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While the Bank is starting with two tracks this year – data analytics and project management – it plans to expand the specialised tracks in other areas such as artificial intelligence and sustainability by 2023.
UOB Malaysia has announced the expansion of its learning and development programme, Better U, to enable its employees to master skillsets in data analytics and project management, two areas essential to future employability.
Launched in March 2020, Better U is one of UOB Group’s flagship training programmes and sits alongside the Bank’s other training and traineeship programmes for its people.
"According to research by the World Economic Forum, 91% of the financial services industry will likely adopt technology such as big data analytics by 2025, leading to the growing demand for job roles such as data analysts and data scientists. Similarly, project management skills will continue to be sought after in the future of work3.
"Given the criticality of these two skillsets, UOB Malaysia is making it possible for its people to specialise in these areas and to stay ahead of industry developments," the Bank said on Thursday (28 March 2022).
What this expansion means for UOB Malaysia's employees
For the next level, Better U is open to all UOB Malaysia employees who have completed the mandatory foundational modules, which develop competencies in five core areas – growth mindset, problem-solving, digital awareness, human-centered design, and data storytelling. Almost 70% of UOB Malaysia employees have already completed the foundational modules and the Bank expects that number to increase by 22% by 2022.
Commenting on the expansion, Lai Tak Ming, Executive Director and Country Head of Human Resources, UOB Malaysia, said it "reaffirms the Bank’s long-term commitment to investing in its people and their development journey."
He added: "The two new tracks of the Better U programme, project management, and data analytics, are essential skills that can be applied across all functions in the Bank. Our colleagues who undergo the training programme will learn new skills that can help them to stay ahead of the curve and to prepare them for the future of work."
As stated by the Bank, this second level of Better U has been designed to enable employees who have completed the foundational level of Better U to choose the track in which they want to deep-dive. While the Bank is starting with two tracks this year – data analytics and project management, it plans to expand the specialised tracks in other areas such as artificial intelligence and sustainability by 2023.
The data analytics and project management tracks feature three progressive stages, which are fully digital and designed to be in bite-sized content, to allow employees to go through them at their own pace and convenience.
"UOB Malaysia has taken the lessons from COVID-19 safe distancing restrictions and lockdowns to ensure all colleagues can gain the skills they need, remotely and based on their work and home life demands," the Bank added.
Each stage of the specialised training programme enables participants to learn and to acquire skills based on their level of experience and knowledge, thus ensuring training is meaningful to employees who are upskilling or to practitioners who feel the need to upskill themselves in their chosen discipline.
In creating and curating the curriculum, UOB Malaysia tapped insights from subject-matter experts across the Bank such as its technologists and data masters to ensure that these specialised skills development tracks are practical and can be applied in a real-world setting, the Bank concluded.
Lead image / 123RF
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