Written by: Andrew Mathai
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Participation of women in the labour force in 2019 stood at 47% compared to 74% men. According to ILO, gender balance is attained when there is 40-60% of either gender. Female representation offers a different set of complementary skills, narrows the gap in earnings between men and women, and helps companies to better understand their customers’ needs.
Women in the telecom sector comprise 16% c-suite, 17% SVP, 20% VP, 28% managerial and 35% in entry-level positions. Singapore Telecom (Singtel) provides communication services to 690 million customers in 21 countries. In 2020, it had 19,808 employees where women were 34% (6,659) while men were 66% (13,149). Female representation in top management was 5/19 at 26%, middle management 28%, professional 30%, and operations and support at 41%. At the board, 3/11 (27%) positions are occupied by women.
Singtel trains its employees and, in 2020, the training investment was USD 16.5 million. The average training hours per employee was 32.7 with females receiving 29.4 hours while males received 34.3 hours. The salary ratio of men to women in middle management was 0.97:1, professional 1:0.95, and operations and support was 1:0.97. Bonus ratio of female to male in middle management was 1:0.98, professional 0.96:1, and operations and support 1:0.98.
Of the 19,808 employees, new hires was 17.6% (3,482) where males constituted 11.8% (2,339) and females were 5.8% (1,143). Male voluntary and involuntary turnover was 10.1% and 3.5% while females had 5.4% and 1.8% respectively.
In 2020, Singtel set up a Gender Diversity Council to expedite steps towards having 30% women in middle and top management by end of 2020. However, they managed to have 26% and 28% respectively.
Although Singtel’s female representation is above the industry average, the proportion in top and middle-management is still low. It needs to take aggressive steps to attain gender balance at all levels.
