share on
Under the MoU, the enhanced Job Security Council will open up possibilities of a pilot programme with SNEF-member companies, to place job seekers, especially the younger PMEs in their overseas offices.
The National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC) Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 17 October 2022 (Monday), in a commitment to better support employers and workers.
According to a joint statement by the parties, this move aims to strengthen the Job Security Council (JSC) ecosystem to drive better wages, work prospects, and welfare for workers; and better support more than 3,300 SNEF-member employers in their business and workforce transformation efforts.
The strengthening of the NTUC JSC was proposed by the NTUC-SNEF PME Taskforce (PME TF) in October 2021 as one of the nine recommendations meant to alleviate the challenges faced by professionals, managers and executives (PMEs). The PME TF’s objective was to identify and address the aspirations and concerns of PMEs in the workplace; strengthen their employment and employability, and enable PMEs to compete fairly and more effectively in the labour market.
Managed by e2i, the NTUC JSC was established in February 2020 to minimise the impact of retrenchments on workers by helping them find jobs promptly. It aims to create an ecosystem of hiring and releasing employers, to preemptively shorten the unemployment period of workers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the JSC facilitated the mass movement of workers from companies that experienced a steep decline in business (e.g., those in the tourism sector) to companies that needed to quickly ramp up operations (e.g. those in the healthcare sector) via its ‘Lift and Place’ mode.
Per the statement, industries that had been badly hit are now on the rebound as the world emerges from COVID-19 — in fact, Singapore’s total employment in H1 2022 has recovered to above pre-pandemic levels. In view of the now tight labour market and with fewer retrenchments, the JSC will evolve beyond placement and shift towards building up capabilities towards higher productivity.
At the same time, e2i will also develop and institutionalise the ‘Lift and Place’ model by identifying adjacent industries requiring workers with similar job skills. This will enable the mobilisation of workers to hiring companies when the need arises.
In line with this focus, this partnership between the e2i and SNEF under this MOU will" facilitate the matching of workers to good job opportunities in SNEF-member companies both in good and poor economic conditions."
For example, with SNEF onboard, the enhanced JSC opens up possibilities of a pilot programme with SNEF-member companies, to place job seekers, especially the younger PMEs in their overseas offices. The duration of the ‘overseas work-and-learn’ stint will vary depending on the needs of the employers. The JSC is working to bring on board a small number of companies to pilot this concept in line with the interest expressed by both companies and younger PMEs.
Beyond matching skilled workers to good jobs, the partnership will also include efforts to upskill the workforce to seize emerging opportunities and prepare workers for future career transitions. For example, mid-career professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) can be reskilled to take on new roles through various Career Conversion Programmes (CCP) across industries.
Further, the statement added: "To emerge stronger from the pandemic, companies have to reassess priorities, work processes and even overhaul operations. Jobs may need to be redesigned and workers need to upskill or reskill to meet new job skills requirements. With the collaboration from this MOU, SNEF members that embark on business and workforce transformation will be better placed to understand and tap on support offered by the Labour Movement."
For example, SNEF members that have formed Company Training Committees (CTC) can not only access Operation & Technology Roadmap (OTR) sessions to identify transformation strategies, but they can also access the NTUC CTC Grant to translate transformation strategies into actionable outcomes, such as technology adoption and job redesign to drive business and workforce transformation.
Commenting on the above, Ng Chee Meng, NTUC Secretary-General said: "As our economy and businesses recover from the pandemic, NTUC’s Job Security Council also had to evolve to ensure that we continue to support the comprehensive needs of our workers. NTUC and SNEF have always worked closely to create win-win scenarios for our workers and employers, and today, we are taking that one step further by integrating SNEF’s network of employers into the JSC ecosystem.
"This move aims to provide a one-stop service for job seekers, so that they can come to e2i to get career guidance, upskill or learn new skills, and also find good jobs with employer partners. As we value add to a job seeker’s overall experience, we also ensure that employers have access to qualified and skilled talents. This is one way that both businesses and workers can prosper and thrive together."
Tan Hee Teck, Vice President, SNEF added: "Despite the economic headwinds that confront the Singapore economy, many employers are still facing manpower and skill shortages. Through this partnership with NTUC JSC, SNEF hopes to help to place and train more PMEs to support employers in meeting their manpower needs and redesigning their jobs to be more attractive and productive. Feedback from SNEF members also suggest that employers are keen to work with Singaporeans who can take on global and regional roles as well as to help local companies internationalise. SNEF will continue its discussions with tripartite partners and employers to better support our local PMEs to further advance their careers."
Meanwhile, Caryn Lim, CEO, e2i shared, “e2i will work with SNEF, employers and tap on our Labour Movement network to prepare and build a resilient and relevant workforce as industries transform. With SNEF’s support for the Job Security Council, we can connect our job seekers to more companies and opportunities and at the same time fulfil the job matching and employment needs of companies. With the new NTUC CTC Grant, we aim to give that needed boost for companies to walk their transformation map, and ultimately uplifting workers in their capabilities and employability.”
Finally, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay, who attended the signing ceremony, expressed his thoughts in a LinkedIn post: "With SNEF’s support for JSC, the ecosystem can be further strengthened, through more deliberate outreach to employers, hence increasing awareness/adoption of a holistic suite of services by JSC and SNEF. "
As he summarised, this partnership aims to:
- Bridge employers to a greater pool of talent from e2i’s database of job seekers;
- Provide employers with resources and tools to support workforce transformation through job redesign, reskilling and upskilling, and
- Enhance the employability of workers and provide employment facilitation support to help employers meet their manpower needs.
Photo / Singapore National Employers Federation statement
Follow us on Telegram and on Instagram @humanresourcesonline for all the latest HR and manpower news from around the region!
share on
