NTUC calls for allowance, paid time off to attend courses

THE National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) has called on the government to boost upskilling support for workers. This includes providing training allowances for those undergoing “deep skilling”, and expanding subsidies for workers to pursue a second degree or diploma.

The union also called for more employers to offer “skills allowances” for employees to attend training courses as well as provide protected time off for workers for self-initiated training.

These were among the recommendations made by NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng on Thursday (Sep 21) during the union’s inaugural Company Training Committee Symposium at the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability.

The recommendations were made in response to feedback gathered from NTUC’s year-long exercise – #EveryWorkerMatters – which kicked off last August. Through the exercise, the union engaged more than 40,000 workers ranging from youth to senior workers.

One top concern by workers is the desire for more support in upskilling for career development, said Ng. NTUC’s findings showed that the proportion of workers who attended training in the last year declined with age.

Mid-career workers face four key barriers to attending training – lack of financial resources to fund self-initiated training; lack of understanding of what courses are needed to stay relevant; insufficient time to attend training courses and; a lack of support from employers to conduct self-initiated training.

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To address these, NTUC made several recommendations, calling on the government and employers to enhance Singapore’s training ecosystem for workers.

The government can lend support through policy changes to foster a culture of training and lifelong learning, said NTUC.

First, it can provide training allowances to workers who are undergoing longer courses to acquire “new and deep skills”, said Ng. Such workers include those who are transiting jobs.

The amount workers receive can be based on a percentage of their salaries. It can help to cover living expenses to alleviate the financial burden as they take on more time-intensive training, added Ng.

“This will greatly help to facilitate mid-career workers to pivot to new areas of our economy, and to acquire the relevant deep skills... to open new business opportunities as our economy transits,” he added. 

The range of courses subsidised under the SkillsFuture training ecosystem can be expanded to allow workers to pursue a second degree or diploma. This will enable workers to pursue training in new areas of expertise and allow them to “keep pace with the demand of new and emerging sectors or facilitate a career transition”, said NTUC.

To better support young workers, the government can lower the eligibility age for the SkillsFuture credits, to help youth better prepare themselves to transition from school to the workplace, said Ng. NTUC also renewed calls for short-term unemployment support for involuntarily displaced workers, which was first proposed in 2021. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said in his National Day Rally speech that details of an upcoming re-employment support scheme will be released when the Forward Singapore initiative wraps up.

Meanwhile, more employers can consider implementing active measures to better support their workers in upskilling, said Ng.

Employers can provide a skills allowance to motivate workers to attend training courses, as well as provide protected time off for workers who wish to take up courses beyond company-mandated training.

A protected time off policy is valuable for rank-and-file workers in operational roles, who have fewer leave days and face the practical challenge of being unable to afford time to attend training, said NTUC. This will provide assurance to employees that their salary or leave days are not impacted when they attend courses.

“We are happy that some employers have started to proactively come on board, together with our unions, to provide skills allowances to translate training into tangible outcomes for workers”, Ng said.

While employers are supportive of workers deepening their skills, “it is important to note that businesses are still operating under tight labour conditions and an inflationary cost environment”, said Sim Gim Guan, executive director of the Singapore National Employers Federation, in response to the recommendations.

In addition, businesses have identified difficulties covering employees who are undergoing training, and a lack of practical business applications from the training, as their top challenges in implementing more robust support measures. “If business productivity suffers, this would inadvertently spell negative outcomes for employees too,” he added.

Employers would thus prefer to focus on training which improves business productivity for employees’ current and future job roles.

The Ministry of Manpower said it will take into consideration NTUC’s recommendations in its ongoing review of manpower policies, and continue to work closely with tripartite partners to support both employers and employees. More details will be shared in the final report on the Forward Singapore exercise later this year.