Earlier today, PropertyGuru Group CEO and Managing Director, Hari V. Krishnan sent the following note to PropertyGuru Group employees.   

Dear Gurus, 

Over the past 15 years, together, we have built PropertyGuru into Southeast Asia’s leading PropTech company. Our journey has been defined by a clear focus on delivering solutions that empower our consumers and customers, guiding them towards confident property decisions every day.  

In late 2020, we embarked on our third evolutionary phase of growth, PG3, fuelled by an ambitious goal to provide high-quality solutions that cover the entire property journey. At the heart of PG3 lies a guiding principle—a commitment to make focused investments that drive sustainable growth and maximises the value we create for all our stakeholders. Your commitment has been the driving force behind the creation of a strong portfolio of businesses. 

As we navigate the future, it is imperative that we continue to review progress and periodically streamline our operations while carefully re-prioritising our resources where necessary. Our efforts and focus must be towards businesses that are already driving or have shown the potential to achieve scalable growth while ensuring strong unit economics. 

With this in mind and after careful consideration we have made two strategic business decisions.   

1. Phase out the Marketplace business in Indonesia (Rumah.com)

Our Marketplaces business in Indonesia, operating as Rumah.com, will cease to operate on November 30, 2023.   

This decision has not been taken lightly, and we recognize the impact it will have on our valued Gurus and customers, who we have served for well over a decade. 

Our aim is to minimize this impact and provide support to the 61 Gurus from our Indonesia Marketplace business, offering them enhanced packages, healthcare support and assisting them in their transition to new opportunities.  

Until November 30, 2023, we will continue to serve our Rumah.com agent and developer partners to ensure minimal disruption to their business operations. Thereafter, we will refund the fees paid by them as per the respective contracts. For our vendor partners, we will pay the dues as per the individual contractual commitments.  

We will continue to hold the PropertyGuru Indonesia Property Awards.  

2. Sunset FastKey across all our markets

We have also made the tough decision to sunset FastKey, one of our SaaS products, across our markets. We will fulfil our commitments to all existing customers before ceasing FastKey operations in Indonesia on July 31, 2024, and in Malaysia and Singapore on October 15, 2024.  

As we move forward, we are engaging in conversations with the affected FastKey team members, exploring redeployment opportunities within the Group and ensuring that they are supported throughout this period of change.  

These business decisions are not expected to have a material impact on our full-year 2023 financial outlook.  

Supporting our Gurus in the best possible way

To our Rumah.com team, we thank you for your significant contributions to the growth of our company. You will always be part of the PropertyGuru story, and we assure you that we will do our best to support you through this transition by providing the following: 

• Enhanced severance packages: Higher than statutory severance pay of one month for each year of service capped at nine months. Long service pay will be granted as per the local guidelines. In addition, we will be including the following ex-gratia:
  • A goodwill payment based on years of service.
  • One month performance bonus for non-sales and full commission for August and September for all sales. 
• Healthcare: We will extend medical insurance and our employee assistance program (Thrive) for an additional three months from your last date of employment. 
• Job Support: Our goal is to help Gurus find new opportunities. Here are two ways we will help:
  • Outplacement service for three months with a personal consultant to support each Guru on career transition and job search. 
  • Laptops – This is an important tool to find the next opportunity and we are allowing everyone to keep their work laptops.

I can share that all impacted Gurus have already been spoken with today and we do not expect any further departures due to these decisions.   

To our consumers, customers, and vendors, especially those in Indonesia, who have been by our side throughout this journey, we extend our deepest gratitude. Your partnership and trust have been invaluable to us, and we cherish the relationships we have built over the years.  

Though these decisions are tough, they are necessary for us to focus and deliver our next phase of growth and will allow us to prioritise our resources accordingly.  

Today, I ask all Gurus to come together, support and thank our departing colleagues during this time with the utmost care and consideration. We have some good people leaving the Group and we wish them success in their future endeavours. 

Sincerely,  

Hari   

To read the above message in Bahasa, click here.