1 in 2 employers need external help to close their skills gaps

During this period of downturn, organisations are sending their workers for training to help their businesses to develop stronger resilience. Skills training now tops the agenda across the board, yet more than half of employers in Singapore do not have adequate internal capabilities to assess their employees' skills gaps.

Many need external help, particularly to carry out effective competency skills mapping and training needs analysis to create workforce development strategies.

These are some of the interesting findings in the recently released NTUC LearningHub (LHUB) Employer Skills Survey 2021. Conducted online, the survey interviewed over 200 business leaders from Singapore in early February to glean insights about coveted skills that have kept businesses viable since the pandemic broke out a year ago.

Survey respondents hailed from across six industry clusters: Modern Services (34 per cent), Manufacturing (14 per cent), Essential Domestic Services (12 per cent), Lifestyle (11 per cent), Trade and Connectivity (8 per cent), Built Environment (four per cent) and others (17 per cent).

Moving with the times

Commenting on the findings, NTUC LHUB's director of Institute of Business Excellence and Healthcare Academy Jenaline Low says, "With the evolving market demands and diversity across different sectors, learning can no longer be delivered through off-the-shelf training courses or in-person classroom learning formats.

"We observed that as much as companies are investing time and resources in training and upskilling their workforce, many still require help in identifying skills gaps to perform the job well. By embarking on a skills competency mapping or training needs analysis exercise, they could close these gaps more effectively."

Companies experiencing difficulties in identifying organisational problems such as skills gaps analysis are turning to organisations like NTUC LHUB. According to the survey, this is largely because many believe having their employees' capabilities assessed by an external consultant would yield a more accurate and actionable result rather than having it done internally.

Training needs analysis has become more crucial than ever as pandemic-stricken companies pivot business models and find new revenue streams to survive. The survey found that businesses in severely affected industries are more likely to train their employees (73 per cent) compared to other industries (57 per cent, on average).

Employers are also mostly keen on upskilling their employees in adaptive, technology and technical skills.

The survey also revealed that as businesses re-assess the key competencies their business requires, employers have to be quick to strategically restructure their workforce through job enlargement and enhancement. The onus is also on employees to keep pace with the latest industry landscape, and seize opportunities in skills upgrading to keep themselves relevant and resilient.

Getting the help your business needs

For any company doing its best to stay afloat against strong economic headwinds, understanding its business needs to be sustainable for long-term growth is vital. It is therefore important for business to plug skills gaps so that their workforce is future-ready and able to take on new challenges.

Besides training courses delivery, NTUC LHUB has the expertise to support businesses in providing end-to-end learning solutions, leveraging on our online learning platforms and different modalities of learning.

Says Ms Low: "AT NTUC LHUB, we offer companies learning and development (L&D) advisory services to address the skills needs for their workforce. Working hand in hand with companies, we help them to better align employees' skills to capture business opportunities, including job redesign for job scope expansion.

"The process could begin with an alignment of strategic business goals to the workforce skills need, followed by training needs analysis and design of customised training solutions to reskill or upskill employees. We provide end-to-end solution offerings from analysis, design and delivery, to back-end support such as training and funding claims administration."

So take the first step to creating your business' transformation roadmap when you access NTUC LearningHub's Employer Skills Survey 2021 report here for other valuable insights, practical tips for both employers and employees. The report also uncovers trends in adaptive and digital skills that are key to your business' viability.

Alternatively, speak to friendly course consultants at NTUC LHUB to discover more details about training support and funding for individuals. Click/tap here to make an enquiry.

About NTUC LearningHub

NTUC LearningHub is the leading Continuing Education and Training provider in Singapore which aims to transform the lifelong employability of working people. Since its corporatisation in 2004, it has been working with employers and individual learners to provide learning solutions in areas such as Cloud, Infocomm Technology, Healthcare, Employability & Literacy, Business Excellence, Workplace Safety & Health, Security, Human Resources and Foreign Worker Training.

To date, NTUC LearningHub has helped over 25,000 organisations and achieved over 2.6 million training places across more than 500 courses with a pool of over 600 certified trainers. As a Total Learning Solutions provider to organisations, it also forges partnerships and offers a wide range of relevant end-to-end training solutions. NTUC LearningHub works constantly to improve its training quality and delivery. In 2020, it has accelerated its foray into online learning with Virtual Live Classes and, through working with best-in-class partners such as IBM, DuPont Sustainable Solutions and GO1, asynchronous online courses.