Recipients of Environmental Services (ES) Star Award and Certificate of Excellence will receive gift vouchers for their contributions at the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic
Singapore, 16 December 2021 – The National Environment Agency (NEA) is awarding 27 individuals with the ES Star Award and another 389 with Certificates of Excellence, in recognition of their exceptional contributions and commitment at the frontline. Dr Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Guest-of-Honour at the annual ES Workforce Day this year, paid tribute to the workforce for their tireless contributions and hard work in keeping public spaces clean and maintaining high standards of public hygiene. An awards ceremony was held for the 27 ES Star Award recipients on 16 December.
2 It has been nearly two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the ES workforce has continued to uphold Singapore’s public health standards at the frontline, providing essential cleaning, waste and pest management services. This year, NEA received over 400 nominations for the ES Star Award and Certificate of Excellence, of which 140 nominations were submitted for the top-tier ES Star Awards. The number of nominations received this year is the highest so far [1]. In 2019 and 2020, a total of 295 and 377 nominations were submitted respectively.
3 The list of recipients who received the ES Star Award or Certificate of Excellence is available online at the Clean and Green Singapore website - https://cgs.gov.sg/cgs2021/es-workforce-day-2021 (refer to Annex A for more information on the ES Star Award and Certificate of Excellence). NEA will distribute gift vouchers worth $100 and $50 to all recipients of the ES Star Awards and Certificate of Excellence respectively [2].
4 The recipients of this year’s ES Star Awards come from a variety of backgrounds, including cleaners and disinfection specialists, waste collection crew and drivers, pest control technicians, as well as sales executives and operations supervisors (refer to Annex B for more information on the profiles).
Ongoing Efforts to Build a Professional ES industry
5 The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical need for the ES industry to increase technology adoption to cope with rising manpower constraints. This can be done through outcome-based contracting (OBC), as companies providing cleaning services can innovate in service delivery through technology adoption or process improvements [3]. Workers will also be upskilled in the process, as their jobs can be redesigned to become multi-skilled cleaners/ machine operators, or even environmental, health and safety specialists [4]. NEA worked with the Infocomm Media Development Authority to refresh the Environmental Services Industry Digital Plan in April 2021, as digital transformation is an important aspect in building a future-ready workforce.
6 At the same time, attracting young talents to join the ES industry continues to be a key focus for the tripartite partners through initiatives such as the NEA-Industry Scholarship Programme. To upskill the current workforce, NEA works with partners to put in place relevant training programmes. Since 2019, short courses on the use of digital technology for ES have been developed, and to date, about 200 have attended such courses [5]. A Career Conversion Programme for Cleaning Specialists (Disinfection Services) was also rolled out by Workforce Singapore in August 2020, supported by NEA and the Environmental Management Association of Singapore – about 30 individuals have benefitted from this programme.
7 The tripartite partners will continue to work together to build stronger businesses and transform the ES workforce, to ensure that they are ready to deal with the challenges of tomorrow and future pandemics.
[1] The Certificate of Excellence was introduced in 2018, and the ES Star Award was introduced in 2019.
[2] Gift vouchers are in denominations of $10, which can be used at participating merchants.
[5] Digital courses include the ‘Introduction to Digital Technology in Environment Services’ offered by the Institute of Technical Education, and ‘Digitalising Environmental Services’ by Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
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ANNEX A
Environmental Services (ES) Star Award and Certificate of Excellence
ES Star Award
1 The ES Star Award is a top-tier award to recognise exemplary ES employees across the three sectors (cleaning services, waste management, and pest management) in three categories (frontline, supervisory and operations support).
2 Recipients of the ES Star Awards included a mix of profiles such as customer-facing executives and support roles. They were nominated by their employers based on the following criteria:
i. Service Excellence
- Nominee has shown commitment towards achieving service quality.
- Nominee has sustained excellence job performance.
ii. Leadership (Applicable for (i) Supervisory/Team Lead and (ii) Operations support nominations only)
- Nominee has motivated the team to strive towards better service and efficiency.
- Nominee is considered a role model by fellow colleagues.
iii. Upgrading/Training
- Nominee has upskilled throughout the years and promoted through the ranks.
- Nominee attends training sessions or courses regularly to attain new knowledge and upgrade.
iv. Received Compliments or Awards
- Nominee has received compliments from public as well as company staff.
- Nominee has received awards previously.
v. Innovation
- Nominee has demonstrated the use of creative and innovative methods to improve service quality, staff welfare, etc.
vi. Contributing to environment sustainability
- Nominee has shown commitment and efforts towards caring for the environment within/outside of his/her work (e.g. using non-disposables, recycling, etc. as well as encouraging people to adopt similar practices).
Certificate of Excellence
3 Certificates of Excellence will also be given out to another 389 employees of 65 companies in recognition of their outstanding contributions and commitment. Some of these companies include Stargroup Est. Pte Ltd, Titan Facilities Management Pte Ltd, Fidz Pest Management, Topgrid Pest Specialist Pte Ltd, KGS Pte Ltd, Sustainable Asset Management Solutions Pte Ltd and more. Recipients of these certificates include those who had been promoted or received Long Service Awards from their employers (i.e. in service for at least five years with a positive mind-set and willingness to upskill and receive training).
ANNEX B
Environmental Services (ES) Star Award Recipients 2021
1 The recipients of this year’s ES Star Awards come from a variety of backgrounds, including cleaners, waste collection crew and drivers, disinfection specialists, pest control technicians in the frontline category; entomologists, sales executives, administrative and customer service executives in the operations support category; and operations supervisors and team leaders in the supervisory category.
2 There are nine recipients per sector (cleaning services, waste management, and pest management), and three winners per category (frontline, supervisory and operations support). A shortlist of the ES Star Award recipients this year is appended below. The full list of award recipients is available at https://cgs.gov.sg/cgs2021/es-workforce-day-2021.
Cleaning Services |
Award Category | Profile | Description |
Frontline | Mohamed Fadhil Bin Mohamed Selamat, 27 years old Disinfection Specialist, Duyen Cleaning Services Pte Ltd
| · In service for a year. · In addition to supporting general cleaning duties / services, he also took on a leadership role and mentored new employees. · He is also pursuing part-time studies with City & Guilds – Level 3 Diploma in Cleaning Supervision Skills. |
Operations Support | Ng Suo Chin, 37 years old Admin Manager, ISS Facility Services Private Limited
| · In service for 13 years. · She is often complimented for her patience, empathy, and ability to communicate with staff. · She spearheaded the implementation of the Face Recognition Temperature system, which increased staff productivity, and enabled staff to embark on their tasks more efficiently. |
Supervisory | Joel Yeo Jun Hao, 25 years old Operations Executive and Cleaning Supervisor, EZ Klean SG Pte Ltd
| · In service for about two years. · On top of managing all operational matters and fulfilling his supervisory responsibilities, he also conducts training for new cleaning crew and places importance on staff welfare. · He also improves clients’ knowledge by sharing the correct facility maintenance techniques, cleaning agents and equipment to use. |
Waste Management |
Award Category | Profile | Description |
Frontline | Mohamad Faizil Bin Mohamad, 40 years old Service Leader, SembWaste Pte Ltd
| · In service for 5 years. · He demonstrates leadership qualities and takes the initiative to provide feedback on ways to optimise his route for greater efficiency. · He keeps a lookout for safety hazards and makes recommendations to strengthen procedures and processes to mitigate identified safety risks. |
Operations Support | Hong Peiyu, 38 years old Operations Executive, TEE Environmental Pte Ltd
| · In service for about 2 years. · She successfully joined the waste management sector through Workforce Singapore’s Professional Conversion Programme (PCP). · Her prior experience in sales and new skills acquired (e.g. fleet management, workplace safety and health compliance, and manpower planning) enabled her to perform at work. She also went on waste collection trips to better understand the ground situation and optimised their collection routes · She is also a mentor to trainees under the SGUnited traineeship programme. |
Supervisory | Shankar s/o Ramachandram, 47 years old Senior Operations Executive, Alba W&H Smart City Pte Ltd
| · In service for 2 years. · As a supervisor, he is always ready to double up as a driver when necessary, and he has demonstrated his capability in leading and motivating his team to deliver excellent services. · He also shows care and concern for his team by providing counsel when needed. |
Pest Management |
Award Category | Name | Description |
Frontline | Nashrudin Bin R Azman, 33 years old Senior Foreman, Aardwolf Pestkare (S) Pte Ltd
| · In service for over 10 years. · He is known for his excellent service delivery and knowledge in daily pest management operations, and was promoted to Senior Foreman in March 2021. · He is always on the lookout for new ideas to enhance daily operations, and he has improved the maintainability of rodent traps by sourcing for a special portable device, which allows technicians to scrub the traps to remove odour and accumulated dirt. |
Operations Support | Chua Meng Hwee, 47 years old Operations Manager, 1908 Consultancy and Services Pte Ltd
| · In service for over 7 years. · He is always on the ground to better understand his clients’ pest issues and challenges. He also responds to service calls during late hours and has received numerous positive feedback from his clients for his excellent service. · He was promoted to Operations Manager in February 2021 and he guides his technicians by sharing the knowledge that he had acquired over the years as a Vector Control Technician. |
Supervisory | Hazman Bin Hasan, 35 years old Team Lead, Inavab Fumigation & Pest Control Management Pte Ltd
| · In service for over 7 years. · He was promoted to Team Lead in November 2016. · He is able to manage challenging projects with ease, while adhering to all safety standards and keeping his team motivated. Those groomed under his leadership have grown to have a positive attitude towards work. |