Sands China’s first group of team members to graduate from the Professionalism Training for Gaming Practitioners programme were honored Thursday at The Venetian Macao, at a ceremony that also inaugurated its next class of students. Co-organized by the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM), the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) and Sands China Ltd, the training programme launched in July of last year as the first course of its kind in Macao for gaming employees – creating a three-way partnership between union, employer and the government.
The coursework in last year’s Professionalism Training for Gaming Practitioners programme focused primarily on occupational professionalism. This year, the course has been expanded to cover an overview of the gaming industry, civic education, occupational professionalism and responsible gaming. New materials in this year’s course include an introduction to the current development of the country, the Belt and Road initiative, Macao’s development path, and the impact of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge to Macao’s gaming and tourism industry.
Sands China is committed to having 3,000 of its team members trained in two years and aims to train 7,500 in five years – representing half of the company’s total gaming workforce. Thursday’s ceremony recognized the first set of Sands China team members to have completed the training and also welcomed the programme’s newest cohorts. The 600 team members participating in the first round of the programme attended 14 hours of training over the course of two full days, in classes of 30 team members, held at Sands® Macao. The latest round of training began June 5.
In contrast to last year’s programme, which was open to dealers only, this year’s comprises team members from departments such as table games, slots, cage, international marketing, market development, loyalty marketing and security. It thereby allows more gaming practitioners to participate and improve their occupational professionalism.
