NTUC U SME has come up with a new initiative to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) enhance the welfare of their employees.
Launched on 10 April 2017, the U SME Corporate Membership Scheme (UCMS) will allow SME employers to purchase NTUC Club’s corporate membership for their employees – at $120 per year or $10 per month per employee – so that they can enjoy privileges like access to club facilities, participate in sports and recreational activities and promotions from various NTUC merchant partners.
The employees will also be able to apply for scholarships, bursaries and NTUC U Care vouchers.
NTUC Assistant Director-General (ADG) Yeo Guat Kwang, who oversees U SME, said this came after SMEs feedback to NTUC on the challenges they faced in providing staff welfare due to a lack of resources.
He added: “The companies also have problems in trying to match to bigger companies with the kind of staff benefits that they can extend to their workers.”
The UCMS is only open to SME partners that have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with U SME.
NTUC U SME currently has signed over 100 MOUs with 16 trade associations representing SMEs, along with individual SMEs as well. In total, NTUC U SME’s partnerships span a network of about 13,000 SMEs employing 300,000 workers.
Retention
ADG Yeo said that by extending such benefits, SME bosses will be able to better retain their workers.
According to Greenpac Singapore CEO Susana Chong, her company does have its own welfare, but it has always been a cost issue. She added that as an SME, the challenge they face is the resources. Greenpac Singapore employs 40 workers.
She iterated that a typical SME would not be able to afford such benefits for its workers.
Networking
Besides tapping on NTUC Club benefits, both employees and employers can also participate in engagement and networking events organised by U SME.
U SME will be organising sectoral roundtable sessions to enable SMEs to share their concerns and discover the common challenges and ways to tackle them. Such issues include the shortage of manpower and how to attract and retain more Singaporeans.
Both employees and employers can also participate in training and development programmes provided by the Labour Movement.
Examples already available are the advanced learning programmes (ALPs) by NTUC LearningHub for middle-management employees of SMEs. These programmes, which have just ended its pilot phase, will allow the middle-management employees to learn more on service excellence, business leadership, productivity and innovation, and human capital management.
ADG Yeo said that the ALPs will cost about $300 per person, after Government subsidies, if the employee is a Singaporean. The full cost of an ALP is about $7,000.
Benefits At A Glance
Small- and medium-sized (SME) employees can enjoy two types of benefits from NTUC Club and NTUC U SME.
Benefits provided by NTUC Club:
For more information on the benefits, click here.
Benefits provided by NTUC U SME:
For both employers and employees
For employers
Information
SME employers are to register and pay for their employees' NTUC U SME Corporate Membership Scheme membership at $10 per month or $120 per year per employee.
For registrations and more information, email to sme@ntuc.org.sg.
Source: NTUC This Week
