Sunita and her husband are an inseparable team, managing their Kirana store together. While her husband works diligently behind the scenes, Sunita stands as the welcoming face of their establishment. With a warm smile, she engages customers, inquires about their well-being, and creates an inviting ambiance at the store.

Originally from Belgaum, Sunita moved to Bangalore after getting married. Their journey began with a curveball. Sunita’s husband lost his managerial job due to Covid. In the face of adversity, Sunita, a former housewife, began churning innovative ideas with her business-oriented mind.

They tried running a beauty store, but it didn’t work out. Adaptable and unafraid to take risks, Sunita swiftly redirected her focus towards a Kirana store—a decision that became their success story.

The two gracefully balanced their business needs while nurturing their two children. People noticed Sunita’s business smarts and often asked her for advice about starting their own stores. 

Sunita’s journey shows profound wisdom living in these quiet corner stores. It is a reservoir of smart minds and unwavering spirits.

Santosh, a former pharmaceutical employee at Ranbaxy, was at a crossroad after 8 years of service. An unexpected spinal injury was the turning point in his career. It thwarted his ability to travel the roads all day, and yet, in that challenge there was an unforeseen opportunity. With a passion for sales deeply ingrained within him, Santosh pivoted to a more local and fulfilling role, becoming a Kirana store owner.

However, this transition wasn’t a smooth sail. As Covid struck the world, Santosh felt that the governmental policies had failed to protect grocery owners.

Veena runs a Kirana store in Bangalore. When you ask her why, she will shrug her shoulders nonchalantly but in an endearing way and say, because I know the business. Her coyness is charming and we egg her on to tell us more about the history of her skills. She simply smiles like the answer is so obvious, “My family did the same thing.” Running a Kirana business was a hereditary trait for her. She has been running Darshan stores for the last four years and came upon it by chance. The building owner had an empty spot and asked her to do what felt most natural to her.

What Are Pink-Collar Jobs?
Historically, women took up jobs that involved care or service and these jobs were known as pink-collar jobs. The term was made popular in the 1970s by Louise Kapp Howe. Some of the jobs in this category are Nursing, Gynaecology, Hairdressing, Beauty-related, Teaching, Social work, Secretarial work, Child care, Counselling, etc.

Gender Evolution Of Pink-Collar Jobs:
Gender norms are breaking in the present. The idea that a certain job is only suitable for women and men is shifting. People are more open to pursuing their passions, defying the societal rules of the past.

Pink-collar jobs can be applied for by women or men now, as gender isn’t relevant anymore. It depends on the comfort level of the job holder and the people seeking the service. For example, gynaecologists and birth care specialists are mostly female for clients’ comfort. Hairdressers and beauticians can be men since unisex beauty salons exist now. Based on these aspects, pink-collar jobs can be chosen by either gender.

Although women have taken up various positions in the white and blue-collar segments and men are taking up traditionally women’s jobs, pink-collar jobs are still sought after by most women.

These graduates are lapped up by pharma giants like Cipla, Sun Pharma, Biocon, Dr. Reddy’s, Novartis, Lupin etc. as medical sales representatives to act as ambassadors for companies, promoting prescription drugs, medications, and medical equipment while implementing strategies to increase product awareness. Pharma expos serve as channels for companies to showcase their offerings and provide a secure meeting point for face-to-face interactions with potential customers, enabling reps to collect valuable information and feedback. This increased demand for new products has led to a search for more salespeople by industry executives and recruiters.

Just to add some perspective, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories increased its field force to 7,500 in 2021-22 from 4,800 in 2017-18 while Sun Pharma added 1,000 employees to its sales force in 2021 and 2022. Cipla aims to strengthen its reach in tier 2-6 towns through sales expansion.

Biocon and Dr. Reddy’s were both recognised by US-based Science magazine for ‘Science 2022 Top Employer List. While Biocon was acknowledged for being an innovative leader in the industry, socially responsible, and having loyal employees, Dr. Reddy’s was highly rated for treating employees with respect, being socially responsible, and providing employees with autonomy.

Issue 1: Reward and Recognition
Blue-collar workers typically make less than ₹27,000 a month, which is just above the poverty line of ₹25,000 per month for a family of four. Blue-collar workers are mostly in the field, but they receive far less recognition for the work done.

Issue 2: Lack of Benefits
Blue-collar workers are not offered portable perks and benefits that are typically available to temporary, and self-employed workers by job providers. There is a lack of proactive offering of benefits like training opportunities, financial stability, flexibility, career growth, and upskilling for blue-collar job seekers by employers. 

Issue 3: Absence of Upward Mobility
Blue-collar needs like education, skills development, and a focus on well-being aren’t different from white-collar needs. Simply said, there hasn’t been a tech solution designed with blue-collar workers in mind.

Issue 4: Falling Prey to Scams
Blue-collar workers are especially susceptible to false employment generated by dishonest recruiting firms due to growing mechanisation, lack of available positions, and pressing financial requirements. They unwittingly fall into debt traps and, in extreme situations, even commit data theft. 

Issue 5: Threat and Impact of Attrition on both Employees and Organisations
One of the most delicate concerns that corporate organisations are worried about is employee attrition. On the one hand, there are more unemployed people, but on the other, millennials have a relatively high attrition rate. This poses a huge risk to the company’s reputation and make it difficult to find the right replacements. This in turn hampers a company’s reputation while causing regular disruptions in workflow management and low employee morale.

The win of this transformation lies in operating at the intersection of inclusion and technology. Inclusion of the existing participants in the new value chain with redesigned roles and margin structures. And in ensuring that the retailers are better off in all service aspects. For instance, offering them daily service in lieu of withdrawal of credit is not a solution. It is a bottleneck. B2B e-commerce needs to enable themselves with technology that cuts down their operating costs versus traditional distributors and then pass on those benefits by way of lower prices, frequent service, complete and relevant assortment, and credit to make their models work.

That is the moat. Operating in a more frugal way than an Indian family business and yet serving the customers with no additional risk than current is where the moat lies. The operating premise that first, let’s grab the land and then worry about economics is untenable.

Scale in this business is a given – there is a trillion $ market out there. The question is, how does one scale to $10 B and make a 1.5% margin on sales? The jury is still out on whether the numbers in this industry will ever get onto that trajectory.

So far, only the narratives, hope, and backgrounds of the founding team were attracting capital. The next round of investments in this sector would clearly be driven by financial performance and not hope and hype. In our current context, where frothy narratives are facing the heat on new fundraise and recently listed entities that have no line of sight to profitability are getting a whack in the public markets, road kills are a given.

So, if someone wants to look out for real businesses, get ready. This sector will offer only that. Businesses that have the scale and free cash flows.

One of the most critical problem that exists even today for the blue-collar staff is the problem of employment uncertainty. Online job boards, forums, and other trustworthy, and simple ways to find and land a job have become popular over the past few years. However, blue-collar employees still significantly rely on traditional techniques for finding work, such as informal connections and middlemen. Local labour contractors and recruiting firms assist labourers in finding work, but often charge high commissions and cannot be relied upon to consistently offer chances for work in a supportive environment.