CapitaLand to invest $5 mil to build employees' digital skills

SINGAPORE (Aug 14): CapitaLand announced Wednesday it will invest $5 million over two years to build up the digital competencies of more than 2,600 employees.

The real estate group says its intention is to develop a “competent, adaptable and future-ready workforce of knowledge workers”.

Under the Building Capacity Framework, all CapitaLand staff in Singapore will go through at least one digital-related training by next year.

The framework will later be rolled out to all CapitaLand employees across the 30 countries the group operates in.

Employees will be able to chart out their own learning and development paths from a mix of over 50 digital training modules.

Topics offered include data analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain and cybersecurity.

There will also be learning rewards in the form of additional training allowance of up to $500 per staff, and a one-day training leave that can be used towards digital training outside of courses organised by the company.

Tan Seng Chai, chief corporate & people officer of CapitaLand Group, says the company owes its position as a leading global real estate enterprise to “the collective efforts of our talented workforce”.

“To continue developing high-quality real estate products and services, CapitaLand’s workforce needs to understand and anticipate the demands of future communities,” Tan adds. “Through partnerships and rigorous digital curriculums, CapitaLand is committed to equip our employees with the tools and opportunities to take charge of their own learning and development journey to stay ahead of industry transformations, to be adaptable, digitally-savvy and future-ready.”

CapitaLand on Wednesday also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Singapore Industrial & Services Employees’ Union (SISEU) to set up a committee to design and provide training programmes to upskill CapitaLand’s employees in Singapore.

This aims to enable employees to be digital-ready and prepare them to meet the challenges in today’s fast-changing business environment.

“Digitalisation is no longer a thing of the future,” says Dr Koh Poh Koon, the National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC) deputy secretary-general, who was guest-of-honour for the signing of the MOU.

“As companies digitalise and transform, it is equally important for employees to be well equipped with the necessary competencies to leverage technology to be even more productive,” he adds.