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Laing+Simmons has opened itself up to independent scrutiny, becoming the first Australian real estate company to align itself with a world-first public index for culture.
The Workability Index comes from analytics and management company TWI and is reported as being “the only existing public, standardised, quantitative and research-based measurement of workplace culture”.
The index is defined across 10 dimensions: risk culture, trust, engagement, future workforce, advocacy, community, wellbeing, leadership, organisational, and inclusion.
Laing+Simmons said it rolled out the index to more than 300 team members from 45 offices, and achieved a total score of 862 out of a possible 1,000.
Not only was the brand rated above-average across all 10 dimensions, it was more than 200 points clear of the index average of 643.
Laing+Simmons head of network growth Travis Wentriro said the company will use the results as a powerful brand differentiator to help attract and recruit more talented agents and new offices across its expanding network.
“We have consistently emphasised the Laing+Simmons culture as our point of difference, so it made sense for us to walk the talk and ensure our people-first focus was resonating,” Mr Wentriro commented.
According to the head of network growth, the partnership formalises Laing+Simmons’ intention “to lead on people and culture, and make culture a measurable quality that truly differentiates us”.
“We know in welcoming new offices to the network, and new people to our teams, that culture is a major reason people want to join the Laing+Simmons family,” he said.
Citing Roy Morgan research that shows just 7 per cent of Australians rated real estate agents as “high” on ethics and honesty, TWI co-founder and CEO Sunil Vohra has acknowledged that agents often have a bad rap.
“Laing+Simmons is already miles ahead of many large corporates I have observed over the years, wherein ‘culture’ was addressed in a superficial and subjective manner, compared to the standardised and vigorous treatment applied to financial results,” Mr Vohra said.
He said, oftentimes, the subjective and varied nature of culture metrics “makes them impossible to compare, and creates very low trust in any statements a company releases about its own culture”.
“By applying an independent assessment of culture, scored against a public index, companies like Laing+Simmons are leading their market in new ways to compete. They are publicly stating ‘we’ll prove our people will make the difference when you work with us over other real estate companies’.”
Mr Vohra has applauded Laing+Simmons for “leading in their market with culture transparency”, leading a new generation of service companies able to differentiate in their markets with evidence of culture performance.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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