Some 6,000 hotel workers will benefit from redesigned jobs and better work processes.
This comes after Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) signed an agreement to form company training committees (CTCs) with 18 hotels. They will be supported by NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) and NTUC LearningHub.
The FDAWU-Hotel Future Of Work (FOW) Partnership Network was formalised on 23 October 2019.
The CTCs will comprise union and management representatives who will work together to redesign jobs and work processes and enhance the training and upskilling of hotel workers.
The Partnership Network will plug each CTC into a sector-level network, where each hotel is able to participate in sectoral research, redesign projects and gain access to dedicated research and resources.
As a start, the Partnership Network will form a joint hotels’ workgroup to redesign security and engineering jobs in the hotel sector, in view of the lean manpower in the industry and the push for hotels to adopt smart technology.
The workgroup’s project will be supported by the Institute of Adult Learning.
Concurrently, Partnership Network will work with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) to use data points gathered from the workgroup’s project to chart a skills recognition pathway for hospitality professionals in engineering, facilities and security teams.
The engineering, facilities and security aspects of the hospitality industry are currently not covered in the Skills Framework for Hotel and Accommodation Services.
The Partnership Network will also work with NTUC LearningHub to roll out bespoke SkillsFuture Singapore-supported Workforce Redesign Programme. The programme will equip the 17 hotels with the capabilities to do strategic workforce planning. They will also be equipped with the knowledge of analysing, designing and redesigning of jobs.
According to FDAWU, this will allow hotels to develop a strategic and sustainable workforce capability-building roadmap that supports their pursuit of business goals.
Workers will also benefit from a development programme to build line managers’ and supervisors’ competencies. They will also be equipped to help facilitate learning at the workplace.
FDAWU had previously signed to form CTCs with Ascoot and Royal Plaza on Scotts. They will be part of the Partnership Network, bring the total number to 20.
FDAWU General Secretary Tan Hock Soon said: “The Future of Work Partnership Network enables FDAWU and our 20 hotels CTC partners to benefit from potential of scale, shared resources and research. A sharing platform, the Partnership Network opens new possibilities for hotels’ CTCs and workers.
“Initiatives such as the redesigning of jobs to use enabling technology, can potentially be multiplied across Partnership Network hotels quickly, affordably and more sustainably, as know-how and resources such as workplace learning tools, updated compensation practices and so on can be made accessible to more. With synergised efforts, we can look to re-energise hotels’ employer value proposition and use gains from the Partnership Network’s CTC initiatives to improve wage, welfare and work prospect outcomes for every hotel worker.”
