PropertyGuru Wins Employer of Choice Award in Inaugural HRD Singapore Survey
SINGAPORE, 23 November 2015 – PropertyGuru Group (“PropertyGuru” or the “Group”) announced today that it has received the Employer of Choice bronze award in the 100-500 employees’ category of Human Resources Director’s (HRD) inaugural 2015 Employer of Choice Survey.
HRD’s 2015 Employer of Choice Survey was conducted in partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership to reach out directly to more than 1300 employees working in 118 companies in Singapore, to gain insights into their views on their employers and the elements of their work life which they find important including remuneration, training and professional development, career progression, gender equality and a work culture that embraces technology.
In addition to the bronze prize for Employer of Choice, PropertyGuru was noted as an engaging employer that recognises the value of work-life balance that has built a strong workplace culture for its employees.
Christine Loo, Chief People and Culture Officer for PropertyGuru Group, said, "PropertyGuru’s success has always been the result of the efforts and dedication of our great bunch of passionate, fun and dedicated people, our ‘Gurus’. Respect also plays an important part in our values where we respect not only our ’Gurus’ and customers, but also pride ourselves on giving back to the community. We think it resonates well as the team is young and want a sense of purpose. Our culture includes flexible working hours, providing an environment where employees can enjoy sports and recreational activities such as PlayStation games and Foosball in the office, and where religious holidays and personal values are respected. We are very happy that our Guru culture is being recognised and appreciated by our team members."
PropertyGuru was incorporated in Singapore in the year 2006, and grew from a 2-person office to its scale today, with over 340 staff in four countries, after acquisitions in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia in 2011. With employees from 23 countries, it is a place that shows multiculturalism at its best.
Iain Hopkins, Managing Editor of HRD Magazine said, “In this inaugural survey, HRD Singapore wanted to give Singapore employees the chance to highlight the things they both love and loathe at their places of employment. As a result we now have a list of Singapore’s best employers and insights into the companies that Singaporeans want to work for and are proud to call Employers of Choice. The results also show that Singapore’s employers are doing a lot of the right things in their quest to attract and retain the best talent.”
PropertyGuru’s GuruCares Program
PropertyGuru’s GuruCares CSR programme runs various activities aimed at helping less fortunate children and low income/homeless families. To date, over US$100,000 has been raised by over 200 PropertyGuru staff in four countries. In Singapore, for three of the past five years, PropertyGuru has chosen Children’s Cancer Foundation as the beneficiary, organising the Hair for Hope fundraising event. Hair for Hope 2015 saw 32 people - including company Gurus, real estate agents and members of the public - shave their heads for charity.
In 2014, working with Habitat for Humanity, 60 volunteers from the four PropertyGuru offices built homes for two less fortunate families in the province of Rayong, Thailand.
--ENDS--
For media enquiries, please contact:
Brian Witte
Ruder Finn Asia
6336 5753
witteb@ruderfinnasia.com
Cherry Lui
Ruder Finn Asia
6336 0729
luic@ruderfinnasia.com
Michelle Tan
Ruder Finn Asia
6336 6408
tanm@ruderfinnasia.com
About PropertyGuru Group
PropertyGuru Group is Asia’s leading online property portal group used by more than 11 million property buyers, viewing over 104 million property pages and generating over 500,000 enquiries for real estate developer and agent advertisers – every month – across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Headquartered in Singapore, PropertyGuru was founded in 2006 by two entrepreneurs with a vision to simplify the property search process and help buyers, sellers and investors make better property decisions faster. Taking advantage of Asia’s growing affluence, property demand and online explosion, PropertyGuru has become market leader in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. The Group received S$175million investment - the largest in the technology sector in Southeast Asia in 2015 - to support its innovation, marketing and further expansion in the region.
With a continued focus on innovation, PropertyGuru has developed and launched 15 mobile applications in four countries and three languages. At present, the Group records over 2.5 million downloaded mobile apps. PropertyGuru was also the first to integrate its website with social media and first to launch Singapore’s only dedicated property newspaper, read by more than 100,000 readers island-wide every month. PropertyGuru has also developed a property events platform with approximately 20 shows held annually across four countries, addressing 20,000 potential property buyers on the ground.
PropertyGuru offices in the region include:
PropertyGuru.com.sg in Singapore
PropertyGuru.com.my in Malaysia
DDProperty.com in Thailand
Rumah.com in Indonesia
ABOUT CHRISTINE LOO
Chief People and Culture Officer (CPCO)
As the CPCO, Christine Loo is responsible for ensuring that the values of PropertyGuru are effectively communicated and understood by employees at all levels. She saw to the development of a high-performance culture in the company, and established a comprehensive people strategy to hire, recruit and train talents to meet its performance and growth objectives.
Christine has an impressive track record with several high-profile organizations where she worked with senior leadership teams, and contributed to the successful execution of their business strategies. She started her earlier years with Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank, then Reuters as the Director of Human Resources, Asia. Her most recent employment was with Oliver Wyman in the capacity of Head of Human Capital for the Asia Pacific region, leading talent acquisition, development through project deployment, coaching and training, performance management, compensation actions and employee engagements.