Singtel to invest $45m over three years on staff training

Programmes will help its 12,600 local workers set their own skill pathways

A staff member demonstrating Curious, Singtel's E-learning app for training and upskilling at the official opening of Singtel@8George yesterday. The four-storey office has classrooms, training facilities and interactive spaces for its staff to carry
A staff member demonstrating Curious, Singtel's E-learning app for training and upskilling at the official opening of Singtel@8George yesterday. The four-storey office has classrooms, training facilities and interactive spaces for its staff to carry out activities such as training, team-building workshops, townhalls and hackathons. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO

Telecommunications giant Singtel will invest $45 million over the next three years in organising training programmes for its workers to deepen their skills and knowledge in order to fuel the digital economy, the firm announced yesterday.

These programmes will include workshops and courses that it will hold at its new four-storey Singtel@8George office in Pickering Street in the central business district, which it officially opened yesterday.

In a statement, Singtel said the programmes that will come from this investment will also help its 12,600 local employees create their own skill pathways and transform their roles to suit the digital economy's changing needs.

Singtel group chief human resources officer Aileen Tan said the programmes will include those that encourage its employees to "embrace continuous learning and actively manage their professional development in anticipation of longer career spans".

She added: "This will ensure we have an agile, future-ready workforce that can meet the demands of the new economy."

Singtel@8George - on the site of the former City Exchange, one of Singapore's earliest telephone exchanges - has classrooms, training facilities and interactive spaces for its staff to carry out activities such as training, team-building workshops, townhalls and hackathons.

Yesterday, Singtel signed a memorandum of understanding with the Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore (UTES) to form a committee that will be in charge of organising these training programmes, which it has dubbed the Accelerate, Co-create and Transform, or ACT, initiative.

Mr Ng Chee Meng, secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, who witnessed the signing, said he was encouraged by Singtel's efforts to partner the labour movement to help its workers learn new and different skills.

Singtel said that an example of how its workers will be using the ACT initiative would be in the case of how it trains its network engineers.

It said some of these engineers will go through a "4G to 5G Pathways" course, to prepare them for the imminent roll-out of 5G connectivity by equipping them with new skills.

The connectivity, which will be rolled out in Singapore next year, will result in faster mobile data speeds, eventually up to 100 times quicker than current speeds. This will allow for greater automation of tasks and digital connectivity, driving a new wave of productivity gains for some industries.

For instance, analyst firm IHS Markit estimated that 5G will drive an extra US$12 trillion (S$16.5 trillion) of annual sales in 2035.

UTES general secretary Thuvinder Singh said: "Technology may advance at an unrelenting pace, but as long as employees, the union and management keep a positive mindset and embrace change, we can progress and thrive in this transformation journey."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 13, 2019, with the headline Singtel to invest $45m over three years on staff training. Subscribe