Online food delivery platform Swiggy on Monday announced the launch of an industry-first-accelerator programme for its delivery executives to transition into full-time, managerial-level jobs with a fixed salary and additional benefits.

The programme, named “Step-Ahead” is aimed at giving an opportunity to those executives who want to move from their current flexible engagement with Swiggy to a dedicated, managerial role, the company said.

“Swiggy has consistently maintained that our delivery executives are the backbone of our operations; and we are proud to enable an income opportunity for over 2.7 lakh women and men across the country,” said Mihir Rajesh Shah, VP, Operations, Swiggy, in a statement.

“While most may consider their association with the platform as a stop gap between jobs or an education, or even an additional source of income, we realise that there are some who want more. With aStep Ahead’, Swiggy is creating a unique opportunity for those interested to flip their collar from blue to white and take on a managerial role,” he added.

To be eligible for the role of a Fleet Manager, a Swiggy delivery executive must hold a college degree, possess communication skills and basic computer knowledge and should have been delivering with Swiggy for a few years.

Managing a fleet of delivery executives, the fleet managers, will be responsible for different roles like maintaining metrics like login hours, cancellations, resolving queries, and working on special projects for delivery executives.

Being well-versed with the challenges and opportunities at a ground level owing to their rich experience in delivery, seasoned delivery executives are a natural fit. Over the years, numerous Swiggy delivery executives have joined the platform as fleet managers.

With ‘Step Ahead’, Swiggy is formalising this process and intends to reserve at least 20 per cent of all Fleet Manager hires for its delivery executives. Swiggy is also considering reducing the tenure requirement to around two years.

Swiggy currently has over 2.7 lakh delivery partners across the country. They receive benefits such as accident insurance and medical cover, personal loans, legal assistance, covid income support, emergency support, income support during accident or illness recovery, bereavement leaves, period time off, maternity cover among others.