Sands China Highlights Local Talent Development Success at Graduation Ceremony

(Macao, September. 11, 2019) – Sands China Ltd. held its Diversified Local Talent Graduation Ceremony for the Sands China Academy Wednesday at Sands^® Cotai Central, to celebrate the achievements of local team members nurtured through Sands China’s various human resource development programmes.

At the ceremony, Sands China Ltd. President Dr. Wilfred Wong and officiating guests presented certificates to representatives of graduating team members, retailers and SME suppliers.

The event also included a sharing session featuring video, a quiz show and a theatrical performance, highlighting the successes of Sands China’s varied talent development initiatives. Some of those initiatives were the first of their kind in Macao and are now being offered to those who are not direct employees of Sands China, such as those employed by Sands China's partners. A total of 6,200 participants graduated in 2018-2019, with over 700 representatives attending Wednesday’s ceremony.

“Learning is a lifelong process,” said Dr. Wong. “As a leading integrated resort operator in Macao, Sands China is more than pleased to provide a diversity of initiatives for local talent, not only by providing short-term courses, but by offering a continuous, fruitful learning experience. With more than 8.3 million training hours offered to team members to date, including more than 1.7 million training hours delivered in 2018 alone, the Sands China Academy will continue to help team members grow along with the company. We will continue to align ourselves with the Macao SAR’s local talent-building strategy to cultivate diverse tourism and leisure talent for the industry, for Macao, and for the Greater Bay Area.”

Three key areas of the company’s focus are horizontal and vertical management talent development, professionalism training, and development of industry professionals outside of Sands China.

Horizontal and Vertical Management Talent Development
Sands China offers an abundance of horizontal and vertical career mobility options to its team members through a variety of trailblazing talent development initiatives, of which more than 20 talent development programmes are specifically designed to cultivate senior management team members. The first large-scale horizontal development programme in Macao, the MyWay programme launched in 2016, with more than 2,200 team members having joined the programme to date. Diversified management development programmes have helped over 1,600 team members to advance their careers since 2016, by completing more than 30 programmes.

Professionalism Training
Launched in 2016, the company’s professionalism training programme is the first programme in Macao co-organised with the Labour Affairs Bureau and the Macao Federation of Trade Unions, and has since trained over 5,100 team members from 19 departments. And various initiatives since 2016, such as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Visit, have helped enhance team members’ knowledge of the latest developments in mainland China.

Development of Industry Professionals Outside of Sands China
The Sands Retail Academy is the first training programme of its kind in Macao for retail professionals, and has provided over 37,000 training hours for more than 9,000 participants to date. And the Sands Procurement Academy was the first such programme in Macao for local SME suppliers, and has graduated five cohorts to date, comprising more than 140 representatives from local SMEs.

New Initiatives
Sands China continually explores additional avenues for nurturing local talent, and is introducing five new programmes:

• National Studies Programme at the National Academy of Governance
• Sands China Integrated Resort Business Analyst Development Programme
• All-Round Food and Beverage Management Programme
• Casino Talent Development Programme
• Professionalism Training for Non-Gaming Team Members

Sands China considers these and other human resources initiatives as an essential part of the company’s commitment and determination to nurture local talent.

Sands China created the Sands China Academy as a platform to give team members the training for their career development, and to help foster professional talent in the wider Macao community. One of the major training venues of the Academy is the Adelson Advanced Education Centre at The Venetian^® Macao, which works to equip team members and locals with skills to help achieve their career goals. The academy works in concert with the Macao SAR government’s efforts to raise Macao’s profile as a world centre of tourism and leisure.