We held the last session of our 2023 Sustainability Event Series, exclusively sponsored by Singapore American School, yesterday afternoon. Thanks to our moderator Mr. Andrew Chew, Chief Commercial Officer, James Cook University, Singapore; Chairman, James Cook Institute, and panellists Mr. Raj Singh, Chief Visionary Officer, Coco Veda Singapore Pte Ltd, Ms. Neetha Nair, Chief Human Resources Officer, Prudential Singapore and Ms. Qi Ni Lee, Corporate Responsibility and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Lead for Malaysia and Singapore, Sodexo – we had the opportunity to better understand how to aptly integrate diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) and learning and development (L&D) into the workplace to ensure a socially sustainable and positive work environment.

• Prioritize the basic human needs of employees and develop policies that factor in DE&I to mitigate social inequality and promote equal opportunities for all.
• Collaborate with tertiary institutions to provide learning and development programmes for employees to acquire new skills or re-skill to adapt to the increasingly technological era.
• Cultivate a positive workplace culture and implement flexible working arrangements and wellness programmes, while making constant fine tuning.
• The journey to a socially sustainable social enterprise/SMEs may be tough but small steps can be taken to eventually achieve the competitive advantage.
• The future of social sustainability is now. By taking these steps, organizations can create a more inclusive and supportive environment for their employees, while collectively working towards a better society for everyone.

Many thanks, once again to our expert panel for a very insightful session and to our audience members for contributing to a lively Q & A session. We would also like to express our gratitude to Newcastle Australia Institute of Higher Education for extending the event space.

Stay tuned for the Chamber’s 2024 Sustainability Event Series line-up!

Exclusive Event Sponsor