Digital skills, sustainability expertise needed to build talent pool
Singapore
BUSINESS leaders have called for more targeted support to develop digital skills and sustainability expertise in the Singapore workforce to tackle the rising manpower shortage more effectively.
The labour crunch has emerged as one of the more pressing issues facing many sectors including healthcare, finance, banking and retail, said Rick Harshman, UiPath senior vice-president and managing director for Asia-Pacific and Japan.
This was a key concern raised by panellists at a recent pre-Budget roundtable and a survey by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA).
Close to 1 in 3 employers had ranked labour and talent shortage due to staff attrition, and foreign worker restrictions as their top 2 business concerns respectively, the survey found.
In particular, there is a growing digital skills crisis as the demand for workers with such skills outpaces supply in today's digital-first era. Salesforce's recent Global Digital Skills Index study found that 64 per cent of Singapore workers do not feel "very prepared" with workplace digital skills, and only 29 per cent are actively upskilling themselves.
While new technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics are mitigating the impacts of the shortage to bump up productivity, this is merely the first step.
Unlocking the full power of such technologies will require the right talent, said Ashwini Gillen, regional vice-president at Twilio in Asia.
"To succeed, we need to nurture our workforce, and provide them with ongoing access to equitable cross-training and upskilling opportunities," she added.
In the long run, investments in digital upskilling and reskilling initiatives would be key to developing a digitally empowered and connected workforce across different skill levels and age groups, said Ricky Kapur, Zoom head of Asia-Pacifc.
This will also help businesses cultivate a happy and motivated talent pool that is well-equipped for the digital economy ahead.
"We hope to see a Budget that encourages more collaboration between businesses and government agencies to scale up digital skills training opportunities for all strata of society," added Sujith Abraham, Salesforce senior vice-president and general manager for Asean.
The sustainability agenda is also expected to take centre stage for businesses in 2022 as Singapore deepens its climate change commitments while building back post-pandemic growth.
To that end, the workforce must develop skill sets in sustainability to meet future demand and challenges, said ISCA chief Fann Kor, calling for more training grants and subsidies for professionals to develop skills in sustainability-related fields, such as green finance, to be provided.
This will build the talent pool and enable workers to apply these skills and knowledge not just in Singapore, but also globally, she further said.
While the Republic has done well to strengthen financial sector resilience and harness technology to recover in a green and fair manner, it has to work on building knowledge and capabilities of local talent, said Mark Billington, managing director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
In the mid term, this year's Budget should focus on bridging the talent gap by encouraging Asia-focused climate research and training. This includes educating the younger generation on the pressing need to enable positive change for the environment, and training them on specific knowledge on sustainability standards and green financing, said Billington.
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