Changi Airport Group to upskill employees for digital transformation

SINGAPORE, 2 December 2019 – Changi Airport Group (CAG) will commit S$10 million over two years to upskill its 2,000 employees in adaptive, technological and technical skillsets to prepare them for new jobs and tasks to be created by the company’s digital transformation. It announced this today at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers' Union (SMMWU) to form a Company Training Committee (CTC)[1].

The MOU was signed by CAG CEO Mr Lee Seow Hiang, SMMWU President Mr Eugene Teo, NTUC Learning Hub CEO Mr Kwek Kok Kwong, and NTUC’s e2i Deputy CEO Ms Vicky Wong. It was witnessed by Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress Mr Ng Chee Meng, CAG Chairman Mr Liew Mun Leong, and SMMWU Secretary-General Mr David Yeo.

Under the CTC initiative, CAG employees will have the opportunity to attend up to ten days of digital-focused training over the two years, including a growth mindset programme that will strengthen their readiness to embrace new technology. They will be offered courses and workshops to build competency in digital skills such as data, robotic process automation, programming, as well as User Interface/User Experience (UI/UX) design. A customised SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace course will also be available for support staff.

CAG’s Digital Transformation Journey

With technology changing how people travel, CAG has been working with start-ups and innovation-driven companies to develop and demonstrate new technology solutions in a live airport environment to stay relevant to customer needs and preferences. Opened in August 2019, the DIVA (Digital Innovations Ventures Analytics) Hub[2] is a collaboration space designed to foster ideation and experimentation across multi-disciplinary teams (also known as squads) with new roles such as Product Owners, UX/UI designers, and Data Scientists. The squads work on various digital projects to improve customer experience and drive operational efficiency.

In the past, CAG worked with vendors to attain readily available solutions. With the DIVA Hub, customised solutions can now be developed in-house over shorter periods of time through agile development iteration methods. This new way of working in squads, made up of people from CAG and its partners with relevant digital expertise, helps break down silos and strengthen in-house competencies as CAG grows its digital capabilities. Examples of digital solutions developed by the DIVA Hub can be found in the Annex.

Mr Lee Seow Hiang, CAG’s CEO, said, “With technology enabling new business models to disrupt the travel landscape, the customer journey is evolving with an expectation for seamless travel experiences. CAG intends to exploit the opportunities presented by digital solutions to serve our customers better.

“Looking ahead, with Terminal 5 coming onstream in about a decade, the scale of our operations will double, and technology will continue to transform airport operations and the way we work. Digital transformation demands that workers today are upskilled to accelerate change and to meet the challenges of tomorrow. With this investment in digital-focused training, we hope to establish a relevant, ready and resilient workforce.”

To make training more accessible to employees, CAG will work closely with the SMMWU, learning providers and other industry stakeholders to identify essential skills and training needed to equip its people for the future of work. It will also continue to focus on developing digital learning experiences to enable training on the go and make learning more fun and engaging. 

Images can be downloaded from https://bit.ly/CAGCTC

[1] Located in Changi Airport T2

[2] CTCs are an initiative by the Labour Movement to help both workers and companies transform for the future.