1. Good afternoon everyone. It is such a delight to see close to 700 of you here today, mostly from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), employers, Human Resources (HR) and training providers.
2. This is a very big ecosystem. On Sunday, during the National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong spoke about how SkillsFuture is one of the pillars in our refreshed social compact. To me, this is a good manifestation of how the SkillsFuture pillar is a real one, and a well-supported one.
3. Congratulations to the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) for this good partnership, to bring the various players in this ecosystem together for this closing event of the SkillsFuture Festival. As I was walking around the booths earlier on, I was delighted by the energy, the passion and the initiatives that are sprouting – they are like seeds being sowed. And I hope that in time to come, these seeds will bear fruits that can be harvested, to help businesses become more competitive, and workers to be rejuvenated.
4. Every Singaporean will be supported to pursue upskilling and reskilling that can advance their career or help them transition to new careers. This is what the Singapore Government is committed to do. It is not just being competitive for the sake of it, but more so to help individuals achieve their potential and aspirations.
5. With a skilled, quality, and competitive workforce, our enterprises will certainly then be able to transform, become more resilient and capture new business opportunities.
6. Last year, 23,000 employers sponsored more than 220,000 employees for training supported by SSG. This is an increase from 20,000 employers previously sponsoring 168,000 employees two years ago, and the number is still growing.
7. Now, what is remarkable is that 97% of these employers are SMEs. SMEs are competitive and do not want to be left out.
8. The fact that today's Conference is organised by the SBF further demonstrates the commitment and leadership of businesses in the SkillsFuture movement. Let me focus today on the key roles that the industry plays, particularly the employers, intermediaries and the HR community.
9. First, the employers. Employers play a key role in identifying skills gaps in their workforce and investing in appropriate targeted training to plug those gaps. Many of you here are already doing this, and we want to support you to do more, given the challenges that you face – some of which were highlighted by Mr Kok Ping Soon, CEO of SBF, in his speech earlier on.
10. To help employers identify skills gaps and choose appropriate training, I shared earlier this year that the online Skills Profiler tool subscription will be expanded to another 1,000 SMEs for free. This online tool helps SMEs assess the skills readiness of their workforce and also provides training recommendations to meet the identified skills gaps.
11. As of end July, more than 650 SMEs have adopted the Skills Profiler tool, benefitting over 4,500 employees.
12. I am pleased to announce that SSG has also recently launched their revamped SkillsFuture for Business portal. The course directory has been enhanced to provide sharper search results, allowing enterprise users to better find quality training that meets their business needs.
13. I encourage SMEs to check out the portal, which is located on the GoBusiness portal, and do give us your feedback.
14. We are also increasing the number of sector-specific training programmes that offer more in-depth, relevant training for the sector. Ping Soon mentioned earlier that one of the top three challenges for employers is that while they want to send their employees for training and skills development, they do not know if the courses or the training are relevant.
15. Today, SBF will be signing Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Nanyang Polytechnic and Republic Polytechnic to develop workforce capabilities, including training for the Wholesale Trade sector.
16. We are also appointing FoodXervices as a new SkillsFuture Queen Bee company in the Wholesale Trade sector. They have been at the forefront of implementing sustainability and digitalisation in their business processes. These investments in workforce development have supported their growth.
17. As a SkillsFuture Queen Bee company, they will share their experience and help support their value chain of more than 4,000 corporate customers including food manufacturers, wholesalers and F&B establishments. I urge companies in the Wholesale Trade sector to work with SBF and FoodXervices, and take up their skills advisory support to transform and grow your productivity.
18. While external training can be useful to bring in new expertise, training that is most customised and relevant to a company is often conducted at the workplace itself. The biggest value of workplace learning is that companies do not need to take workers away from work, for training.
19. To reap such benefits, employers will have to build up their workplace learning capabilities to deliver on-the-job training. It is easier said than done. We know that if companies can conduct their own training, they would very much want to do so. But do they have the know-how, do they have the resources? They will also need to learn and understand how to train adults.
20. NACE, the National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning, provides structured support to help companies develop on-the-job training blueprints based on identified skills needs. NACE also trains supervisors to coach and deliver on-the-job training.
21. The Workplace Skills Recognition Programme (WPSR) that I announced last year in Parliament is also gaining traction. WPSR allows enterprises to formally recognise skills that their employees acquired through the workplace so their skills certification can be fast-tracked.
22. More than 110 enterprises across 22 sectors have registered interest in the programme. 15 enterprises have successfully attained the Workplace Learning Ready Mark certification.
23. JUMBO Group of Restaurants is an example of a company that benefitted from WPSR. With the Workplace Learning Ready Mark certification, they fast-tracked the Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) certifications for over 200 employees. This saved them more than 2,200 man-hours and reduced their training costs by four times. And most importantly, the workplace learning and training is on-the-job, it is relevant and it is exactly what the company needs to train its workers in.
24. Without the WPSR, they would have to send workers for external training to comply with regulatory requirements. This is actually very pertinent for businesses who are in the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) sectors, where companies are required to follow a structured training process.
25. Next on the industry intermediaries. Other than just supporting employers to identify skills gaps and suitable training programmes, it is also critical to help employers recognise the skills acquired. Skills recognition essentially creates this impetus and confidence for workers to upskill.
26. Industry intermediaries are key in the promotion of skills recognition at the sector level.
27. A few weeks ago, the Singapore Computer Society launched the Skills Pathway for Cybersecurity at the SkillsFuture Festival Opening Forum. It pools together 13 companies to offer internships and job interviews for individuals who have attained selected cybersecurity industry certifications. These certifications can be found on the Singapore Computer Society Skills Pathway website.
28. Such a pathway provides the individuals with job experience so they can put these certified skills to practice, thus strengthening their employability. So it is good for the businesses, and also good for the employees.
29. More than 130 individuals have expressed interest. Enrolment into the endorsed training courses for cybersecurity certifications have also increased. Congratulations to Singapore Computer Society and its 13 partner companies!
30. I am happy to announce today that the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES), a Skills Development Partner, will be expanding their skills-based Chartered Engineering Technologist certification pathway to the Infrastructure and Built Environment sectors.
31. They will set up a new skills assessment centre with Singapore Polytechnic to recognise any informal learning acquired through workplace learning. This allows experienced non-degree holders to convert their competencies acquired through work into the attainment of the Chartership, allowing them to progress in their careers. It is really moving beyond credentials and paper qualifications. We are recognising work experience and skills acquired on the job, and all this thanks to the good work of IES.
32. I encourage more companies to work with our SDPs and take advantage of these initiatives to better recognise skills and promote the skills-based career development pathways for your employees.
33. Now the last group, the HR community. The HR and Learning and Development (L&D) professionals play a critical role in enabling skills transformation and recognition. They can build structures to incentivise upskilling, and foster and sustain a positive culture for professional development.
34. We want to support our HR and L&D professionals to do more to make a significant difference to their fellow employees and their enterprise.
35. A survey in IHRP's recent Jobs-Skills Insights Report found that only six out of 10 SMEs actively plan the skills development needs of their workforce, compared to nearly nine out of 10 for bigger companies.
36. To help uplift the HR capabilities, the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) – also one of SSG's Skills Development Partners – will be launching two Role Badges in Workplace Learning developed with Nanyang Polytechnic and the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL). These role badges will equip HR and L&D professionals with the capabilities to build workplace learning processes in their companies.
37. Today, SBF is also signing an MOU with IHRP, where they will work together to help SMEs adopt progressive employment practices. SBF members can then gain complimentary access to IHRP's Corporate Partner Programme for information on HR best practices and peer-learning opportunities.
38. I am really heartened to see so much partnership and collaboration going on. I would say that our SkillsFuture movement is progressing very well, but I hope that the speed and the scale will go much further and faster.
39. I am of course heartened to see many of the SMEs here today. It is a very encouraging sign. I recall that the closing ceremony of the SkillsFuture Festival, which I attended three to four years ago, there was a much smaller group, with fewer employers and certainly fewer SMEs. But today, look at you, look at this crowd here! It is, to me, a very good encouragement for our team in SSG who have been working so hard with good partners like SBF, to bring the SkillsFuture movement into the heart of companies in Singapore.
40. Together with the industry, we can make a significant difference in uplifting employees, uplifting enterprises, and strengthening SkillsFuture within our social compact.
41. Like Ping Soon said, today, it is time to discover, be inspired, take action. All the best. Thank you.