SISEU welcomes Capitaland's salary restoration
06 November 2009
Media Release
Top up of BSI Early Adopters Scheme to $5 million to encourage more organisations to adopt BSI
1 Upon close consultation with the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU) a year ago, CapitaLand took steps to cut cost to save jobs and avoid staff retrenchments. The management led by example by accepting a salary reduction from 3%-20%, thus minimising the impact on junior executives and non-executive staff. The early intervention reassured the rank and file staff that the management was fully prepared to ride the storm together with them. In turn, the union and staff provided strong support to the company in other cost-cutting measures to counter the effects of the downturn.
2 SISEU is heartened that the actions of the company built trust among staff and enabled the company to perform well, in spite of the crisis. We welcome the timely decision by CapitaLand to be among the first few companies in fully restoring its executives' salary in view of good company performance and improved outlook. The salary restoration is win-win and shows the company's strong sense of social responsibility. Employees feel recognised for their contributions and are more motivated. CapitaLand is thus positioned even more strongly to strive for better growth.
3 SISEU will also like to applaud CapitaLand for its pro-active efforts in helping workers during the downturn. CapitaLand heeded the Labour Movement's call to help workers affected by the recession, and donated $54,000 to the U Care fund to provide assistance to workers. It also did not lose sight of important worker priorities such as work-life balance and the re-employment of older workers. In fact, it was during the downturn that CapitaLand signed a collective agreement, committing to re-employ older workers in accordance to the tripartite advisory recommendations. It also embarked on work-life balance initiatives such as the NTUC Women Development Secretariat (WDS) “Little ones @ Work” Programme.
4 CapitaLand also continued to focus on staff training. Working with SISEU, the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and the Employment and Employability Institute, it has fulfilled over 150 training places, benefiting more than 100 workers under the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) to date. CapitaLand has been active in engaging WDA in the PSPT and SPUR Jobs programs to support the hiring and training of fresh graduates and re-trained workers.
5. In March 2009, it also assisted its retail mall tenants to tap on SPUR by working with e2i, WDA and Kaplan to develop On-Site-Bite-Size (OSBS) trainings that helped retailers facing operational constraints in sending staff for full-time trainings. To date, 38 retailers have sent more than 123 staff for OSBS trainings.
6. Mr Tan Seng Chai, Senior Vice President, Human Resource, CapitaLand Limited, said: “CapitaLand Group has performed significantly better this quarter than the previous two quarters and we are seeing an improvement in the business outlook in our core markets. In the light of the continued business recovery, we have decided to restore company-wide salary reduction implemented in January this year as part of our cost management measures. We thank our staff for their understanding and for riding out, together with the company, the earlier global crisis and difficult business situation.”
7. In recognition of its consultative and collaborative approach with the union, CapitaLand was thus awarded the May Day Model Partnership Award 2009. Labour-management relationship has emerged stronger from the crisis, and both parties will continue to work together towards the common goal of a “cheaper, better, and faster” future.
8. Mr Chan Heng Kee, Chief Executive Officer of WDA said: "We have increased the funding for BSI early adopter scheme to $5 million to encourage more organisations to adopt best sourcing. This will be a win-win for all parties, with buyers benefiting from more professional service standards; workers enjoying better training, job prospect and rewards; and service providers being able to also compete by quality and performance. Through the symposium, we hope more organisations will be inspired by the success of the BSI early implementers, and tap on the available funding to begin their journey on best sourcing.”
Mrs Josephine Teo
Assistant Secretary-General, NTUC
Executive Secretary, Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union
