Job loyalty is lowest in real estate; professionals wait for rival companies to poach, finds Track2Realty Survey.
When the going was good the developers did not bother much about the quality of talent; nor did they ever took a conscious call to introspect from the inside of the company and work their way out to create a competitive professional culture.
No wonder, they could never be able to attract talented people willing to invest their skills and knowledge towards the business objectives; something that could give them competitive advantage when the odds were not in favour.
The result is, as Track2Realty pan-India survey among the real estate professionals finds, not only the job loyalty is pretty low among the professionals in the sector but also most of them are open to poaching. It is hence no surprise that there is an overall culture of secrecy in most of the real estate companies.
It seems there is an overall culture of not trusting the employees on part of the management. As many as 45 per cent of the employees are not comfortable with the presence of spy cams in the office and 15 per cent feel the overall work environment breeds loss of trust by either side.
But what could give a comfort to the developers and justify their working environment is the realization among as many as 40 per cent employees that some sort of spying is necessary since the nature of the business is very sensitive and sale leads can be easily transferred otherwise.
“The overall employment experience is not conducive to attract and retain employees, be it salary and benefits, company culture and values, career opportunities, job challenges, creativity and leadership style. The entire employment experience is that of survival for money,” says Ankur Garg in Bangalore. (Name change to protect identity on request)
The researchers in this survey even asked the most pertinent question; something that is critical to both the real estate employees as well as the employers. Since the job loyalty is pretty low in the sector, how many of the employees would be ethical as and when the rival company poaches on them.
No less than 74 per cent of the professionals say they are open to joining the rival developer if the offer is tempting; only 16 per cent assert they will not join the rival realty company; rest 10 per cent are not sure about it or do not wish to comment.
“That is pretty common here and both ways it hurts the developers. One is that he fails to retain the talent that knows the business operations and he has to hire a new one which at least kills the time. And then, the rival company gets the best of trade secrets and marketing leaks,” says Sheetal Sharma in Mumbai. (Name changed).
The real estate jobs really lack the confidence and loyalty of the professionals. The majority of them join the sector only for some more money and their brand loyalty, commitment and satisfaction level is increasingly dropping. It is not that the work culture and the overall eco system in which the business of real estate operates are helping the cause of the ‘brand employer’ in the sector either.
As a matter of fact, the developers in their collective consciousness need to change the overall eco system to attract and retain the best of the talent; something that can change the employees’ outlook towards the sector and employers and help them perform to their potential.
Many of the respondents in this survey maintain that the developers have failed to understand that what the professionals look for in the first place is ‘Reputation’. The study in other sectors that the professionals change jobs less for better salary than due to work culture. Irony is that in real estate, professionals join the sector itself only for money as the developers have failed to emerge as the work place to look for.
“The worth of an employee is the price point in terms of compensation, where the lowest CTC (Cost to Company) amounts to the better candidate. Worse, even the work culture within the sector is claustrophobic, to say the least. How do you expect an average middle class guy like us to be loyal to such employment,” questions Anupam Agarwal in Noida. (Name Changed).
For this survey a total sample size of 500 professionals was targeted. Out of these 412 samples were finally zeroed down and considered for analysis. Rest 88 respondents were not considered for evaluation since they either gave incomplete questionnaires or were rejected for non-seriousness and contradictory responses with regards to their choices & concerns.
Some of them even admitted that their grouse is against the employer due to absence of expected salary hike and pink slips given to them.
