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The most impactful way to commit time, investment, and resources to upskilling is by aligning the agenda to broader business goals. Here’s your handy guide to growing your people to grow your business.
This article is brought to you by SkillsFuture.
The energy, passion, and initiatives dedicated towards upskilling Singapore’s workforce have been likened to seeds being sowed, and in the words of Ms Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State for Education, “these seeds will bear fruits that can be harvested, to help businesses become more competitive, and workers to be rejuvenated”.
Speaking at the SkillsFuture Human Capital Conference in August 2024, MoS Gan made an eloquent yet pragmatic point – that upskilling is a long game. Employers who invest in the workforce today, are likely to see results tomorrow in the form of productivity gains, employee engagement, and loyalty amidst talent shortage.
In this article, we uncover the game-changing potential of workforce upskilling, revealing how it can boost adaptability and competitiveness, future-proofing your business against manpower challenges and economic headwinds.
The current state of workforce development
Singapore’s labour market remains strong, with the country continuing to have one of the highest employment rates compared to OECD countries. Amidst this stable growth, technological advancements, particularly in automation and artificial intelligence, are reshaping industries and job roles.
While this presents opportunities, herein lies the challenge, whereby workers, especially those in their mid-careers, face the pressing need to grow their skillsets for new, tech-driven roles.
Ms Wenshan Xu, Director of the Enterprise Engagement Division of SkillsFuture Singapore acknowledges the challenges confronting enterprises, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on workforce development in Singapore. “Yet, they present growth opportunities to spur organisations to innovate through upskilling initiatives.”
She adds: “A recent finding from the Institute of Adult Learning’s Business Performance and Skills Survey showed that companies that rank high in both business and people strategy reported the best business performance. These companies are more likely to report an increase in profits, revenue, and market share along with highest staff engagement with lowest attrition. Notably, they achieve a remarkable 33.8% increase in revenue and 28.5% increase in profits – more than double of most other groups.
Ms Xu further emphasises the comprehensive support available for businesses in Singapore. "In Singapore, we've established a robust ecosystem to support enterprises in their workforce development journey.
"Through SkillsFuture initiatives such as the National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning (NACE) and Workplace Skills Recognition Programme (WPSR), we are integrating learning into the workplace. Enterprises can also enjoy course fee subsidies of up to 90% when they send their workers for external training."
Wenshan Xu, Director of the Enterprise Engagement Division of SkillsFuture Singapore
“For companies unsure about their skill needs, our Skills Profiler for SMEs and partnerships with SkillsFuture Queen Bees (SFQBs) and Skills Development Partners (SDPs) provide tailored guidance. This comprehensive approach ensures that every business, regardless of size or sector, has the tools to build a future-ready workforce."
The long-term business benefits of upskilling
There is a pull towards upskilling among both individuals and company leadership, and perhaps this is the right time to capitalise on it with employers currently working towards their 2025 budget planning and strategies.
Speaking exclusively to HRO, Martijn Schouten, Workforce Transformation Leader, PwC South East Asia Consulting shares three long-term gains that employers will accrue from investing in workforce development:
Firstly, by transforming organisations into both talent factories and magnets, workforce development enables employers to cultivate internal talent. Through nurturing growth from within, these companies become destinations where employees choose to stay and build long-term careers, confident in their future potential.
“This in itself will make the firm an extremely attractive place for talent in the industry,” he says.
Next, becoming an intelligent enterprise. “As technology evolves quickly, it becomes imperative to embed technology deep into the way you develop your workforce.
"Aligning your organisation’s tech stacks with the worker experience, getting the most of your technological assets, upskilling your workforce to use technology productively and democratising Gen-AI will enable your company to become an intelligent workplace."
Martijn Schouten, Workforce Transformation Leader, PwC South East Asia Consulting
Lastly, he shares the importance of optimising the workforce balance sheet by leveraging on data and talent analytics which will allow employers to better understand the ROI on workforce development, such as in recruitment, onboarding, training and leadership development.
Aligning upskilling with long-term business goals
Gary Lee, Organisation and Business Partner Director, Dassault Systèmes, is one of Singapore’s most-experienced L&D leaders, and is a firm believer in ensuring learning delivers business outcomes.
To this effect, he stresses the importance of instilling a business objective instead of an HR-driven objective to upskilling. Inputs for this would come from “frequent discussions with business leaders preferably on a quarterly basis on how their workforce is doing, what needs to improve, and how workforce development can support the evolving objectives.”
Additionally, when it comes to aligning workforce development goals with broader business objectives, Lee provided some valuable examples. It is important, he noted, to ask how workforce development initiatives directly impact key business metrics, such as increasing sales revenue or reducing operating costs.
Traditional metrics like training hours per employee or course evaluations offer limited insight into business outcomes. Instead, he suggests evaluating, for instance, whether a lack of sales growth stems from capacity issues or capability gaps.
If the issue is capability-related, then targeted upskilling or reskilling initiatives might be the most effective solution for driving performance improvements and achieving business targets.
Knowledge derived from Gary Lee, Organisation and Business Partner Director, Dassault Systèmes
Common barriers employers face
Training may not be at the forefront of decision makers’ minds (and budget) during uncertain times, a challenge that must be overcome.
Samir Bedi, People Consulting Leader, EY ASEAN, says that this challenge around resource constraints is especially evident in smaller companies.
“Some employers may see the time that the employee is away for training as lost time, whereas, in reality, this is invested time.
“At the same time, there is a dollar investment to the training, and employers need to recognise that the investment made now for the organisation is to realise gains in the future,” he adds.
This links to another hurdle, which is the preference for employers to have in place a “plug-and-play" mindset, which implies they intend to “buy” employees with the necessary skills rather than “build” internally, citing business and timeline pressures.
The final point that comes up in conversations often is the “no clue, no money, no time” dilemma, described as:
Challenges in navigating their way around (No clue): Employers often require guidance on how upskilling initiatives can align with business goals to make more informed decisions about workforce development.
Bedi cites that organisations risk the time spend on training employees with skills that they are unable to use to enhance their productivity or value-add to their roles.
"This sends the organisation down the vicious cycle of learning where skills gained are not useful despite the time and resources invested."
Samir Bedi, People Consulting Leader, EY ASEAN
Difficulty in prioritising upskilling over daily operational work for staff (No time): Employers are often caught up in the daily business-as-usual (BAU) operations or dealing with manpower issues, which makes it challenging to prioritise employee training, despite concerns that such a mindset could hinder future business agility.
Financial concerns (No money): Companies may hesitate to invest in training due to the perceived high costs. Worrying, some employers fear that once employees gain new skills, they might seek better job opportunities elsewhere, and eventually may want to leave the company after their upskilling. This belief that investing in training could lead to higher turnover often deters employers from making these critical investments.
In fact, Bedi points out that some organisations consider their employees as a “transient workforce”, and as a result, keep them busy doing their jobs of today, instead of preparing for their jobs for tomorrow.
“This carries a risk of a depleting value proposition and has medium and long-term negative impact on the growth and competitiveness of the business as well,” he emphasised.
On the other hand, forward-thinking companies, as Ms Xu from SkillsFuture reinforces, recognise that investing in their people helps retain and attract talent, boosts engagement, and fosters a more competitive, innovative workforce in the long run.
Specific initiatives in support of workforce development
Having taken stock of some of the challenges, Parul Munshi, Sustainability Leader and Workforce Transformation Partner, PwC South East Asia Consulting, encourages employers and L&D heads to:
- Introduce learning at a suitable pace and momentum,
- Leverage technologies that enable hyper personalised learning experiences, and
- Expand the learning realm beyond formal training to include mentoring, peer coaching and other critical exposures through internal gigs.
"Employers need to also focus on employability, with future-focused learning serving as a gateway to growth and development beyond one’s current job scope and career pathway."
Parul Munshi, Sustainability Leader and Workforce Transformation Partner, PwC South East Asia Consulting
She adds: “To contend with lower budgets, employers must use data to track and report the ROI on learning and create a more compelling business case for investments in development.”
Further, employers are urged to tap into resources and funding provided by SkillsFuture to support employees' skills training needs.
The SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC) is one such programme, representing a S$10,000 credit for eligible businesses to transform and upskill via supported programmes and courses. It can be used to offset 90% of out-of-pocket costs for supported programmes and courses. Such programmes are expected to cover topics such as workforce transformation, enterprise transformation, and Skills Framework-aligned courses.
Special attention is paid to the needs of SMEs through the Enhanced Training Support for SMEs, an easy-to-understand breakdown of all SkillsFuture training subsidies for businesses. Here is a diagrammatic breakdown:
Finally, progressive employers can take note of application into the SkillsFuture Employer Awards in the first quarter of every calendar year. Presented by the President of the Republic of Singapore, the Awards honour exemplary organisations that champion employees’ skills development and build a lifelong learning culture at the workplace. The initiative is open to all Singapore-registered entities, including SMEs, corporations, and voluntary welfare organisations.
Skills critical to the future workforce
As we round off this discussion, let us take us a look at the latest research from the Global Skills Report 2024, that finds four major skill trends shaping the learning landscape of tomorrow:
- AI literacy emerges as a global imperative in the wake of ChatGPT,
- AI readiness initiatives drive emerging skill adoption,
- Industry micro-credentials continue to prepare learners for in-demand digital jobs,
- Cybersecurity skills remain crucial amid talent shortages and threats.
Further, according to the Skills Demand for the Future Economy report, a total of 24 skills were identified with demand and transferability forecasted to grow, as shown in the image below:
In conclusion, Ms Xu from SkillsFuture Singapore encourages employers to think about workforce development more holistically.
"To future-proof the business entails employers taking a longer-term perspective about their business growth, and in tandem seeking to understand the skill needs of their workforce to seize new opportunities."
SkillsFuture Singapore's Ms Wenshan Xu
"They can then consider whether existing tasks or jobs can be enhanced or redesigned to allow workers to apply the skills in their work and recognise workers for their skillsets. This maximises the utility of training to the individual and provides employees with confidence on the skills that they need to acquire.”
SkillsFuture has a range of offerings that can help employers to upskill their workers, depending on the needs of each organisation. For more information on how SkillsFuture can help companies, please visit skillsfuture.gov.sg/companies.
Lead image: 123RF
Infographics: SkillsFuture
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