Singtel is investing S$45 million over three years to deepen the digital skills of its 12,600 employees in Singapore and enable them to thrive in the digital economy, says the company in a statement. The initiative, dubbed ACT, aims to Accelerate employee learning and skills development, empower employees to Co-create their skills pathways and Transform employee roles to ensure they remain relevant in the digital economy.

Singtel’s Group Chief Human Resources Officer Aileen Tan said, “The ACT initiative is designed to help our employees deepen their digital capabilities as we accelerate our digital transformation efforts. This includes programs that encourage them to embrace continuous learning and actively manage their professional development in anticipation of longer career spans.”

At a signing ceremony today, Singtel and the Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore (UTES) inked a three-year Memorandum of Understanding on the formation of a Company Training Committee (CTC) to implement the ACT initiative.

Since embarking on its digital transformation in 2012, Singtel has digitalized its core consumer and enterprise businesses as well as developed new growth drivers in the areas of digital marketing and cybersecurity. It is also building out a regional digital ecosystem in mobile financial services and gaming, and leveraging analytics and artificial intelligence to improve customer service and customer engagement.

To support the ACT initiative, Singtel recently launched a digital learning app called CURIOUS to help employees on their digital learning journeys. It features curated learning channels with some 100,000 courses and videos covering topics from technology to leadership. This will complement classroom sessions and on-the-job training, enabling staff to develop new competencies in areas such as analytics, automation and design thinking, in a shorter time.  

Additionally, Singtel employees will be empowered to develop skillsets to match the needs of the digital economy. For example, the ‘4G to 5G Pathways’ course will prepare network engineers for 5G, equipping them with new 5G skills.

Singtel also gives all full-time staff two days of leave each year to attend SkillsFuture courses. By early 2020, some 3,000 Singtel staff are set to benefit from a customized SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace program aimed at strengthening their digital skills.

Employees are also being trained to create bots that can help in repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as resolving common technical issues encountered on customers’ premises or automating claims processing. This frees them up to focus on higher-value activities and take on new responsibilities.

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