Zillow Group ZG recently announced that it will be hiring more than 2,000 employees across United States in 2021, representing a 40% increase in its workforce.The hiring spree is being driven by a “historic year in the real estate industry” as well as strong momentum seen across business, noted the company.Most employees will be hired for the upcoming roles in mortgage and loans, product and software development and technology categories. The positions will be both hybrid and remote and will be open to candidates from all over the country.Zillow Group, Inc. Price and Consensus Zillow Group, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Zillow Group, Inc. QuoteAmid COVID-19 crisis, last year, Zillow Group had adopted the Distributed Workforce Model under which the company’s employees can work in various work set-ups like remote, office and hybrid. Per management, this distributed workforce model offers flexibility as well as better work-life balance. Under the Distributed Workforce Model, Zillow Group added that it has successfully onboarded 1500 employees, remotely, since March 2020. To better assist new employees, the company also has put in place new features like “Virtual New Hire Open House" and launched a Slack channel for new recruits.Zillow Group also added that it was included on the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index and the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index.As of Dec 31, 2020, Zillow Group had 5,504 full-time employees. Per the company’s latest 10-K filing, Zillow Group added that 57.3% of its staff is self-identified as men while 42.7% is self-identified as women. The company also noted that women represented 34.9% of its executive leadership team (director rank and above).Improving Real Estate Demand Bodes WellZillow Group is a digital real estate company, which offers a comprehensive portfolio of marketing software and technology solutions to help real estate, rental and mortgage professionals to connect with millions of potential home buyers and make the most of business opportunities.Last year, widespread shelter-in-place guidelines and the need for social distancing resulted in people opting for buying houses online. Moreover, as companies adopt remote work set-up for the longer haul, employees are now looking for spacious accommodations over conventional preference for closer proximity to office locations. This is driving higher real estate demand. Lower mortgage rates are also aiding real-estate market growth.Increases in demand for residential real estate augur well for Zillow Group. The company is banking on its platform capabilities like proprietary Zillow 3D Home technology that allows virtual home tours for Zillow Group-owned homes and virtual consultations from the company’s broker and Premier Agents to assist potential buyers amid lockdown restrictions.In February 2021, Zillow Group announced its intent to buy ShowingTime.com, Inc for a price of $500 million. The acquisition will help the company boost its online home-showing capabilities. ShowingTime is an online scheduling platform for virtual home tours and is headquartered in Chicago. Zillow Group also noted that ShowingTime boasts a nearly 1-million strong agent base across North America and has relationships with several Multiple Listing Services (MLSs).Strength in the online real estate scenario led to an impressive share price gain for Zillow Group. In the past year, the stock has rallied 461.1% compared with the industry’s growth of 90%.Zacks Rank & Stock to ConsiderZillow Group currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector are Vishay Intertechnology VSH, Skyworks SWKS and MaxLinear MXL, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), presently. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.The long-term earnings growth rate for Vishay, Skyworks and MaxLinear is currently pegged at 20.3%, 19%, and 20%, respectively.More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 77 billion devices by 2025, creating a $1.3 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 4 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2022.Click here for the 4 trades >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (SWKS): Free Stock Analysis Report Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (VSH): Get Free Report Zillow Group, Inc. (ZG): Free Stock Analysis Report MaxLinear, Inc (MXL): Get Free Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research