Employers must see real benefits if they are to support workers’ upskilling: ST-BT Budget 2024 Roundtable

EMPLOYERS need to see real benefits from upskilling in order to be willing to send employees for training, said panellists at a post-Budget roundtable organised by The Business Times and The Straits Times.

Their fears over labour shortages and not being able to retain employees post-training must also be addressed, they added.

“What businesses sometimes cannot see is how a particular course impacts the business outcome,” said panellist Ang Yuit, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Asme).

“And when (they can’t see that), then they would rather the employee focus on what is going to be productive.”

The ST-BT Budget 2024 Roundtable, sponsored by UOB and moderated by ST associate editor Vikram Khanna, centred on the upskilling and reskilling of Singapore’s workforce – one focus of Budget 2024.

The new SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme for Singaporeans aged 40 and above, for instance, includes a S$4,000 SkillsFuture Credit top-up.

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The need to learn new and diverse skills has accelerated with the pace of change, with emerging areas such as digitalisation and sustainability, said Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah.

Yet companies may be reluctant to send workers for retraining, noted panellists. First, the benefits of training may not always be clear.

Second, this reduces the manpower they have on hand. This is especially true for labour-strapped SMEs with a low staff count, said UOB senior economist Alvin Liew.

“Some of them with, let’s say, 10 people – 10 per cent going for training is quite significant,” he noted. “While (for) a company with 20,000 people, (having) 10 per cent on training is a very manageable process.”

Third, employers worry that workers who have been trained may leave for other opportunities, said Liew: “When you’re that small of a scale, those fears are very real – of losing your staff because they become better.”

The panellists gave several suggestions to tackle these obstacles.

To address concerns about relevance, SkillsFuture courses and skills learned should be aligned with “actual industry outcomes” that are relevant to businesses, said Ang.

“If we can apply SkillsFuture and tie it in more with on-the-job training and on-the-job experience, I think that will result in much better take-up,” he said.

On assuring course quality, Indranee noted that many courses are conducted by institutes of higher learning such as polytechnics, with “an inbuilt quality framework”.

External vendors’ courses are also reviewed in order to qualify for SkillsFuture support, she added.

As for the impact on staff strength, panellists had no easy fixes, but said that employers need to be willing to bear the impact for the sake of longer-term gains.

National Trades Union Congress deputy secretary-general Desmond Tan said: “If we see that as an investment for your business productivity, I think employers should try to give some time support for the workers to go for training.”

Finally, to ensure employee retention, UOB’s Liew proposed that workers sent for training could then be obliged to stay with their company for a year, with improved pay or a promotion.

“That gives the company the assurance to send the workers for training,” he said.

Companies need to be progressive and forward-thinking, and have the mindset of wanting to invest in their employees, said Indranee.

The government will do its part in “horizon-scanning” and identifying trends, she added. “It’s our job to give the early warning signals and say this is coming our way, and to make available funds that would be accessible to both companies and the individuals to tap on.”

Apart from employer-supported training, the panel also discussed training efforts by individual jobseekers.

The Job-Skills Integrator (JSIT) initiative, for instance, was introduced in Budget 2023 to facilitate job matching and placement.

“Singapore is fundamentally not short of job offerings,” said Ang. “What we are short of is the right match… the right career aspiration, the right salary range.”

The JSIT is part of a broader move in the right direction, he said, having companies also upgrade themselves and provide better jobs.

But as the JSIT is still in its infancy, it will take a “few more years” to see its impact, said Ang.

Concluding the roundtable, Indranee said: “This Budget focuses especially on workers and those above 40, because it’s an expression (of our) belief and confidence in them, in our human capital and in Singaporeans.”

“It’s also part of the evolution that we are making in our economy as Singaporeans live longer, as manpower gets tighter.”

Asked about hopes for future Budgets, Liew hoped for more support “on the employer side” to improve the SkillsFuture take-up rate, while Ang wanted further integration of skills into business outcomes.

As for the labour movement, “there are two other areas we are looking forward to”, said Tan: the long-discussed unemployment support scheme, and caregiver support.