It is only natural that a company that articulates its management philosophy like this – One journey, One Destination and Winning Together – is a great place to work.
Sandamini Perera, Co-chairperson at Prime Lands, Sri Lanka’s pioneering and premier real estate development company, sheds light on what makes Prime Lands one of the Best Workplaces for Millennials in Sri Lanka.
What are those attributes that make Prime Lands the best workplace for millennials?
There are several things millennials care about in their jobs that Prime Lands fulfils. One of them is new-age technology. As the leading real estate developer in the country, we use the latest systems in almost all our processes to give employees the flexibility to perform their duties in a relaxed environment during this challenging period. Millennials care about career opportunities, so we give them that and more. Our open communication policy allows them to convey their ideas and views about their performance, day-to-day activities, job roles and growth prospects. At the same time, employee well-being is one of our core values where we concentrate on the physical and mental well-being of all employees, especially the young. We promote corporate social responsibility programmes that resonate with millennials who care deeply about giving back to society.
So, those are some of the factors that make Prime Lands one of the Best Workplaces for Millennials in Sri Lanka. Compared to other employees in the sector, we offer many other benefits and features from which our young people, especially the millennials, will benefit. Now is also the best time to develop our people because business is not moving aggressively. People are more relaxed and have time to spend on talent development and knowledge improvements.
Prime Lands is a high-performance organization. The company goals and values align with employee expectations because employee well-being is central to everything we do. The company treasures its employees as the backbone of Prime Lands in keeping with the management philosophy of One journey, One Destination and Winning Together.
Will you be able to tell us what the outlook is like for the real estate industry amidst the unfolding economic crisis?
The outlook for real estate is encouraging. Real estate is a good hedge against inflation and an ideal asset class to invest in right now. Sophisticated individuals and institutional investors understand this, and our high-end properties have seen encouraging sales. Even during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company recorded impressive results. Right now, we are trying to promote the virtues of real estate as a viable investment opportunity for the middle segment of the market. This segment has not shown much interest and does not seem to understand that now is the best time to invest in a home. So we are taking measures to address this need.
Millennials seem to care deeply about the following needs. Can you elaborate on these?
Use of Technology: We provide the latest systems to help them fulfil their job responsibilities. For example, we invested in a state-of-the-art ERP system for all our core operations across the company, so all employees are on one platform. At the same time, we have seamless connectivity between employees at the office and those in the field. We have also digitized almost all our functions giving prominence to having all required information easily accessible to our employees so that they can work from anywhere without interruption.
Career Development: For recruitment, we have our talent pipeline from where they get in at the entry-level, and when it comes to professionals, we have designed a comprehensive management trainee programme.
Work-Life Balance: In an age where companies have embraced flexible working arrangements, we at Prime Lands have taken things much further. We not only allow people to work from the office, home or anywhere, but we also allow them to manage their schedules at their convenience. We let them follow a flexible schedule and release them whenever required. We believe flexibility enables a good work-life balance.
Well-being: When it comes to physical well-being, we always encourage them to maintain fitness. We even conduct many company-sponsored programmes that are open to everyone. For mental well-being, we have yoga classes and activities focusing on spirituality. We have channels for people to communicate their personal and professional concerns and get relief because people need to talk to someone during stressful situations.
Giving Back: We have several projects that give back to the community and the environment. We help several orphanages and elders’ homes with their day-to-day expenses, build houses for underprivileged families and provide essentials for those in need. As a real estate development company, we are committed to the environment. For every tree we are compelled to remove – we try hard not to – we plant saplings elsewhere so that we give more than we take.