Changi Airport Group commits S$10mn to train 2,000 staff in digital skills

Yesterday, Changi Airport Group (CAG) announced that it will commit S$10 million over two years to upskill its 2,000 employees in adaptive, technological and technical skillsets. This will prepare them for new jobs and tasks to be created by the company’s digital transformation.

This was announced at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers' Union (SMMWU) to form a Company Training Committee (CTC).

Under the CTC initiative, CAG employees will have the opportunity to attend up to ten days of digital-focused training over the two years. This includes a growth mindset programme that will strengthen their readiness to embrace new technology.

At the same time, staff 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.

Apart from that, CAG's support staff will have access to a customised SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace course.

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 looks to 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.

Changi Airport Group's digital transformation journey

The CTC initiative is in line with 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.

In August this year, it unveiled the Digital Innovations Ventures Analytics (DIVA) Hub, located at Changi Airport T2.

The DIVA Hub is collaboration space designed to foster ideation and experimentation across multi-disciplinary teams with new roles such as product owners, UX/UI designers, and data scientists. The teams, also known as squads, are made up of people from CAG and its partners with relevant digital expertise. These squads work on various digital projects to improve customer experience and drive operational efficiency.

The new hub allowed CAG to develop customised solutions in-house over shorter periods of time through agile development iteration methods. In the past the group had to work with vendors to attain readily available solutions.

Apart from that, the new way of working in squads helped break down silos and strengthen in-house competencies as CAG grows its digital capabilities.

Photos / CAG