Banking on productivity for sustainable growth

AS Singapore companies continue to ramp up their efforts to become sleeker, more efficient organisations, a handful of firms are leading the way in the race to become more productive.

Six of these enterprises were honoured last month at the inaugural Singapore Productivity Awards, an initiative of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) that recognises organisations for their leadership and business practices that contribute towards labour productivity.

"Singapore's economic transformation towards productivity-led growth has to push ahead if we are to remain competitive in today's global economy. Productivity is a long-term journey that requires a serious mindset shift for both businesses and our workforce. Higher productivity can only be achieved if a collective effort is made by businesses, employees and customers," said SBF chairman S S Teo.

Leaders from Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium, LF Logistics Services, Neo Group Ltd, Pan Asia Logistics, Select Group Ltd and Sheng Siong Group Ltd received their awards from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the 20th Business Excellence Awards and inaugural Singapore Productivity Awards dinner on Oct 30.

"The winners have set exemplary standards in leading a productivity-led culture, embracing technology and innovation, engaging employees, as well as sharing the benefits of productivity growth with their staff," said Mr Teo.

"We believe the winning companies can serve as effective examples in raising the standards of productivity as they set the benchmark for other businesses to emulate. SBF, as the apex business chamber, will continue to work closely with the Government and enterprises in this productivity journey."

The awards are jointly organised with the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and supported by SPRING Singapore and the National Productivity and Continuing Education Council. The assessment process for the awards is based on a simplified version of SPRING Singapore's Business Excellence framework.

SBF adopted a two-step approach to select the winners. Data gleaned from the Singapore 1000 and SME1000 databases from DP information were used to calculate the labour productivity of more than 6,000 companies.

The top 10 companies based on the labour productivity scores were shortlisted and field assessors were sent to the various companies to be assessed in terms of their Leadership and Planning, People and Processes. A judging panel comprising industry and government representatives then reviewed the labour productivity scores and field assessment reports before the final winners were chosen.

The organisers of the awards hope that the initiative can jumpstart Singapore's productivity drive. "Productivity is key to achieving sustainable growth. I urge companies to make 2015 the turning point in their productivity efforts to transform their businesses for further growth," said Robert Yap, SNEF's president.

Added Mr Teo: "I hope more enterprises will come forward to join in the quest towards better productivity. Only then can our economy transform successfully to ensure that Singapore can have sustainable long-term growth and our people can have a better standard of living."