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By pairing fair wages with structured upskilling, mentorship, and holistic wellbeing support, AETOS turned an industry mandate into a strategic opportunity for transformation.
The people & culture team at AETOS Holdings believes that fair wages must go hand in hand with professional dignity, skills mastery, and career mobility. This philosophy has shaped the organisation’s approach — not just to meet the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) standards, but to redefine what a sustainable and respected career in security should look like.
As Joanne Ng, Director, People and Culture, AETOS Holdings, shares, the team recognised longstanding challenges across the sector, from wage stagnation to outdated perceptions of security roles, and understood that compliance alone would not drive meaningful transformation. Instead, AETOS viewed the PWM as a strategic opportunity to uplift its officers through fair pay, structured upskilling, dedicated mentorship, and comprehensive wellbeing support.
This holistic, people-first strategy has enabled officers to progress with confidence while raising professionalism across the entire security workforce. The commitment also earned AETOS Holdings its silver win for 'Excellence in Progressive Wage Practices' at the HR Excellence Awards 2025, Singapore.
In this interview with HRO, Ng shares how AETOS Holdings is translating cohesiveness into action by turning progressive wage enhancements into genuine career advancement — preparing officers for more complex, tech-enabled roles while keeping them motivated, confident, and future-ready.
Q Tell us about your inspiring HR initiative – what sparked the idea, and how did you know it was the right path to take?
At AETOS, we believe fair wages must go hand in hand with professional dignity, skills mastery, and career mobility. That belief guided our approach — not just to meet the PWM standards, but to redefine what it means to build a sustainable career in security.
We recognised deep-rooted challenges in the sector: wage stagnation, outdated perceptions of security work, and limited opportunities for progression — and we knew compliance alone would not drive real change. Hence, we saw the PWM as a strategic opportunity to uplift our officers — combining fair pay with structured upskilling, mentorship, and comprehensive wellbeing support.
This holistic strategy has helped our officers to progress with confidence while elevating the professionalism of the security workforce.
Q Every journey has its ups and downs – can you share a challenge your team faced and how you worked through it together?
One of our biggest challenges was ensuring that progressive wage enhancements translated into meaningful career growth for our officers, rather than becoming a purely financial adjustment. As the security industry evolves, roles are becoming more complex and technology-enabled — and we needed to prepare our workforce for this shift while keeping them motivated, confident, and future-ready.
To address this, our People & Culture team focused on building a comprehensive development ecosystem. We strengthened partnerships across training institutions, technology providers, and industry agencies to open up new learning pathways. Officers today are trained not just in traditional security competencies, but also can be upskilled in digital literacy, inclusive customer service, frontline leadership, and integrated command centre operations. This diversification of skills can empower them to take on higher-value roles and increase their confidence in adapting to new deployments.
What began as an industry-wide shift became a unifying journey for us — strengthening our internal capabilities, uplifting our officers holistically, and demonstrating to our stakeholders, especially to our clients, the tangible value of a skilled, professional, and future-ready frontline officer.
Q What impact has this initiative had on your organisation so far, and what do you hope it inspires in the wider HR community?
The implementation of our progressive wage and workforce strategy has created meaningful impact across three dimensions: our people, our business, and the broader industry.
By raising wages above industry benchmarks and upskilling over 1,000 officers in areas such as drone operations, integrated facilities management, command-centre functions, and client communications, we have nurtured a more agile and adaptable workforce. Our officers now take greater ownership of their growth, enabling AETOS to deliver enhanced security outcomes in today’s evolving environments.
As the appointed SkillsFuture Queen Bee for the security sector, AETOS is also extending this impact beyond our organisation by mentoring security SMEs to upskill and professionalise their workforce. We hope our journey encourages the wider HR community to see PWM not as a mandate, but as a meaningful enabler of collective success — where both people and businesses advance together.
Q Looking back, is there a moment, person, or value that kept you and your team motivated throughout the journey?
One of our core organisational values of Cohesiveness is what kept us united and grounded in our purpose since day one — Securing Our Future, with our people. Every milestone, from creating new learning pathways to seeing officers progress into higher-skilled and better-paying roles, reinforced our shared commitment.
In fact, some of the most meaningful moments came directly from the ground. We saw long-serving officers re-employed beyond retirement because their skills and contributions continued to grow. We heard supervisors share how training boosted their teams’ confidence and pride. These stories reminded us that our initiatives were making a real difference in our people’s lives.
Strong leadership support also played a critical role. Our senior management championed the belief that fair opportunity, skills mastery, and dignity at work must guide every decision. Their commitment ensured that our policies weren’t just well-designed but lived and felt by our people.
Q If you could offer one golden nugget of wisdom to HR professionals aiming for excellence, what would it be?
True transformation happens when HR shifts from managing headcount to building capability. When you invest deeply in your people and recognise their efforts, you unlock a level of performance no policy alone can deliver.
"Prioritise growth over compliance, dialogue over assumptions, and development over quick fixes. When employees feel supported and see a future for themselves in the organisation, they bring their best to the table. Ultimately, people who grow drive organisations that thrive."
Read more interviews on why organisations have won trophies for their HR practices - head over to our Winning Secrets section!
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