S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y R E P O R T
Figure 18: Percent Composition of the Recruitment and
Turnover By Age Band and Gender in FY14/15
Staff Training
The Manager is required to regularly train and upkeep the
competencies of its staff as a holder of the Capital Market Services
(“CMS”) License. Beyond the legal compliance, the Manager
understands it is vital to invest in staff learning, for a strong and
talented workforce in the face of a competitive landscape.
Every year, as part of the career development plan, supervisors
are tasked to identify learning interventions to address staff
development needs. The learning focus for the year is then
defined in a learning and development plan. In FY14/15,
training programmes centred on improving customer service and
compliance. This included the Service DNA programme, a rigorous
exercise to refine and enhance employees’ service orientation
and capacities for providing positive tenant experiences.
Where employees decide to pursue higher education qualifications,
the Manager also has an annual Education Assistance budget,
which grants sponsorships to deserving employees for this purpose.
In FY14/15, the average training hours per employee stood at
27 hours, which was above the Singapore national average of
21 hours
7
. As compared to FY13/14, there was a significant rise
in the average hours of training attended by senior and middle
management, mainly due to intensive workshops from the
Service DNA programme, as well as selling skills training for those
involved in relationship management and business development
work. Conversely, FY14/15 saw a reduction in the average hours
of training attended by executives. This was largely due to an
unusually high level of training activity in FY13/14, arising from
a considerable recruitment of numerous executives from other
industry backgrounds in that year. To quicken their familiarisation
with the industry, the executives had completed multiple internal
training programmes. Figures 19 and 20 reflect the average
training hours clocked per employee by category and gender.
Figure 19: Average Training Hours Per Employee
By Employee Category
Figure 20: Average Training Hours Per Employee
By Gender
Community Connectivity and Involvement
The Property Manager believes in creating a liveable community
for its tenants. Apart from introducing the Healthy Workplace
Ecosystem in its Business & Science Parks, ongoing asset
enhancements include providing more covered link ways and
public amenities space for increased community connectivity
(please refer to page 34 to 36 for further details).
The Manager has also taken an initiative to drive community
development through its support of various industry programmes
and social causes. This included the continual provision of the
A-REIT study award to needy students at Singapore Management
University. During the year, the Manager was also the Gold
Sponsor of the Future China Global Forum, organised by Business
China. By establishing a better understanding of the Chinese
social, economic and political culture, the Manager believes the
event will nurture deeper links between Singapore and China,
thereby creating more opportunities for future collaboration to
the benefit of the Singapore community. In FY14/15, charitable
contributions made by the Manager totalled $303,000.
Contribution to Recruitment and Turnover
100%
80%
0%
40%
20%
60%
Turnover
Age
Recruitment
Age
Recruitment
Gender
Turnover
Gender
under 30 years old 30 and under 49 years old 50 years old and above Male Female
27%
60%
13%
15%
60%
38%
62%
40%
62%
23%
Average Training Hours per Employee
40
0
10
30
20
FY13/14
FY12/13
FY14/15
11
25
22
22
32
27
28
38
3
Senior Management
Middle Management
Executive
Average Training Hours per Employee by Gender
40
0
20
15
25
30
35
10
FY13/14
FY12/13
FY14/15
17
34
25
28
19
26
Male
Female
7 The national median training hours committed for staff in Singapore is extracted from a biennial survey undertaken by the Ministry of Manpower. The most
recent survey was conducted in 2012 with the associated report, “Employer Supported Training”, released in October 2013.
ASCENDAS REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST ANNUAL REPORT 2014/15
