CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Rohit Hasteer, CHRO, REA India (Housing.com & PropTiger.com)
Can you provide examples of innovative HR policies that have successfully addressed work transformation challenges?
At REA India, we have introduced several innovative HR policies to address work transformation challenges effectively. Our Early Cheque-in policy offers our people to access a portion of their salary by the 15th of each month, ensuring financial liquidity. Our Gift A Leave policy enables employees to gift their leave to colleagues in need, promoting a supportive and compassionate work culture. This has proven invaluable during emergencies, reinforcing our community-oriented values. Additionally, our Future of Work policy embraces a hybrid working culture, providing people with different work modes based on their roles, functions and business requirements. This flexibility has improved work-life balance, productivity, and job satisfaction. These policies, rooted in genuine care and understanding of our peoples’ needs, have not only addressed transformation challenges but also strengthened our inclusive and supportive organizational culture.
What were the key inclusive hiring practices that emerged in 2024, and how did they impact talent acquisition?
In 2024, several key inclusive hiring practices emerged. One such practice was the widespread adoption of blind hiring techniques, which focus on anonymizing candidate information to eliminate unconscious biases. This approach ensured that candidates were evaluated solely on their skills and qualifications, promoting a more diverse and equitable hiring process. Additionally, there was an increased emphasis on utilizing AI-driven tools to analyze job descriptions for biased language, ensuring that postings were gender-neutral and inclusive.
For REA India too, diversity and inclusion has become a key focus area for the last couple years. We are making conscious efforts to increase our candidate pool with diverse candidates. We have updated our equal opportunity statement to communicate our commitment to a fair and equitable hiring practice and an inclusive workplace. Additionally, we implemented gender-neutral hiring guidelines, ensuring our job postings were free from gender-specific language. This approach not only attracted a broader pool of talent but also reinforced our commitment to an inclusive work environment. We also conduct workshops around gender sensitization & unconscious bias for our people leaders and reinforce application of the same by hiring managers while interviewing candidates. Collectively, these practices have enriched our talent acquisition strategy, contributing to a more diverse and dynamic workforce.
How can organizations continue to evolve their hiring practices to attract diverse talent in 2024?
To attract diverse talent in 2024, organizations must adapt their hiring practices through a mix of strategic and practical approaches. Crafting inclusive job descriptions that avoid biased language is crucial. Implementing structured interviews and providing training for hiring managers on inclusive practices can help ensure fairness and objectivity in the selection process. Having a clearly defined assessment criteria, with functional and behavioural competencies required for the role, helps eliminate biases that creep in when hiring managers are interviewing candidates on fuzzy areas and not asking the right questions. Utilizing data-driven methods, such as tracking diversity metrics and analyzing outcomes, allows for continuous improvement in hiring strategies. Additionally, fostering an authentic employer brand that genuinely reflects a commitment to diversity and inclusion will resonate with a wider range of candidates. By integrating these practices, organizations can create a hiring process that not only attracts diverse talent but also promotes a more equitable and inclusive workplace environment.
What role do employee feedback and engagement play in shaping future HR policies of your company?
REA India thrives on collaboration and inclusion. We ensure voice of the customer, our people in this case, is given utmost importance while designing an experience for them. And it is an iterative process. Our ‘Feeling@Home’ chat sessions and ‘Blank Canvas’ focus group discussions delve into employee sentiments, address concerns, generate innovative ideas, and gather feedback to refine our workplace culture. Our comprehensive engagement strategy is based on continuous listening and feedback to action mechanism that includes bi-annual engagement surveys, feedback on our processes from onboarding to performance discussions & evaluation to exits, event-based feedback surveys and robust action planning exercise along with close loop communication after each survey. Insights from these evaluations are integral to our continuous improvement efforts, enabling us to enhance engagement strategies effectively. Our efforts to build an engaged workforce transcends beyond the recognitions we receive for our great culture. It is our earnest effort to show respect & gratitude to our people for their contributions. By integrating employee feedback into our HR practices, we ensure that our policies are responsive, relevant, and supportive of our workforce’s needs.
How can HR leaders stay ahead of trends and anticipate future changes in the workplace?
With changing needs of generations at workplace, unprecedented times, evolution of technology and massive media influence, it’s extremely important for HR leaders to catch early signs of change and build for the future. I am a strong believer of Marshall Goldsmith’s philosophy of ‘What got you here won’t get you there’ and this keeps me always questioning the status quo. If leaders are observant of signs they receive from their people, economic landscape, advancements in industry and various domains, they will be able to prepare themselves for the future.
Long before Covid hit us, many organizations had adopted technology in their work processes. Those who did this were able to quickly adapt to the new normal that Covid brought, but those who couldn’t found it hard to operate without risking their people’s lives or letting their business being impacted. Similar is true for skilling. Organizations that had their focus on skill building, cross skilling and investing in in-house talent, could deal with uncertainty much better than others, because they had competent people who could adapt and adopt new responsibilities, new technologies, etc.
Similarly, when it comes to anticipating employee sentiment, it is crucial for HR leaders to build a culture of active & authentic listening. Your people tell you exactly what’s right for them and their business.
Can you share success stories of Housing.com that have effectively implemented inclusive hiring practices?
To talk of one specific inclusive hiring program is our flagship, ‘EmpowHER’ Program that has contributed to a stronger future talent pipeline by bringing in experienced Women professionals who bring a wealth of knowledge, skills, and varied experiences from their previous roles. The program, launched as a pilot for our Product team, aimed at providing a supportive platform for women seeking to build or restart their careers in the challenging domain of Product Development. EmpowHER first edition successfully brought on board highly talented women for our Product team. These individuals, hailing from diverse backgrounds, seamlessly integrated into their roles and actively contributed to specialized projects. The mentorship and support provided to them has been instrumental in their professional growth, and their engagement is a testament to the program’s effectiveness. EmpowHER Second edition not only focused on Product Management but extends opportunities to areas such as Product Operations. This expansion ensures a broader exposure for candidates, catering to diverse skill sets and career preferences.
Recognizing the potential of EmpowHER participants, our goal for the second edition is to offer more conversions from internship to Full-Time Employment (FTE) basis internee performance and business requirements. For first edition of EmpowHER, 50% of the interns were converted to FTE roles. This aligns with our commitment to nurturing long-term associations and fostering career growth.
What initiatives do you implement to encourage long-term employee retention?
At REA India, retention is not just a short-term goal but a strategic investment in our workforce’s future. Our approach focuses on fostering stickiness through continuous engagement and tailored reward initiatives. This commitment to retention is encapsulated in one of the 4 pillars of our HR strategy i.e. “RETAIN”. By prioritizing employee satisfaction, growth opportunities, and recognition, we cultivate a work environment where individuals are motivated to stay, grow, and thrive in their careers.
To give a glimpse of our approach, our robust performance management process, right from goal setting phase to final payout of rewards, is transparently communicated. We offer Long Term Incentive Plans to our tenured people on reaching specific goals, leading to increased shareholder value. We’ve developed a comprehensive Talent Management framework to ensure equitable growth and development for all with a special focus on our high potential talent. This framework directs our efforts and resources, focusing on creating a future-ready talent pool. It includes talent assessment, development plans, and personalized interventions tailored to individual needs. Additionally, we also have specialized programs to accelerate the growth for certain high-performing individuals in the company which offer benefits such as compensation enhancement, retention bonus, participation in world class training programs, fast track growth and involvement in strategic projects.
What strategies have proven most effective for advancing diversity in HR, and how can they be scaled sustainably?
For any change management to be effective, the objective of that change must be very clear, and the idea must be fully endorsed by the executive team. Building a diverse and inclusive team cannot start bottom-up, it needs to be an org agenda and the CEO must be fully invested in it.
At REA, we value the importance of a diverse workforce and to start with, we started with improving gender diversity at our firm. Gender diversity is quite low in our industry, and we wanted to challenge that notion.
We have a well-defined charter and a goal that provides a clear direction for everyone in the organization for dos and don’ts when it comes to DEI. We talk about our commitment towards this goal & the importance of the same to our people, so everyone is fully aligned. All our people practices are now viewed with a DEI lens, so that we make them inclusive and fair. We started small and gradually increasing the efforts in this direction so that we can sustain the change.
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