Record home sales spur 20-50% hiring surge at listed realty firms in H2FY22

With record residential sales, hiring by top real estate companies was 20-50 per cent more in the second half of 2021-22 (FY22) than in the first six months of the financial year.

The bulk of the hiring was at junior levels, and most of it was in sales and marketing. Most of them have strong hiring plans in FY23 too. The top 10 listed developers together launched 45 million square feet of real estate in FY22 against 33 million square feet in FY21.

This is expected to jump to 70 million square feet in FY23. On the back of a healthy pipeline, developers are targeting double-digit growth in pre-sales in FY23, Motilal Oswal Research said recently.

Many companies such as Godrej Properties, Brigade Enterprises, Puravankara, Prestige Estates, and Shriram Properties had seen a record jump in sales in FY22.

Godrej Properties hired 372 employees in the second half (H2) of FY22, registering a growth rate of 56 per cent as against H1FY22. The company hired 80 per cent at junior levels, 18 per cent in middle slots, and 2 per cent in senior positions in FY22.

“The bulk of our hiring has been across sales and marketing, operations and customer-centricity teams. A parallel focus on accelerated construction timelines has led to a boost in operations hiring,” said Megha Goel, chief human resources officer, Godrej Properties.

While increments were 10-12 per cent, top performers received higher increases than the average, Goel said. Godrej Properties’ revenues went up 139 per cent in FY22 to Rs 1,825 crore.

Bengaluru-based Brigade Enterprises took on 176 people in the second half of FY22, increasing its hiring by around 53 per cent in the last six months, with around 20 per cent of the recruitment taking place at the senior and middle management levels, said Chidambar R S, head (HR and administration), Brigade Enterprises.

Chidambar said primary hiring took place mainly in engineering/projects, residential sales, and hospitality services.

“Business normalisation in the hospitality and retail businesses, expansion, diversification, new project launches, in-house construction and a dynamic job market that is attracting experienced talent have been some of the main reasons for increased hiring activity,” Chidambar explained.

Brigade is aiming to increase its workforce by around 15 per cent this year.

Murali M, chairman and managing director of Shriram Properties, said over the past six months, the company hired around 180 employees in different locations of the country. This translates into an increase of around 20 per cent, which has taken place primarily in the sales and marketing departments, to gear up for the launches this financial year and project launches in the pipeline, he said.

“During the current year, we plan to recruit around 125 people, including freshers,” he said.

Murali said the increase in the Reserve Bank of India’s repo rate had a minimal effect on the buying sentiment of consumers and the demand for real estate was growing. Salary hikes have been between 10 per cent and 20 per cent this year at the company, Murali added.

Another Bengaluru-based developer Puravankara saw a 30 per cent year-on-year rise in hiring in the first half of calendar 2022, said Nageshwar P B, president and head (human capital), Puravankara.

“We have witnessed a significant rise in hiring, especially in the last six months. The growth displayed by the real estate sector had a positive impact on talent hiring,” he said.

Tushar Rathod, chief executive of HR firm See & Recruit, said real estate companies did well even during the pandemic and prices had firmed up.

Mid-sized firms are beefing up sales teams and companies that have a lot of land parcels are strengthening their business development and fund rising teams, he added. In the past two months, there has been an average hike of 22 per cent for those who switched jobs in senior levels, according to See & Recruit.

Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock Property Consultants, said many large and listed companies in real estate were hiring because of increased demand in residential, commercial, and other asset classes of real estate.

“The pandemic has only accelerated demand for branded products, with most home consumers preferring to buy from developers with a pedigree. To address this, developers are increasing their workforce and adopting an even more professional approach,” he said.

Godrej Properties saw 56% sequential growth in hiring H2FY22.

Godrej hired 80% at junior levels, 18% at middle levels, 2% at senior levels in FY22  

Brigade Enterprises increased hiring by around 53% during the past six months

Brigade aims to increase our workforce by around 15 per cent this year.