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NTUC’s affiliated union, the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Lazada Singapore to set up a Company Training Committee (CTC). With the CTC, FDAWU and Lazada will collaborate closely to enable successful transition of employees into new or redesigned jobs that would emerge as the company transitions into the future economy, ensuring that no employees would be left behind. Employees would be supported in upskilling to equip them with the adaptive, technological and technical skills to become Worker 4.0 – ready for new jobs and be adept at using technology, robotics and automation at the workplace.
Leveraging NTUC’s network and resources, NTUC Industry Training and Transformation team will also work with the company to develop its Business and Workforce Transformation Roadmap through the Operation and Technology Roadmap tool. Focusing on the transformation of Lazada’s logistics operations, this roadmap will be ready in end of 2022. It will outline key projects that can boost productivity through automated work processes and redesigned job roles. Lazada will also tap on the NTUC Training and Placement ecosystem that will support the implementation of the roadmap through initiatives such as job redesign and upskilling programmes. For a start, Lazada will review its current training plans and identify new skills requisite for Worker 4.0. In line with the changing business landscape and digital transformation, this would include upskilling in areas like automation and big data, starting with its logistics team.
Structured Career Pathways to Enhance Logistics Capabilities
Through the CTC, Lazada plans to develop a structured career pathway for eCommerce logistics, specifically in warehouse operations and transportation operations management. The two specialisation paths will have progression milestones with the necessary competency training, and allow employees to determine their own career progression based on their interests and talent. The pathways will be age- and talent-agnostic – employees can join their desired specialisation at a level according to their existing competencies, and work their way up.
Through the structured career paths, this means that a warehouse associate who picks orders can upskill himself by attending a Forklift WSQ course to operate specialised equipment, or choose to rotate to Transport Operations. Conversely, a delivery representative can progress to be a route-planning manager or take a supervisory role overseeing a group of delivery representatives.
The desired outcomes are expected to benefit more than 700 logistics staff in Lazada Singapore, especially those in the warehouse and transport roles servicing the company’s supermarket service, RedMart. It will serve as an enabler towards an in-house company-based Progressive Wage Model.
NTUC CTC Grant
During the Budget speech in February this year, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced that companies will be able to tap on a $70 million grant, via NTUC to raise productivity, redesign jobs and upskill workers. The NTUC CTC Grant will be opened for application from 1 August 2022. Please refer to Annex A for details of the NTUC CTC Grant and application details.
Lazada Singapore will be one of the first companies looking to apply for the NTUC CTC Grant, which will be used to transform their business processes, upskill workers for better productivity and explore digitalisation projects in different parts of its West Fulfilment Centre where reliance on labour is still heavy.
“Markets are evolving rapidly in a VUCA world. Workplace transformation and employee training are the twin growth engines that would drive business success. Employees that acquire new workplace skills and knowledge would enjoy every moment of joy that their immediate work is transformed into, and we are happy to be a partner in Lazada’s journey,” said Tan Hock Soon, General Secretary, FDAWU. “We will work with Lazada to apply for the NTUC CTC Grant, that will enable employees to benefit from the job redesign and upskilling. Workers would be able to perform their work more efficiently and achieve higher productivity, allowing them to enjoy rewards through career development, progression and better salary renumeration.”
“As the eCommerce industry continues to mature and grow, logistics plays an increasingly important role to ensure our operations continue to run like a well-oiled machine,“ said Loh Wee Lee, Chief Executive Officer of Lazada Singapore. “As we aim for higher productivity, especially with the opening of RedMart’s industry-leading automated West Fulfilment Centre, we understand the need to also invest in our workers to lead in new technologies in the field. We look forward to working closely with FDAWU and tap onto their resources to chart a meaningful career journey for our logistics staff, and foster a mindset of life-long learning.”
“We have crossed the 1,000 CTC milestone. More importantly, the CTCs are making a real difference to workers, including PMEs. The training, co-designed with employers, leads to better productivity and in turn, potentially better wages,” said Ng Chee Meng, Secretary-General, NTUC.
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