SMRT upping basic salaries of bus captains
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Three days after new rival bus operator Go-Ahead Singapore announced its employment terms and benefits for bus captains, SMRT today (Feb 18) said it will be increasing the basic salaries of bus captains to be “at least on par with the market”. SMRT aims to add another 500 new staff for its bus operations this year so as to be able to add more buses to cut waiting time for commuters.
When asked, an SMRT spokesman said they did not have details on the new salary package yet and that the salary revisions will not be immediate. Both Go-Ahead and Tower Transit are offering bus captains a starting basic wage of S$1,865 a month. The starting pay for SMRT bus captains is currently S$1,625.
Bus captains with some years of service will also enjoy two to three extra days of annual leave, SMRT added.
In addition, the company will be reducing duplication of medical benefits between the newly introduced Medishield Life and its own inpatient benefits, it said. It will instead top up benefits by adding a flexible benefits scheme where employees can use credits to buy additional medical insurance coverage for themselves and their families, and to cover other health and fitness related expenses like medical screenings or gym memberships.
At key depots across the island, in-house clinics will also be set up to make it more convenient for staff who are managing chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure.
Meanwhile, bus and train maintenance staff at SMRT will get a new career scheme where “a class of Master Technicans” will be groomed to take up senior supervisory positions to ensure quality assurance of the fleet, the company said.
Managers leading technical teams in train maintenance are promised enhanced professional training courses, better pay and an accelerated career path. SMRT will also be changing the profile of “onerous but important” middle manager roles to attract talented and experienced engineering staff.
To promote teamwork, SMRT will put in place team-based incentives by linking service reliability to the performance of trains and buses staff. As an example, SMRT said the rolling stock maintenance crews, who are in charge of keeping trains’ serviceability up, will have their key performance indicators (KPIs) linked to the reliability of running trains. Bus captains and bus operations staff will see their KPIs linked to the performance of their depot in keeping to bus schedules, as well as safety and operational standards.
Train operations staff will also see improved career prospects following a new tie-up with a UK-based centre of excellence for railway engineering and operations at SMRT’s training institute.
SMRT aims to increase the headcount for its train operations by some 15 per cent (or 700 rail staff) this year, to handle the new trains on the North-South and East-West Lines and Circle Line, as well as the opening of four new MRT stations on the East-West Line’s extension to Tuas. Last December, SMRT announced it was looking to recruit about 700 new staff, offering current employees up to S$3,000 in cash for successful job referrals.
In the last three months since the launch of the referral scheme, 338 staff have joined. This is a 20 per cent increase compared to the same period the year before, SMRT said.
