SINGAPORE – Acquiring fresh skills will give workers a new lease of life in their careers, and companies here can play an important role in enabling talent development.

However, more needs to be done to get companies comfortable with the idea of giving their staff time off for further studies and training.

These were some of the ideas raised at a roundtable discussion on Singapore’s recent Budget. The event was organised by The Straits Times and The Business Times and held on March 7.

One of the measures announced in the Budget was a boost to SkillsFuture credits for those aged 40 and above. They will receive a credit of $4,000, and an allowance of up to $3,000 a month for up to 24 months when they pursue certain full-time courses.

Despite efforts to encourage workers to upskill themselves, Singapore has seen a low take-up of SkillsFuture, which was introduced in 2015. So far, only around one in three Singaporeans has used their SkillsFuture credits, according to SkillsFuture Singapore data.

National Trades Union Congress deputy secretary-general Desmond Tan said that while SkillsFuture provides financial support, other factors might deter people from going for training – many find that they are unable to take time off, and employers might not help them to do so.

Workers might also not know where to start in terms of the types of skills they need, he added.

“Even if they go through training, they think, ‘What kind of recognition and reward do I get out of it?’ There ought to be some (consideration of the impact of) the skill sets and the training they have received on their wages, or the recognition they get from their employers,” said Mr Tan.

ST associate editor and senior columnist Vikram Khanna, who moderated the roundtable discussion, also asked whether companies such as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) would be willing to let workers go for training, given their labour constraints.

Association of Small and Medium Enterprises president Ang Yuit said businesses are interested in employees benefiting from experiences that are relevant to the organisation.

“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 and alignment to the business,” he said.

“What businesses sometimes cannot see is how a particular course impacts the business outcome. And when it doesn’t, then the business would rather the employee focus on what is going to be productive,” he added.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah said companies play an important role in talent development, and the best ones are those with continued, structured programmes for employees to learn and acquire new skills.

Companies need to be progressive and forward-thinking, and they must want to invest in their employees, she said.

“The older mindset is a plug-and-play one; they expect somebody to come out of the university or school fully formed with all the skills, so the company is able to just plug them in. But the reality is that from day one when you start a job, you are learning.”

Some training programmes can be done in-house, but not necessarily all of them, said Ms Indranee.

Citing the example of how advertising was previously limited to ads in newspapers or the Yellow Pages, she said: “When social media came along, companies had to acquire these skills, and they’re not skills that they would have had in-house. So your employees would either have to go and get a course outside, or you hire young people at that time who were already digital natives able to handle this.”

UOB senior economist Alvin Liew said SMEs will feel the impact of manpower shortages more keenly than larger firms when staff take time off for training. SMEs account for 99 per cent of enterprises in Singapore and employ about 70 per cent of the total workforce.

Companies might also worry about retaining workers who attend relevant training courses, Mr Liew said. “When you are that small, those fears of losing your staff because they become better are very real.”

One idea is for firms to offer incentives such as a promotion or pay rise to staff who stay at the company for a time after completing a course that is beneficial to the business, he said.

Mr Ang said older workers bring much value to companies as they have gained work experience and soft skills over the years, in areas such as leadership and communication. 

Firms will benefit from complementing those qualities in workers with specific skills that their industry or sector needs, he said, adding: “That becomes a very strong thing that companies can leverage.”