From enterprise transformation to better jobs for Singaporeans: What more can be done?

GLOBAL economic headwinds and the Covid-19 outbreak have invariably created near-term business challenges. Notwithstanding this, Singapore enterprises need to continue to hone in on their digitalisation, productivity and innovation efforts to build up their long-term competitive strengths and be ready to seize the opportunities when the economy recovers.

Singapore has adopted a unique approach to encourage enterprises and workers to stay relevant and competitive through good and bad times. In the Budget 2020 statement, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat highlighted the concept of a "virtuous cycle", where the government helps enterprises to embark on their digital transformation, which in turn would lead to enterprises investing in upskilling their workforce and creating better, higher value jobs for locals. This upskilled workforce then contributes back to the acceleration of business growth for their organisations, and drives their personal career growth and rewards prospects.

This concept builds on the momentum that Singapore gained over the last five years, such as the SkillsFuture initiative and implementation of the 23 Industry Transformation Maps, all aimed at supporting enterprises in their digital transformation, and driving upskilling efforts among the local workforce. The measures announced in Budget 2020 are encouragingly comprehensive and we look forward to more clarity and certainty in the Committee of Supply (COS) debates around these five key areas:

Assist enterprises in understanding digital capabilities and job redesign

Current initiatives like the SME Go Digital Programme and the Industry Digital Plans provide useful roadmaps for enterprises to understand the types of ready-to-adopt digital capabilities available in the marketplace and plan their digital transformation. Grants and schemes are also available to help offset adoption costs, while the Productivity Solutions Grant will be expanded to include job redesign consultancy services.

However, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are further along their digital transformation journeys may not be adequately motivated by these initiatives. Additional programmes can be developed to help SMEs try the digital capabilities in a low-risk setting and experience the tangible benefits of digital transformation to their businesses.

SMEs also need direct guidance on how to embark on job redesign, so their workforce can adapt effectively to technological enhancements and upskill to take on higher value-added roles.

A good example of programmes that enable enterprises is the Industry 4.0 Human Capital Initiative (IHCI) for the manufacturing industry. The IHCI is a joint effort between the Singapore Business Federation and Workforce Singapore, comprising an online job redesign resource portal and capability-building programme to help manufacturing companies enhance their strategic HR planning, workforce development and job redesign skills, which are required for successful Industry 4.0 transformation. Similar programmes can be extended to other sectors.

Support SMEs to strengthen human capital management

SMEs hire over 65 per cent of the workforce in Singapore and therefore play a significant role in creating better jobs for Singaporeans. Improvements in human capital management can help SMEs better attract and retain talents, drive job redesign efforts to sustain digital transformations, and continuously upskill their workers to attain higher levels of innovation and productivity. This ultimately leads to better jobs for the workforce.

It is important that SMEs are able to manage their human capital and human resources issues effectively. Budget 2020 measures such as the Enterprise Transform Package and the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit can help to drive better human capital management among SMEs - but only if these can be easily adopted and operationalised by SMEs. We hope that this will be addressed through the details of these measures made known at COS.

Develop digital learning roadmaps to help workers

From the workers' perspective, there may be a sense of uncertainty on staying relevant in an increasingly digitalised workforce. Alleviating these doubts is important, as workers need to upskill on their own accord, in the spirit of lifelong learning.

While the SkillsFuture credits top-up help to address training cost concerns, more can be done to empower workers to make informed decisions on what skills to acquire.

The Skills Frameworks that were developed for 33 different sectors cover comprehensive information on the future jobs and skills that are needed in each sector.

Beyond that, digital learning roadmaps can be developed to sharpen awareness of the digital competencies that workers will need within each sector.

Coordinating efforts can be rallied around each digital learning roadmap, with key stakeholders such as the institutes of higher learning, trade unions and enterprises collaborating to help workers along their individualised digital learning roadmaps.

Catalyse a mindset shift on upskilling and career mobility

Singapore's economic landscape has evolved significantly, and the pace of change will only accelerate henceforth.

While past and current Budget measures have rightly emphasised lifelong learning, the crux is in helping workers stay relevant across multiple industries and job functions, given that industry disruption and convergence will continue to play out.

More can be done on two fronts to help workers to stay relevant: First, more awareness and guidance to help workers in their career growth across different job functions and industries. This can be achieved through an upgraded Skills Framework that informs on cross-sectoral and cross-functional skills, which can be brought to life with an AI-enabled national jobs and training portal. This can help workers visualise how they can influence their career mobility through targeted upskilling.

Second, programmes such as the Adapt and Grow initiative can be enhanced to facilitate career mobility across sectors. Budget 2020 announced the increased capacity for such reskilling programmes and incentives for employers to hire jobseekers through reskilling programmes.

It is important that enterprises and workers understand the details when revealed at COS, to optimise the opportunities for themselves.

Enhance the role of trade associations and chambers (TACs)

Enterprises looking to leverage government support in their business and workforce transformation efforts may be challenged by the sheer amount of information on the vast array of government schemes that they have to navigate.

Clearly, having a plethora of schemes is necessary - targeted schemes are useful in addressing specific needs as opposed to schemes that are "one-size-fits-all". Thus, purely simplifying the schemes is not the answer.

A key enabler lies in strengthening the role of TACs to better guide enterprises through the grants and initiatives available. To this, Budget 2020 announced initiatives such as the Executive-in-Residence programme to hire experienced executives to provide advice to enterprises in various industries.

We welcome details on how the business advisory capabilities of the TACs can be further strengthened to help SMEs diagnose their business gaps, identify key business improvement levers, develop and sustain business transformation efforts, and tap the right government initiatives to accelerate business transformation.

No jobs lost

To develop and maintain a truly digital economy, the momentum of the "virtuous cycle" must be sustained. While local enterprises clearly have a proactive role to play, individuals should also embrace a renewed perspective on career development and commitment to lifelong learning.

Indeed, no jobs will be lost, as long as they are redesigned and individuals are upskilled to meet the demand.