Gojek Execs To Create $6M Fund For Gig Workers

Executives at delivery FinTech Gojek have pledged to give 25 percent of their salaries over the next year to merchants, drivers and partners as their income has been reduced from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The company is also shifting planned salary increases to the fund, which means that along with the executive money, Gojek is setting aside about $6 million, although it didn’t specifically say how the money will be used.

Gojek is the first startup company from Southeast Asia that plans to implement management pay decreases to help with a deepening financial crisis, as the virus has curtailed nearly every aspect of daily life.

The company’s drivers and merchants have especially suffered as the pandemic has spread throughout the region’s 270 million people. Authorities in the country are imposing mandatory lockdowns, including in the sprawling capital of Jakarta.

“The fund will support [the] drivers who are the lifeblood of our business and have become a vital part of how cities will cope under reduced movement,” noted CEOs Andre Soelistyo and Kevin Aluwi. Both of them own a large amount of stock in the company.

The government has announced that it does have stimulus packages to combat the economic fallout from the virus, but there is also the potential for the budget deficit to grow to as much as 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product.

Some economists in the country say the government should focus on spending more.

The company is also looking to help (and potentially capitalize on) the growing crisis by teaming up with app Halodoc to launch an online consultation service.

On Tuesday (March 24), about 107 new cases of the virus were reported in the U.S., which brings the total cases to 686, the biggest jump so far in the country since the outbreak started.