In the past year, we have seen a rise in the number of hotels using self-check-in kiosks, robots that do room service, and management systems that automate housekeeping and maintenance schedules.
In fact, many of us aren’t surprised by the tech used in the hospitality industry anymore as the industry has been transforming quite rapidly.
Now the question is, are workers in the industry transforming at an equally rapid pace?
To equip workers with skills needed to keep up with the industry transformation, local serviced residence and hotel company The Ascott Limited is now working with the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU).
This will be done through a company training committee comprising union representatives and Ascott management.
The partnership was formalised with a memorandum of understanding signing on 19 March 2019, witnessed by NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Koh Poh Koon.
“The ground-up company training committee approach adopted by FDAWU and Ascott is a good example of how management and union can work together and take the first step towards breaking transformation down into smaller, clearer and actionable parts for both management and employees,” said Dr Koh.
The management and union will work together to identify jobs that are likely to be disrupted due to transformation and those that will be created in new business growth areas.
They will also be mapping out new skills and competencies that employees would need to take on new or redesigned jobs.
Additionally, they will look for relevant training to help employees embrace change, leverage technology like robotics and artificial intelligence, and adapt to new job roles.
The partnership between the management and the union is a first in the hospitality industry and echoes the Labour Movement’s plan of transforming workers in tandem with the industry through company training committees.
FDAWU President Julie Cheong said that through the targeted retraining and upskilling initiatives, Ascott employees will be able to apply what they learn to improve the way they work or successfully transit into future jobs.
“Every employee has a role to play in this transformation journey, to keep learning and reinventing,” she said.
Ascott Regional General Manager for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia Ervin Yeo said: “Ascott’s training partnership with FDAWU is one of the ways we are proactively upskilling our employees to prepare them for the future economy.
“We will work with the union to ensure our staff are equipped with relevant skills. Our global hospitality training centre, Ascott Centre for Excellence (ACE), will leverage its trainers’ international experience, and NTUC’s research to develop training programmes for our employees.”
He added that Ascott employees are also getting on-the-job training as it redesigns work processes and pilots various technologies.
