Let us first glance at Human Resources as a function and its perception in Indian Industry. HR is treated as a support function which is concerned with payroll, administrative work and mediating between candidate and employer for recruitment as it does not contribute to the bottom line!
This holds for Real Estate Industry as well! Real estate traditionally has always had the perception of being a sector where ‘land & buildings’ was the language required and ‘people skills’ were of no great relevance.
In the last few years with the growing Indian economy and talent drain to MNCs and competitive environment, the role of HR has emerged as a Business partner as it contributes to the organization as a channel of Help, as an OD interventionist and as a Controller.
The competitive advantage of Real Estate Organisation has moved from “mortar and Bricks” to the expertise and creativity of its people, HR has a large role to play in attracting, motivating and finally retaining these very people. Current Scenario and how HR Best practices can sustain Business houses
The real estate industry is facing a difficult situation with high property prices and low demand. This coupled with the tight lending environment and the high-interest rate has strained the industry. Demand for Real Estate is a derived demand and as such several announcements of Govt for eg RERA Act have a direct and indirect negative impact on the sector.
The Real Estate Industry is neither a fully organized sector nor an unorganized sector. For many, it’s a family-managed sector with a very narrow perspective. Largely, the customer experience in this Industry is over-promised but under-delivered. Unusual and strange competition is the dominant feature.
Now with this situation what differentiates one organization from the other is its “People”. To ensure this factor is present in your Organisation follow simple HR practices:
Engage your employees: Loyalty and belongingness are the two most simple yet most effective terms when it comes to managing people. Engage people in decision-making, any changes done within the Organisation will see success when there is a Buy-In of internal stakeholders. Have a personal touch with your employees, meet them in person, share your thoughts, and understand theirs.
Talent Acquisition: Hiring the right resource is the toughest of all, it is as good as finding a life partner! Hence relying on the right hiring process ie competency mapping of unique roles and alignment of Organisational cultural anchors. Train your leadership team to assess a candidate against technical competency and cultural fit to the Organisation.
Talent retention: Retaining talent in the Real Estate sector is the biggest HR challenge, so how to deal with it? Appreciation and motivation are the two best tools that work well in retention, so provide employees with the right recognition platform for each milestone they achieve and motivate them for the next!
Open Management & Job Security: Uncertainty in the Real Estate sector has to be dealt with when it comes to Human Capital. Today every employee expects that the organization maintains a satisfactory level of transparency and keeps its employees updated on the various developments taking place in the organization.
This also ensures that the employees feel secure as well as recognise their importance in the organization. This is achieved by internal e-bulletins, blogs, and frequent floor-level meetings.
The employees are kept updated on the changes in the company’s policies, the achievement of new contracts, and the sales trend, any new Sr. Executive joining the organization etc.
The organizations also give every employee the to put forth his/her ideas for improvement of the company’s performance. Rewards are also given for assessing the cost-benefit of the suggestions.
Clear and genuine Communication plays a very vital role in managing these challenges, sharing Company`s vision and Annual goals with internal stakeholders, and cascading these annual goals to various functions for them to understand and realize how they are contributing to the Organisation`s Ethical Behaviour. The Real Estate industry is owner-driven hence employees find it difficult to get professional respect as compared to other Business groups!
Please remember you are in show business better the Brand more the sale, so treat your employees respectfully, and be professional with them. Employees are current or ex-the best brand ambassadors you can have! Set Annual goals and review monthly or quarterly to keep the alignment, this would save you from year-end heartburns or business loss.
Sharing of Knowledge: Focus on key Today because of the technology development knowledge gained by an employee in a training program or a workshop is stored in the database and access is available to those who can use it for increasing their knowledge.
This centralized system of knowledge storage accelerates the training effect at no additional costs. Even innovative ideas that the management deems fit for employees to see, can be stored here for all to see.
Begin from the Beginning: Clearly define the work, address dress codes, iPod Volume, start times, TMI conversation, etc. to maintain a healthy working relationship. Remember the HR Manager’s time as a learner? Now, Empathize!
To summarise there is no fixed success mantra to managing Human Capital but I can assure you that if you implement these Best HR Practices you will have an edge over the competition around your overall Business purpose.
