Grab, the leading super app in Southeast Asia, is strengthening its Tech for Good commitment by doubling down on safety and providing better opportunities and care for driver-partners and their families. Born out of a desire to solve Southeast Asia’s biggest problems, and as the region’s largest homegrown technology company, Grab views technology for good as its hallmark responsibility. As part of this agenda, Grab is introducing new safety features and initiatives coupled with strategic partnerships to both the private and public sectors to ensure safety and security in every Grab experience. Grab is also expanding on various programs to deliver greater benefits
to driver-partners and their families.
“We have always seen our platform as a conduit for the good of all of our stakeholders — from passengers to driver-partners, from merchants to the overall economy — and this responsibility is the reason by which Grab continues to be a reliable partner to each and every Filipino. We’re committed to building solutions and partnerships that will help unlock the benefits of an inclusive digital economy for all. We will continue to deliver against our Tech for Good agenda and are excited today to share how we’re ramping up on safety and our passion to support our driver- partners and their families,” Grab Philippines President Brian Cu said.
Improved safety features, expanded initiatives
Once again, Grab is raising the bar for transport safety with the introduction of the Safety Center, an easily discoverable in-app button that houses Grab’s safety features within the app. The Safety Center is a centralized access point, where passengers can share their ride details, report safety issues, ask for emergency assistance, and review safety information. It enhances the safety button now found in the Grab app with functions for reporting safety issues that assures a 30-minute digital-first response, and a two-to-six hour resolution period.
The in-transit feature also connects passengers directly to a security company or police for immediate action.
This new feature complements Grab’s safeguards in place, such as stringent checks and training for its drivers, in-ride insurance coverage, and after-service customer care.
Aside from the Safety Center, Grab has also partnered with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TEDSA) to continue the education of its driver and rider partners in driving and food handling.
Grab is also revitalizing its Grab Academy Curriculum to further equip drivers with skills on road safety, first aid, and defensive driving in partnership with A1, Red Cross, and the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group. Since it was first launched in 2017, Grab Academy has helped improve the safety driving skills of roughly 2,500 driver-partners.
For the next run of Grab Academy, Grab aims to train as many as 2,000 of its driver-partners. “Safety has always been core to who we are and what we do, and we will continue to increase our investments and focus on this area to ensure that each Grab experience is safe and secure,” Cu said. Better opportunities for driver-partners and their families The expanded Grab Academy Curriculum also includes the Misiskolar initiative, a program that
is focused on training the partners of drivers and Ka-Grab Kids, a program dedicated to the children of Grab drivers.
This year, Grab Misiskolar offers an expanded curriculum for all participating wives of driver-partners and was taught by experts from John Robert Powers, SunLife, and NU World on various aspects such as leadership, business mind-setting, beauty, confidence, and entrepreneurship.
Children participating in Grab Kids learned from meaningful educational activities as well as music lessons, and talent development. Many Grab Kids were given the experience to be a mini-driver partner or delivery-partner for a day – something that helps them understand and value the work of their parents.To further support its driver-partners, Grab is also introducing a refreshed Ka-Grab Rewards Plus Program, which now has new benefits that cater to a wide range of its driver-partners’ needs.
This year, Ka Grab Rewards Plus offers driver-partners and their families a new set of benefits up for grabs such as medicine allowance, yearly vaccination, unlimited medical consultation, as well as eye check-up. These new benefits will add to the existing Ka-Grab Rewards of health insurance, life insurance, Grab Care package, and monetary rewards. The benefits differ per driver tier, so as to acknowledge drivers who maintain a good
performance within different periods of time.
For the electric bill allowance, Platinum drivers will be given P500 per month, while Gold drivers will receive P300. All driver tiers will also be given MedPadala Allowable Balances of P399 for Platinum, P299 for Gold, and P199 for Silver. Both Platinum and Silver drivers will get yearly flu immunization shots.
Each one of its driver-partners is also afforded unlimited Family Doc consultations — with a driver priority lane every Wednesday — as well as Vision Express consultations and free frames for purchased lenses. “Ka-Grab Rewards Plus aims to uplift the driver and rider partners through wellness improvements and income diversification that can help deliver greater financial security, allowing them to aspire and dream beyond their current status,” Cu said.Supporting, enabling SMEs. Aside from helping its driver-partners grow,
Grab is also putting a premium in supporting and enabling small and medium businesses in the Philippines by arranging more opportunities and programs for its merchant-partners, which generate jobs for more people. Just recently, Grab concluded its NakakaLOKAL Festival in Metro Manila and Cebu, which made significant strides in the promotion of local flavors and crafts among Filipinos. Through the same campaign, Grab was able to pin around 500 local SMEs in the Grab map and achieve more than PhP 1M in sales for the past 8 days.
“We have always believed in partnerships. In fact, we have built our super app through meaningful partnerships with big and small names in the region. In the Philippines, our partners vary in size, too. We have partners who are considered micro-entrepreneurs like our social sellers, and we have partners as big as listed corporations. Grab values each one, and we believe that even the small guys have to be recognized for their contribution to improving the lives of people in the Philippines,” Cu said.
