BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) officially opened its new Head Office at the newly refurbished RB Campus on Jalan Kustin — a multi-million dollar investment designed to benefit employee welfare and drive productivity.
“Our people are our most important asset and we want to provide a work environment that brings the best out of them, increases productivity and enhances team cooperation,” RB’s CEO Karam Chand said in his welcoming remarks on Thursday.
Over the last three years, nearly $15 million was invested to ensure the campus is equipped to serve RB’s long term needs, matching that of an international business.
“This is a substantial investment needed for our people… and to create a new revenue stream from leasing out the excess office facilities.”
To date, more than 300 staff have moved to six newly refurbished buildings around the RB campus which introduces an open plan office concept to encourage team cohesiveness and engagement.
“Upgrading works for Hangar 3 and the airport precinct for our Ramp Office are also progressing. These will be substantial upgrades for our offices located in the airside premises that will house all our operations team, including Flight Operations, Cabin Services, ground Services and Engineering.”
By the first quarter of the year, the final phase of the RB campus and other key infrastructures are expected to be complete.
Emphasis on these projects which aim to develop human capital, is key to long term success, said Chairman of RB Board of Directors YB Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Hj Mohd Amin Liew, who is also the minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and minister of Finance and Economy II.
“Executed and implemented efficiently, the benefits of training, knowledge sharing and having continuous learning corporate culture are immense.
“Looking at it in a macro view, training and development will be able to improve not just the performance of a group of people, but enable the business to be a well-oiled machine that would operate more efficiently, much like our new aircraft.”
As people and skills are the heart of Brunei’s economic prosperity, Dato Amin Liew stressed that it is imperative to equip the workforce with the right skills needed to carry our their jobs. This, he added, will enable businesses to seize new opportunities to drive growth and productivity.
At the newly refurbished RB Campus, the buildings are named after local flowers namely Simpur, Rose, Lily, Hibiscus, Orchid and Jasmine. Nine training rooms can be found around the campus that serve as a learning centre for RB’s developmental and functional trainings conducted in-house.
“The face-lift from the exterior to the interior was designed to create a welcoming, safe and conducive workspace,” said Chand.
The meeting and breakout rooms enable team working, strategy development and resolution of business issues. Chand also announced an exciting feature of the RB Campus which is the new Sky Cafe.
“[The cafe is] a communal area for all RB staff to enjoy their meals in a relaxed atmosphere and perhaps conduct informal meetings over a coffee… This is a very important development for our people and one I trust will lift their spirits after many years of waiting for a facility of this nature.”
RB also has plans to refurbish its current Flight Operations office in Rose building to host multipurpose meeting rooms, lounge room and a mini reception area for external guests.
“We are adding an innovation lab where our people can meet in a creative environment to come up with ideas to take our business to even greater heights.”