Preethy Mohanan’s passion for sports led her to join Sport Singapore right after she completed her studies in 2011.
Starting as a guest officer (now known as sports champion) with Sport Singapore, she stayed with the organisation to this day because she believes in the statutory board’s mission: to reach out and serve the local community through meaningful sporting experiences.
“Our mission is to provide everyone in Singapore with affordable access to sports at convenient locations or near where residents reside,” she said.
Today, Preethy is an assistant centre manager at the Yishun Sports Hall, where she continues to serve the people who visit the centre enthusiastically.
This year, she also received the Model Worker award at NTUC’s May Day Awards ceremony.
She shares her thoughts on her nomination, helping others, and how workers should support themselves in the constantly evolving world of work.
Exemplification of Worker 4.0
NTUC’s Model Worker award is conferred to those who exemplify traits of Worker 4.0.
A Worker 4.0 displays readiness, relevance and resilience to improve their work through upskilling, productivity improvements and adaptability to the changing work environment.
Preethy believes she was nominated for her work on a pilot project to digitalise the tracking process of visitors entering the sports halls.
Sport Singapore needed a more accurate way to determine the number of visitors visiting its sports halls, so the project was landed with Preethy, who was part of the organisation’s technology committee.
After meticulously researching the different systems available, she helped implement and spearhead the project across 13 sports stadia islandwide.
“Initially, the system we had in place was very manual. We had to use a clicker [hand tally counter], and it was not very accurate,” she described.
Sport Singapore then leveraged the system’s data to plan and curate initiatives to enhance visitors’ experiences.
Using Education to Help Others
Beyond Preethy’s adoption of technology, she was also recognised for her efforts in championing her fellow workers’ mental well-being and her constant pursuit of further education.
She completed a Workforce Skills Qualification in Para Counselling in 2022 and a Peer-to-Peer Mental Well-Being Support at Work in 2023, and more recently, her postgraduate diploma in human resource (HR) in May this year.
These skills have improved her engagement with her fellow workers and given her the tools to support them better when they need help.
“Helping my colleagues is actually one of my top priorities. Till today, if anyone just messages me or calls me for help, I will do whatever I can to put everything else assist to focus on helping them,” she said.
Embracing Change
When asked what is a common problem she sees in many workers today, she felt that it was their reluctance to adapt to change.
“They [workers] need to be more adaptable. Whatever opportunity comes to them, they need to just take it,” she said.
She added that it was also important for workers to do what interests them.
She shared that she had previously struggled to complete her course in Supply Chain Management because she had little interest in it. However, when she embarked on her postgraduate diploma in HR, she was determined to see it through.
She said: “My interest in HR naturally made me go through the entire process. Though there were times when it seemed really difficult, something made me go through that hardship because it was something that I knew I wanted to do.”
So, when it comes to getting her peers to embrace change and education like she does, she believes in letting them pursue what interests them.
“We need to identify what interests them. Personally, I feel that everyone has their own decisions to make, and it is their life; I cannot incentivise them to do anything.
“But if we can help them identify what interests them, then maybe we can make them change their mindset about training.”