New and refreshed SkillsFuture programmes help companies, workers update digital skills

SINGAPORE is shifting its SkillsFuture initiative into a higher gear.

Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing, speaking on Tuesday (Jul 4) at the annual SkillsFuture Forum, said there would be new and refreshed schemes to get workers to upgrade their skills and go digital.

“With frequent tech disruptions, shortened half-life of skills and knowledge, and new jobs emerging every day – our workforce must retool, at scale and at speed,” he said.

This year’s forum, titled “Digital Upskilling for Business and Career Growth”, was organised by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and supported by The Business Times and SPH Media. It was hosted in a hybrid format, and kicked off the SkillsFuture Festival 2023, which will run until Aug 18.

The SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace (SFDW) programme, introduced in 2017, is being relaunched as SFDW 2.0. It focuses on four key areas – automation, cybersecurity risk, data analytics and in-demand digital tools.

Based on a common syllabus, training programmes spanning up to two days will be customised for six sectors: built environment, food services, manufacturing, retail, tourism and transportation. These sectors have a higher proportion of older workers with little to no digital skills.

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Employers in other sectors can approach appointed partners to similarly customise the programme.

SSG will subsidise SFDW 2.0 course fees by up to 70 per cent. Eligible enterprises which send employees for the programme will receive absentee payroll funding of S$4.50 per hour.

SFDW 2.0 is part of the drive to build a skills ecosystem that is agile and responsive to the needs of individuals and enterprises – one of three strategies to take SkillsFuture further, said Chan.

He added that for training providers to develop and deliver relevant content, industry experts must go beyond identifying skills in demand to unpacking them. Enterprises, meanwhile, must recognise these credentials and certifications when hiring.

“This is the entire value chain of training,” he said.

Partnerships with trade associations and chambers, unions and professional bodies will be strengthened, “so that our cycle speed – in order to articulate demand for future skills, aggregate the sectoral demand, and activate the supply of quality training – can be ramped up to meet the needs of an increasingly dynamic job market”.

A second strategy Chan highlighted is to broaden the reach of SkillsFuture to more vulnerable groups. One example is the pilot of a digital platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Skills Profiling for SMEs. On this platform, SMEs can use “advanced skills-profiling technology” to identify skills gaps in their workforce, and receive personalised training recommendations.

A collaboration between SSG and software provider JobKred, the service aims to benefit 400 SMEs for a start, with 12 months of free access. Since its launch in May, more than 200 SMEs have registered.

The minister also addressed preserving the employability of mid-career workers in their 40s and 50s. SSG on Tuesday published a SkillsFuture Job-Skills Insights report on navigating mid-career transitions into the tech sector, in collaboration with career-focused charity Generation Singapore.

Some in-demand and “tech-heavy” roles are well-suited for mid-career switchers, the report found, as the required digital proficiency level is more attainable for them, and non-technical skills are a large part of the skills needed.

In a panel discussion following Chan’s speech, industry experts also discussed how, for mature and less tech-savvy workers, reframing buzzwords can make skills training less daunting.

Employers should communicate clearly to workers what is needed at their jobs, and how training will achieve it, said SSG chief executive Tan Kok Yam. “People will have a lot more confidence to take on that buzzword, because it means something – it means something tangible, on the ground.”

Microsoft Singapore managing director Lee Hui Li agreed that focusing on application and demonstrating best practices will help people see buzzwords as real, rather than conceptual.

And Aslam Sardar, chief executive officer of the Institute for Human Resource Professionals, noted that though buzzwords may seem new or distant, employees already possess useful skills. “In fact, you’ve not lost all your skills. Maybe what you need to do is to top it up,” he said, encouraging employers to change employees’ perceptions.

SSG’s Tan added: “That could help motivate, or avoid demotivating mature workers who want to skill or reskill… You’re not starting from scratch, you’re topping up.”

Beyond building an agile and responsive ecosystem and reaching out to vulnerable groups, the third strategy Chan highlighted in his speech was to empower individuals and enterprises to take part in and contribute more to the SkillsFuture movement.

“Last year, about 560,000 Singaporeans and 20,000 enterprises participated in and benefited from SkillsFuture Singapore-supported programmes,” he said, adding that training participation rates have grown since 2015.