13-05-2019
Through a series of training programmes, courses, seminars and on-the-job training, the CTC is also designed to prepare postal team members for future jobs in the industry. The formation of the CTC is supported by NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) who will help to strengthen training, heighten productivity and enhance capabilities of SingPost employees.
The commitment was inked earlier today with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by key representatives from UTES, SingPost and e2i on 13 May 2019. The signing was witnessed by NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng, who also visited the General Post Office and Mail Processing Centre at SingPost Centre to understand how SingPost has adapted its operations to handle the increased volumes of larger mail items as a result of the growth in eCommerce activities.
SingPost is the one of the first few unionised companies in the Trade and Connectivity sector to seal its commitment to secure better wages, welfare and work prospects for workers. The future of post will be one that is more automated, digitalised and complex in response to changing customer needs, expectations as well as the evolving eCommerce landscape which has drastically altered the nature of items that flow through the postal network today.
As such, over the next three years, more than 1,500 frontline postal team members including postmen, parcel ambassadors, service ambassadors and customer service officers will receive training relevant to their roles, aimed at increasing their productivity and service quality. SingPost’s frontline employees will be trained in areas to upskill their digital capabilities and customer service skills. As a start, the first batch of 60 postmen attended the “SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace” course last month.
These training programmes will help SingPost employees to embrace technology and adopt a more customer-centric mindset, and more importantly, equip them with skills for them to adapt to the shift in demands of the workplace today, and remain relevant in the job market of tomorrow.
“UTES will continuously walk the ground to understand how our workers would be affected by technology and together with NTUC's e2i, we will work with SingPost to train and prepare workers for the future. As long as a worker has a positive mindset, is willing to embrace change and upgrade skillsets, he or she will be not be left behind in this transformation journey. UTES has been adopting the 3Cs approach with SingPost - Commitment, Constant Collaboration and Cohesiveness, to achieve a win-win situation at all times and will continue to do so moving ahead,” said Mr Thuvinder Singh, General Secretary, UTES.
“UTES and SingPost have been long-time partners with e2i. We collaborated on numerous placements and productivity projects including customised job fairs that led to successful hiring of locals. With the setup of the CTC, e2i will work alongside UTES and SingPost to identify challenges and potential skills development gaps; and prepare SingPost workers with the right mindset and upskill or reskill them to stay future-ready. e2i constantly engages in dialogues with employers and unions to understand their needs, and partners them to co-create recruitment, training and productivity solutions to address their business challenges and needs, and skill up their workforce to keep pace with industry transformations," said Mr Gilbert Tan, CEO of e2i.
SingPost Group Chief Executive Officer Mr Paul Coutts feels that the training committee came at a right time, in view of the changing demands of the industry.
“As we see the demand shift from post to parcel in our business, it is even more critical to see our employees being upskilled so that they can be deployed flexibly into new or reconstructed jobs that may come their way, as SingPost continues to transform itself. With this programme, we will ensure that no employee, who is willing to retrain and upskill, be left behind,” said Mr Coutts.
“The formation of the Company Training Committee (CTC) is an important step but more hard work lies ahead. There is complex work involved in redesigning and reconstructing jobs and training our workers for the future. Hence, the CTC can design relevant training for postal workers to acquire not just technical skills but also adaptive and technology skills. With strong labour-management relations and unwavering commitment from UTES, SingPost and NTUC's e2i to make lives better for our workers, we will achieve three big Wins for our country — Singapore wins, businesses win, workers win,” said, Mr Ng Chee Meng, Secretary-General of NTUC.
This initiative is in tandem with the Labour Movement’s focus to roll out the CTCs through the 3As approach – Acceptance of Technology, Adoption of Technology and Actualisation of Value by both Business and Workers. To date, more than 18 companies have formed Company Training Committees since it was first announced by NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng Chee Meng in the lead up to the NTUC May Day Rally 2019.
Source: SingPost