Building and Sustaining a Vibrant company culture – Housing.com

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Rohit Hasteer, Group Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of Housing.com, Makaan.com, and PropTiger.com

1. What are the challenges the industry is facing in terms of hiring talent and sustaining employees?

I remember reading a report on ‘Talent Shortage’ by Manpower Group, which outlined that 63% employers in India say that they are struggling to fill open jobs as there is a paucity of skilled workforce. Hence, like every other sector, the real estate industry also faces this challenge, especially because some of the roles in the sector are niche and require specific functional skills and competencies. However, there are many institutes in the country today which offer specialised courses for the real estate sector. Also, while the real estate sector is one of the second largest employers in the country, it is not the go-to career option for many young people because of the lack of awareness about career prospects in the sector which makes it difficult to attract talent. But with several reforms in the sector, things have started changing. More awareness of how the real estate industry also offers an equally enriching career can further help in attracting talent. I believe this will also help in addressing the problem of gender diversity in the sector and encourage more women to join the workforce.

In terms of retention, the real-estate sector also faces the challenge of attrition like other industries, particularly among entry-level sales associates. This trend persists due to global competition and the emergence of new startups, causing the workforce to be highly unstable. Hence, it is all the more crucial for workplaces in this sector to create stickiness in the system through new age interventions and customized employee experience.

2. What should organisations focus on as the sector transitions into the new paradigms of working?

I believe the best way for organizations to navigate through the new paradigms of working is by understanding the pulse of the talent that they are attracting and building their culture and people practices catering to those needs. A one-size fits all approach in this hybrid world will not work and organizations should focus on creating customized experiences for their people. I also strongly feel that in today’s VUCA world, it’s crucial for organizations to be agile and stay ahead of the curve. One needs to be aware of the global, political, economic, social scenarios and its probable impact on our industry.

While this will help companies to retain talent, it is equally important for organizations to communicate their Employee Value Proposition (EVP) to prospective as well as existing employees. A well-articulated EVP helps jobseekers understand how an organization is different from others in the market and at the same time it also positively influences retention.

3. How is REA India building and sustaining a vibrant company culture and ensuring high productivity?

Over the years we have built a positive and vibrant work culture by truly engaging and partnering with our people by understanding their needs and incorporating their feedback & suggestions in devising our people practices. An engaged workforce is a productive workforce. The culture of open and transparent communication that we have built at REA India helps foster a culture of trust which in turn elicits superior performance by our people. Our people are our biggest assets and our competitive edge, thus nurturing their talent and unleashing their potential is our key focus area. Our efforts are focused on listening to our people and offering them all the resources they need to perform to their optimum.

Secondly, building the workplace culture is not just HR’s job at REA India. Great workplaces are those where managers & leaders take ownership of building a culture where people feel valued and at REA India, leaders are the co-drivers in fostering & sustaining this culture.

Lastly, our unique people practices & benefits have also greatly contributed to creating a people-first culture.

I believe when people feel valued and are aligned to the organization’s mission & vision, they are inspired to be more creative, passionate, and productive at work.

4. What are the unique and industry-first initiatives taken by REA India?

We have a diverse talent pool that includes sales experts, marketing mavens, product, design, and technology pioneers. Hence, delivering highly personalised and versatile employee experiences demands the HR interventions to be truly unique and ingenious. Our team members have responded positively to the diverse range of innovative policies, benefits, and practices, which are unmatched in the industry. Some of them being:

• Early Cheque-In benefit – which allows our people to receive a portion of their salary on the 15^th of each month. This one-of-a-kind initiative is widely appreciated by our people, particularly our new joiners, who have not experienced this before
• Future of Work policy – our hybrid work policy that enables our people to work from anywhere. Our teams like Product, Design, Technology, Centre of Excellence, and many others operate out of a permanent remote work model
• Child Care Allowance that provides a monthly allowance per child for women with children up to three years old, to help them arrange childcare facilities while they focus on work
• We host Ide-O-Clock collaborative sessions that encourage teams to meet and engage in blue-sky thinking to generate innovative ideas together
• Fri-Yay Hour that are virtual water cooler breaks for our remote teams to connect and socialize
• Coffee Conversation session with our CEO, where each month our people get a chance to meet the CEO
• Feeling@home Mood-O-Meter – our exclusive mood-o-meter on HRIS that lets our people share how they’re feeling (wow/happy/neutral/sad/angry). In case anyone shares that they are feeling sad or angry, the HRBPs resolve their issue(s) within a TAT of 24 to 48 hours
• Together – Truly unique initiative where we co-create policies with our people by incorporating their suggestions in our policies and practices
• MYDEA Tool on HRIS which allows people to share ideas or suggestions. Ideas are evaluated for possible implementation and best ideas get rewarded also

5. What are your hiring plans for this year?

Although there are headwinds of recession globally, we have a positive plan to recruit new hires for the fiscal year 2024. Our objective is to hire individuals from a wide range of backgrounds who share our organization’s values, are passionate about our vision, and display the appropriate competence and attitude. We also maintain our emphasis on hiring women with the aim of creating opportunities for their growth and development through embedding the DEI goals for the year into our hiring plan.