Gullak Daycare comes to the rescue of domestic helps to allow them to focus on their livelihood while taking care of their children
When home management company Pinch was putting together the most-trusted reliable house helps, chefs and nannies for their customers as part of their initiative of CARE CREW, they realised one big challenge that these workers constantly grappled with. A major roadblock was where do they leave their children while at work. Many wanted to tag their children along to the workplace, at the discomfort of their customers, and some chose to give up on new job opportunities coming their way. The core team behind Pinch thus decided to ease that pain point by setting up a daycare for their children called Gullak Daycare at Chakkarpur village in Gurgaon, right at the centre of the community where most of these workers stay.
The end result has been fruitful. For instance, Jyoti Chawriya, deployed by Pinch as a nanny, can now fully concentrate on her new employer’s children without worrying about her two children, Ron Bhagrie and Raga Lawrence. They both attend the Gullak Daycare during the day. Started in October, the first outlet of Gullak Daycare with 31 children is managed by a Centre Head and three professionally-trained nannies and has provision for everyday meals and good hygiene standards. It allows domestic workers to go for jobs while leaving their kids in a safe, secure and comfortable environment. The quality of its infrastructure is superior to where the domestic helps reside. The daycare has been set up in a well-maintained 2BHK apartment, replete with toys, books, dining table and a nap room. “Many come from low-income families and this gives them a good place to stay during the day, which may not be the case at home,” says Ravi Bansal, Chief Business Officer at Pinch.
The benefits are manifold — the workers get to work and their kids are in a better space in an environment conducive to learning. The daily meal plans at the daycare allow the children to have hearty meals, with some parents even reporting how their health improved after having them. Renuka Chandran, a former school principal and the daycare’s Head, says, “Many would not eat food at home and some appeared frail when they joined but they have shown remarkable changes in their food habits here. Some children came with rashes, but their skin started to glow and improved incredibly after having our nutritious meals.”
The daycare has a collection of games centred around alphabet recognition, numbers, rhymes, picture puzzles, building blocks and counting beads to develop the children’s cognitive skills. In addition to this, the children’s social skills are developed through their interaction with others of the same age group, as they are taught crucial lessons on sharing and unity.
The rates are affordable, priced at less than Rs 100 per day. Kids choosing full-day enrolments are offered breakfast, lunch and evening meals that are planned days in advance. The children have multiple food choices to pick from — parathas and besan chillas for breakfast, dal and veggies in the afternoon and pasta, noodles, vermicelli and breads for their evening breaks. Toddlers are given milk twice a day along with the food. The workers, who now drop their children at the daycare, come from varied backgrounds. Some are house helps, plumbers, electricians and drivers from surrounding areas.
From the business point of view, Ravi points out that this move helps establish trust within the community and allows for more candidates to register with them for future employment opportunities through word of mouth. He says, “Whenever these domestic workers need a job, we will be their first point of contact. Trust is very important in this segment because the domestic workers don’t trust placement agencies as they don’t care about their needs. One needs to be able to show them that we are doing something for them and that is where we are able to earn trust.”
Gullak Daycare is a first among many steps to improve the lives of domestic helps. The bigger aim, according to Pinch’s CEO Nitin Mohan, is to open many such daycares across the country. He says, “We also want to create low-cost housing for domestic helps with most basic amenities available along with modern facilities, so that we can improve their standard of living and reduce the gap.” While these workers employed by Pinch await their next job assignment, Pinch will help them create their own food products, ranging from pickles to snacks, and sell it under their own name. The product labels will capture their life stories and await to be told.
About Pinch
Pinch was founded in July 2021 by Nitin Mohan and Kiran Reddy with a mission to transform people’s everyday lives and help them be stress-free. Pinch is a lifestyle management and home hospitality company, the first of its kind in the country, that takes care of daily chores and to-do tasks at home to allow everyone to make time for themselves and pursue their hobbies and meaningful activities. The company offers myriad services, ranging from daily cleaning, gardening, arrangement of housekeepers, cooks and nannies, elderly and child care, renovations to meal planning, bill payments and holiday planning under one unified monthly subscription package.
For details, visit www.thepinchlife.com
