Helping SMEs to continuously develop their talent through learning and development

Jason Marine Group’s partnership with NTUC LearningHub brings both company and employees to the next level.

At 60, one might expect Mr Koek Cheng Kwee to slow down at work and look ahead to his retirement years.

Instead, the training and sales consultancy manager at Jason Marine Group is busy helping to automate processes at his workplace with his newly acquired tech skills, courtesy of a UiPath course he took at NTUC LearningHub, a continuing education and training provider that champions workers’ lifelong employability.

Jason Marine Group, a local small- and medium-size enterprise that specialises in marine communication equipment and services, believes in fostering a learning culture and encouraging employees to take ownership of their career paths. It chose to partner NTUC LearningHub because of the latter’s comprehensive range of learning solutions, ranging from consultancy work to industry-recognised curriculums and customised content development for training courses.

“We believe in the power of knowledge,” said Mr Kevin Tan, talent acquisition and branding manager of Jason Marine Group. “The more employees know, the more they can do to make their lives better and contribute to the organisation. We believe that our employees are worth the investment.”

A BOOST IN PRODUCTIVITY

Mr Koek was a marine radio officer sailing with cargo ships for nine years before he came ashore for good and joined Jason Marine Group as a sales coordinator for the China market in 1996.

Over the years, he has been promoted multiple times. In his current role, he advises the company’s clients on technical product issues. Throughout the many changes in his career, Mr Koek has always enjoyed attending training sessions to learn new skills. “I cherish the opportunities to continuously improve my knowledge base and keep abreast of updated technologies,” he said.

Gaining familiarity with cloud-based platforms and learning technology skills such as coding have enabled him to boost his productivity at work, benefiting both the company and his career.

One of the most fruitful courses he attended was UiPath training at NTUC LearningHub in October 2020. UiPath is a software platform that uses cloud computing to automate business processes. Mr Koek learnt to use UiPath to automate the extraction of information from a dynamic database in order to generate updated business reports.

“UiPath enables us to work more efficiently by using automated processes to take care of repetitive tasks,” explained Mr Koek. “This frees up time for us to focus on other value-added tasks and helps to reduce errors when generating reports. It’s a win-win situation for us all.”

TAKING OWNERSHIP OF LEARNING

The three-week UiPath course meant that Mr Koek had to schedule urgent work matters around his learning hours, but his colleagues were ready to help cover his daily tasks during the training period.

The supportive environment at Jason Marine Group has helped to strengthen team cohesion and staff bonding. The organisation also welcomes input from employees on company-related activities and policies, like learning and development. Mr Tan added that employees’ ownership of the learning process enables them to contextualise lessons according to business needs and improves learning takeaways.  

“With ample opportunities to learn, employees get a platform to showcase their talent at Jason Marine Group,” he said. “New job candidates know that there are growth opportunities, and this also leads to increased employee engagement and retention.”

Since his UiPath training, Mr Koek shared that he has become more adaptable and agile when it comes to navigating other automation platforms and tools. He has also developed a curious mindset and a more systematic approach to problem-solving.

For example, he built on the foundation of his learning by acquiring a deeper understanding of Python to further automate tasks at work. He was inspired to pick up the programming language on his own after his UiPath training, and soon put his newfound coding skills to good use.

“I used Python to create an automation process for our satellite subscriptions section,” he recounted. “The process extracts satellite air-time data and reports to clients when a predefined usage threshold is reached. Not only were we able to reduce the time required to generate the reports, we also saw an increase in the accuracy of the reports.”

SUPPORTING BUSINESS OBJECTIVES WITH CUSTOMISED LEARNING

Jason Marine Group is looking to collaborate further with NTUC LearningHub to develop customised courses aimed at equipping employees with transferrable skills needed to succeed in a digitalised and sustainability-driven work environment.

As reference, Mr Tan cited the 16 competencies of the new Critical Core Skills developed by SkillsFuture Singapore. These competencies fall into three skill clusters: Thinking critically, interacting with others and staying relevant. Acquiring these skills will be useful in transitioning successfully into new roles across sectors.

Staying relevant is especially familiar to Mr Koek, who said that the UiPath course has enabled him to learn with agility and increase productivity at work.

“I am looking forward to picking up new skills in domains like artificial intelligence and robotics,” said Mr Koek. “I hope what I have learned will enable me to do research and development for the company or solve some of the technical challenges we face.”

As part of continuing growth, Jason Marine Group plans to have a suite of programmes with NTUC LearningHub that is aligned with the company’s strategies on service delivery.

To get employees on board with a continuous learning culture in the workplace, Mr Tan advised: “Besides communicating the benefits of training, the management team must also help in employees’ learning journey by recognising their enhanced competencies in the appraisal process. This will ensure that employees embrace the learning and career development opportunities provided.”

Learn more about how to develop your company’s talent with NTUC LearningHub.