MESSAGE FROM GROUP CEO
Our employees continue to take an active role in our community, as individuals or as a team. During the year, our staff contributed more than 26,600 of volunteering hours supporting the community – from organising a carnival for 500 children from our STLF beneficiaries, sculpting balloons for disadvantaged kids, to mentoring youths from vulnerable backgrounds in Australia and even rebuilding homes destroyed by natural disasters in the Philippines.
Singtel is proud to be a major sponsor of the 2015 South East Asian Games. We have also contributed S$20 million to the recently opened National Gallery Singapore. This contribution will help the Gallery bring art from internationally renowned museums right to the doorsteps of Singaporeans, furthering too our national ambition to be an Arts hub for Asia.
BUILDING A FUTURE TALENT PIPELINE FOR THE NATION
People, our human capital, remain the most important asset especially as we adapt to the changing business environment. At Singtel, we play a role in talent pipelining not just for our own business needs but also for the broader industry and country.
In January this year, we introduced a diploma scholarship programme in support of SkillsFuture, a national initiative to help Singapore through its next phase of growth with an integrated system of education, training and career progression for all Singaporeans. The Singtel Cadet Scholarship Programme will fund 90 diploma scholarships to nurture young talent in the areas of Engineering, Cyber Security, Data Analytics and Customer Experience. The scholarships, which will start this year, are worth up to S$2 million a year and provide students with industry-relevant training, as well as employment and progression opportunities.
SUSTAINABILITY ACROSS THE REGION
Our efforts in sustainability don’t just stop at Singapore and Australia. As a Group, we have worked closely with our regional associates, contributing cash, services and equipment when unfortunate natural disasters hit their territories. Our Overseas Volunteering Programme is now into its fifth year. More than 70 staff volunteers from Singapore and Australia, together with volunteers from our regional associates AIS and Globe, have helped to rebuild communities devastated by disasters in the Philippines and Thailand.
Through our forum for regional CSR collaboration, we have identified interest and opportunities to extend our cyber wellness programme with our associates as they also recognise the growing concern around this issue especially with the rapid adoption of smart devices among their younger customer segment.
ENGAGING AND LISTENING TO OUR STAKEHOLDERS
In the past 12 months, we have conducted a materiality review and engaged our stakeholders to understand what other areas of concerns they have relating to sustainability – be it in our telecommunications industry or other global issues they believe could impact our ecosystem. The review validated many of the topics that we previously reported on, such as customer experience, cyber wellness and talent development.
In this report, we discuss issues that are important to both our external and internal stakeholders, such as ensuring a sustainable supply chain and how the Singtel Group is managing them.