p><p>Amazon, meanwhile, retains power over many other aspects of these drivers' jobs, according to legal filings and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-controls-delivery-drivers-without-paying-wages-2018-9">interviews</a> with more than 40 delivery workers, including drivers, supervisors, owners of courier companies, and Amazon logistics managers.</p><p>For Amazon, this system of contracting delivery jobs is a cost-effective alternative to direct employment.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-trucking-company-branded-tractors-2019-10" data-analytics-position="1">'This is just another piece of the puzzle': Amazon is now rolling out branded tractors in its latest move to become a full-fledged trucking company</a></em></p><p>"This mass layoff is expected to be permanent," Inpax CEO Leonard Wright wrote in its letter to the state of Georgia, according to a document posted by <a href="https://media.bizj.us/view/img/11479631/warn-letter-inpax-final-mile-delivery-inc-smyrna-october-1-2019.pdf">the Atlanta Business Chronicle</a>. </p><p>Here's a list of layoffs we already know about: </p><ul><li>Letter Ride, Texas, 423 jobs eliminated</li><li>Letter Ride, California, 474 jobs eliminated</li><li>Inpax, Georgia, <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2019/10/08/atlanta-based-delivery-service-laying-off-hundreds.html">162 jobs eliminated</a></li><li>Inpax, North Carolina, <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/10/02/courier-service-plans-layoffs-at-amazon-delivery.html">199 jobs eliminated</a></li><li>Inpax, Ohio, <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/news/2019/10/04/shipping-company-cutting-64-jobs-south-of-dayton.html">64 jobs eliminated</a></li><li>Inpax, Texas, <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2019/10/07/inpax-amazon.html">228 jobs eliminated</a></li><li>Urban Mobility Now, Massachusetts, <a href="https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/09/amazon-delivery-contractor-lays-off-hundreds-in-massachusetts-connecticut-state-documents-say.html">201 jobs eliminated</a></li><li>Urban Mobility Now, Connecticut, <a href="https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/09/amazon-delivery-contractor-lays-off-hundreds-in-massachusetts-connecticut-state-documents-say.html">74 jobs eliminated</a></li></ul><p>Amazon confirmed that it ended its relationship with these three DSPs, and that the company will support laid-off drivers with new DSP opportunities. </p><p>Inpax declined to comment for this story. Urban Mobility Now, which did not answer its phones, has already shut down its website and pages on LinkedIn and Facebook, and could not be reached for a comment.</p><h2>Amazon contracts can prove to be pitfalls for logistics companies</h2><p>Amazon has been actively expanding its logistics network as it becomes its own biggest delivery provider. As part of that growth, it has recruited and hired dozens of people over the last year to start and operate new DSP companies delivering Amazon packages. Each of these companies is expected to ultimately grow their fleets to 40 vehicles. </p><section><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-controls-delivery-drivers-without-paying-wages-2018-9">'Amazon has all the power': How Amazon controls legions of delivery drivers without paying their wages and benefits</a></em></p></section><p>The layoffs could be a sign that Amazon is moving to rely more on these newer, smaller companies, over its older partners. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>At the same time, Amazon has been moving other parts of its logistics operations in-house as it grows a network of planes, trucks, vans, and even ocean freighters. The in-sourcing moves have been particularly taxing to companies who provide Amazon with their delivery services.</p><p>This is because the companies Amazon uses for logistics often depend on the retail giant for a large part of their revenue, so when Amazon curtails its business, its partners are often forced to readjust their yearly outlooks.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-xpo-logistics-earnings-deliveries-2019-2">In February,</a> Amazon's transition to move its own packages slashed $600 million in expected revenues at XPO Logistics - the top logistics company in the US by revenue in 2018. XPO's leading business with Amazon was taking packages from the company and delivering them via the US Postal Service, otherwise called "postal injection," Seaport Global analyst Kevin Sterling previously told Business Insider.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-logistics-network-edge-out-ups-fedex-2019-3">Amazon took over the $176 billion market for cloud computing. Now it's using the same playbook in logistics.</a></em></p><p>A $402 million trucking company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bankrupt-trucker-new-england-amazon-reliance-2019-2">went under in Feb.</a>, a bankruptcy that analysts said was partially because of Amazon's in-housing moves. </p><p>Other companies have found that Amazon is a big customer, but not one that drives massive profits. In May, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fedex-amazon-one-day-delivery-2019-6">FedEx unexpectedly announced</a> that it would no longer fly Amazon packages.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fedex-amazon-ending-shipping-service-why-costs-balance-sheet-2019-6">A Business Insider report showed</a> that that may have been motivated by the low margins Amazon packages carry. While FedEx's air networks had been carrying a lot of parcels, the company's financial statements indicated that those huge amounts of packages weren't generating a lot of profit.</p><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/40-big-tech-predictions-for-2019?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=amazon&amp;itm_campaign=40-big-tech-predictions-for-2019-3"></a></p>

Amazon's delivery contractors announce upwards of 1,800 layoffs even as the mega-retailer's logistics demand balloons

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">ap</p></div>During Hu Jintao's speech at the 18th Party Congress it was evident that the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-we-know-beijing-is-terrified-about-social-rest-2012-11">leaders were aware of growing public anger</a> at the excesses of the Communist Party and the large income inequality. </p>
<p>He said at the time that <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> would aim to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hu-jintaos-speech-highlights-economy-corruption-2012-11">double its per capita income</a> for rural and urban residents by 2020.</p>
<p>China has a <keyword id="1085212" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gini-coefficient">Gini coefficient</keyword> above 0.4 which is the level beyond which there is a risk of social unrest.</p>
<p>Now, China has approved its long-awaited income distribution plan (IDP). Here are some details from Bank of America's <keyword id="195440" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ting-Lu">Ting Lu</keyword>:</p>
<ul>
<li>"The IDP repeats a previous government goal to double household income in real term from 2010 to 2020, and to increase the ratio of household income to GDP and the ratio of labor income to national income. It says to raise minimum wage to 40% of urban average wage by 2015 in most parts of China and increase the ratio of collective bargaining to 80% in the private sector by 2015. The IDP also says to conduct study to introduce minimum wages at industry levels."</li>
<li>"Containing [state-owned enterprises] will surely be the focus of the IDP. No aggressive detailed plans, but anyway the IDP vows to control total wage expenditure and wage level of high-income SOEs, cap compensation of senior executives, and introduce deferred pay and claw-back (learning from the Wall Street). Growth of pay of senior executives should be below that of employees. The IDP requires local SOEs to turn in more earnings to the government and central-govt SOEs to increase the percentage of their turned-in earnings by 5ppt in the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-15)."</li>
<li>"The next point sounds not so good for those colossal state banks enjoying monopoly status. The IDP says to push forward interest rate liberalization reform by allowing banks to have more freedom to pay higher deposit rates. The IDP may also disappoint those shadow banking detractors as it encourages setting up debt and money market funds to compete with banks for deposits. To us economists, we believe these are good policies both redistribution and economic efficiency."</li>
<li>"Unify the social security especially basic pension which is so far segmented at provincial, prefecture and even county levels. Increase the ratio of fiscal expenditure on social security and employment by 2ppt."</li>
<li>"Reduce headcounts of central and local governments. Disclose all public expenditure before 2015. This is really good to hear, though we are concerned about implementation."</li>
<li>"No more tax waiver for foreigners on personal income, dividend and capital gains obtained from foreign companies in China. Maybe that's not so good for some foreign companies in China."</li>
<li>"Gradually expand property tax trials to more cities (beyond Shanghai and Chongqing). Conduct studies on introducing estate tax 'at an appropriate time'. Of course it’s very hard to define 'an appropriate time' and the precondition for estate tax is disclosure of assets, which might be quite difficult. The IDP says to cover a wider range of resources regarding resources tax and increase tax rates. It also plans to impose consumption tax on some high-expenditure entertainment and luxury goods. However, such new consumption tax might only make Macau and Hong Kong more favorable places for China’s new riches."</li>
<li>"Improve and protect farmers’ user rights of land and allow farmers to transfer user rights of land. Better compensate farmers for land confiscation. Better protect rights of residential land. We believe the language here implies that the government might be prepared to give farmers closer-to-private-property rights on residential land."</li>
<li>"To orderly push forward urbanizing migrant workers, especially young generation migrant workers. Promulgate transparent policies for rewarding hukou (urban residential permits). To expand urban basic public service to all urban residents including migrant workers."</li>
<li>"To quicken the buildup of national health insurance. Increase the ratio of reimbursement to medical expenditure to 75% or above in both urban and rural areas. We believe that the govt has been doing very well in this regard in the past, and the 75% is achievable in the next five years."</li>
</ul>
<h3><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gmo-chinas-credit-system-vulnerability-2013-1">GMO - China Is Marching Toward A Massive Credit Crisis &gt;</a></strong></h3>

You Searched For "urban company workers" and got 9 results

Urban Company grants shares worth Rs 5.2 cr to 497 gig workers

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Ola, Porter, Uber & Dunzo worst digital platforms for gig workers: Report

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The pandemic drove Americans out of cities and into the exurbs. A recession could push some of them right back.

Jacob Zinkula

We Went To Twitter And Facebook And It's Impossible To Decide Which Place We'd Rather Work

Robert Johnson

America's big cities are losing their one big advantage

James Rodriguez

Silicon Valley's favorite diet is now available in a three-day meal kit that costs $210 - we gave it a try

Melia Robinson

Tech giants like Facebook have moved beyond beer and ping-pong to the next office must-have, and other companies are following their lead

Mark Abadi

Amazon's delivery contractors announce upwards of 1,800 layoffs even as the mega-retailer's logistics demand balloons

Rachel Premack,Hayley Peterson

China Just Approved A New Plan To Crush Income Inequality

Mamta Badkar

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