Construction sector fights IT industry to source talent

The construction and real estate sector is going through a course correction brought about by talent crunch. A recent study by Assocham says there is a manpower shortage of 50-60% in the construction and engineering sector, although the sector formed a small 8.7% of the employment opportunities generated in the first four months this year, compared to 24% in the IT industry, reports ET.

Though the number is growing steadily, it is still small compared to the IT sector. However, analysts feel, looking at the required experience and skill sets; it’s going to be a big challenge for the construction companies which are vying with the IT sector in their talent hunt.

While the sector has loosened its purse strings to attract engineering talent in order to bring the salaries closer to IT sector, the demand-supply gap continues. As a result, the construction industry is also looking overseas for talent. “Till three years ago a fresh civil engineer drew Rs 90,000-Rs 1 lakh annually, today he gets around Rs 2.4 lakh which is marginally less than Rs 2.7 lakh an IT engineer gets,” says Soma Enterprise DGM-HR Krishna Thota.

However, this has happened at a slower pace at the mid and senior levels. So, while freshers are joining the sector, the real people in demand — mid and senior level managers — is still in short supply since a majority of them have found lucrative employment in the IT sector. That is forcing the real estate and construction companies to give a steep salary hike at that level.

“Till about 5 years back the maximum a senior manager or engineers received was Rs 12 lakh annually, today their salaries run into a couple of crores in some cases,” says Feedback Ventures MD engineering division Parvesh Minocha. Apart from the salary the companies are throwing in incentives like stake in commercial/ residential complexes and Esops.