Frontline workers, volunteer organisations and everyone who joined the Covid fight during the second wave worked tirelessly to supply oxygen to critical covid victims. Without pausing to think about the dangers to their own life and their family, they joined the first response for Covid emergencies. OYO’s hotel partners and homeowners actively participated in the fight by providing quarantine, self-isolation and accommodation requirements. Unfortunately, a lot of hotel partners succumbed to the virus and lost their lives leaving behind children without financial backing and mentorship, spouses and families who had lost their support system. Samarthan by OYO is designed for them.
What is Samarthan by OYO?
Samarthan, which translates to ‘Support’ in the Hindi language is a Covid-19 Hotel Partner Bereavement Support programme for patrons by OYO, the hospitality unicorn. Through this programme, OYO is extending welfare benefits for the families of their small hotel partner community.
It is mainly aimed at offering support for families and immediate kin of Covid-19 victims who died during the first and second wave of the pandemic. Wellness benefits like financial aid, waivers, and education funding are being provided to help them grieve their loved ones and find solace in knowing that they can fall back on the employer until they recover from the loss.
Beneficiaries of the programme
The main beneficiaries of Samarthan by OYO are the company’s hotel partners, and their community of homeowners also dubbed as ‘OYOpreneurs’ registered with OYO. The families of these beneficiaries are covered in this bereavement programme including their spouse, children and other eligible relatives supported by the programme.
Wellness benefits and Bereavement support for kin of deceased hotel partners and homeowners
Bereavement support
Families of deceased beneficiaries obtain bereavement support including a three-month commission of take-rate support for the OYO property. This amount will be transferred to the deceased partner’s OYO Secure wallet, a digital wallet provided exclusively for partners. Additionally, families will receive waivers on pending dues for said property registered with the company.
Wellness Benefits
Children of the deceased (below 2 years of age) will receive funding on their education for a period of 5 years. The spouse and children (below 1 year of age) will receive medical coverage amounting to INR 5 Lakh up to 3 years from the time of death of the hotel or homeowner partner. Eligible relatives and family of the deceased beneficiary will receive mentorship and internship opportunities.
The VaccinAid initiative
VaccinAid was an earlier initiative by OYO for its hotel partners and staff. It was launched to get the entire staff of their hotel chains fully vaccinated. As part of this initiative, OYO organised vaccination camps across multiple cities in India. Fully vaccinated hotel partners and support staff under this initiative received the ‘VaccinAid’ tag.
‘‘
Children of the deceased (below 2 years of age) of the hotel partner will receive funding on their education for a period of 5 years.
What’s in it for me?
Start-ups in India have led the fight against Covid. Their partners, staff, customers, have assisted the company in extending Covid help. Start-ups like Ola (delivery of oxygen cylinder by partner drivers) and Paytm (covid helpdesk by local Kirana shop partners) have seen immense contribution by partners. If your company also relies on partners for running business operations, or if they are assisting you in the Covid fight, enrolling them in a welfare benefit programme is an appropriate acknowledgement for their efforts.
If you have not already organised vaccination drives for your staff, it’s high time to ensure that every worker and support staff who is a part of your business is fully vaccinated. Health and education assurance for children and families of staff is the biggest concern among the workforce currently. By taking the responsibility for the same, your partners and support staff can breathe a sigh of relief and dedicate themselves fully towards your business. Provide covid-19 insurance, organise vaccination camps and ensure you are there to support your staff and families before and after any unfortunate deaths or hospitalisation.
Small businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic are on the verge of or are already shutting down. It’s important that after the death of the owner or the founder, the business carries on to support his/her kin. Business shouldn’t get impacted due to Covid death since it will put additional burden on the devastated families.
The staff and workers of the hospitality sector are at high risk during the pandemic for two reasons:
- Lack of job and income guarantee
- The fear of contracting covid
Due to their vulnerability, wellness and bereavement support programmes are highly necessary for start-ups and small businesses. Be connected with the families and loved ones of your staff and partners if you are a hospitality start-up. If the sector needs to successfully revive, this sense of community and social responsibility is the need of the hour.
