A recent study by the NTUC Strategy unit and NTUC LearningHub (NTUC LHUB) with 564 business leaders found that as many as 78 per cent of them had difficulties filling the vacant job roles in their companies
With that said, only 51 per cent of these business leaders have sent their workers for training over the last six months.
These were some of the key findings of the study, called Continuing Education and Training (CET): Now and What Could Be Next by NTUC, which was released on 21 December 2021.
The business leaders who took part in the survey came from industries across Singapore, including manufacturing, information and communications, financial and insurance services, wholesale and retail trade, professional services.
Commenting on the findings, NTUC LHUB CEO Jeremy Ong said that one of the more cost-effective ways to fill vacant positions is to upskill and uplift current employees.
He said: “At NTUC LearningHub, we support business leaders by driving human-centric company transformation through outcomes-focused training.
“Existing employees know the business the best, in terms of company goals, values, policies and even culture, so the transition will be less disruptive. More importantly, employers will feel empowered to step up and contribute more to the organisation through expanding their know-hows in technical and technology skills.”
Up to 63 per cent of the business leaders who participated in the study felt that skills mismatch was the most prevalent issue facing companies.
The top three industries which were most concerned about skills mismatch were the public administration, real estate services, and wholesale and retail trade sectors.
Some 38 per cent of business leaders identified financial costs as the biggest challenge facing companies when it comes to sending workers for training. This was closely followed by difficulty in identifying relevant courses (37 per cent), and matching employees to training (33 per cent).
However, up 73 per cent agreed that higher training subsidies would incentivise companies to send their workers for training. Some 55 per cent also suggested that the provision of business consultancy services could also alleviate this problem.
Companies’ human resource departments, Government websites and unions were the top three avenues of which business leaders received information of training related initiatives.
NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Chee Hong Tat said that expanding the role of the Labour Movement in the national training ecosystem is critical to shape CET for workers.
He said: “The Labour Movement will continue to work closely with government agencies, employers, Institutes of Higher Learning [IHLs] and CET providers to identity current and future in-demand skills and address the quality and impact of training programmes in relation to workers’ skills gaps.
“We encourage employers to work with NTUC, be it through Company Training Committees or the newly launched Learning eXperience Platform [LXP], and to tap on the resources available at NTUC’s Training and Placement ecosystem to strengthen their enterprise and workforce capabilities.”
