Singapore companies still keen to send employees for WSQ training: survey

A MAJORITY of companies in Singapore indicated that they would continue to send their employees for Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) training, although fewer companies found that the training had a positive impact on overall business performance, according to an annual survey conducted by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) of Singapore.

Over 97 per cent of the companies in the survey said they would continue to send their employees for WSQ training, a 1.7 percentage-point increase over the previous year.

However, only about 55 per cent indicated positive impact on work productivity after their employees attended WSQ training, down from around 76 per cent in the year before. Other categories with lower scores year on year included impact on sales and profitability as well as impact on quality of services.

"This is likely due to weak economic conditions," said WDA.

Over 91 per cent of firms also said that WSQ training had a positive impact on their employees' skills application; the training also helped them work more efficiently and effectively. The scores for these categories were slightly lower than the previous year.

Meanwhile, the survey results indicated that a majority of trainees found WSQ training useful, with 88.2 per cent of trainees surveyed indicating that they would continue to take up other WSQ training; this is down from 90.8 per cent in the previous year.

But fewer trainees reported positive outcomes of career advancement or promotion due to WSQ training. Around 8 per cent reported a promotion following training, down from 12 per cent the year before.

Eleven per cent reported a pay increment, down from 18 per cent the year before.

"Again, this is likely to be related to weaker economic conditions which adversely affected the prospects for career advancement and promotion," WDA highlighted.

WDA's chief executive Ng Cher Pong said: "We will continue to work closely with employers to build up their human resource capabilities and strengthen their Singaporean core for sustainable business growth."

The 2015 survey was conducted from September 2015 to January 2016, with 1,566 companies and some 6,100 WSQ trainees.