Media Release for NTUC Company Training Committee Symposium on 21 Sep 2023

NTUC proposes for Government to provide training allowance and employers to provide skills allowance to encourage workers to be trained, as part of Workers’ Compact in action

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) held its inaugural Company Training Committee (CTC) Symposium today. Organised by the NTUC Training and Placement Ecosystem ¹ (TPE), the event showcased key outcomes of CTCs and how CTCs and CTC Grant are catalysts for business and workplace transformations. At the event, NTUC also unveiled key recommendations arising from the NTUC #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations (EWMC), urging employers to play their part to enhance the training landscape.

Highlighting how CTCs showcase workers’ compact in action, NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng said, “By institutionalising workers’ training in tandem with business transformations through CTCs, we enable employers to enjoy increased productivity and better business outcomes, while workers benefit from improved wages, welfare, and work prospects, in a sustainable manner.” He added, “NTUC also hopes that the Government would consider incentivising workers for their training, such as providing training allowance to help cover their living expenses as they train for deeper skillsets.”

Setsco Services, a homegrown test and inspection company, is an example of how CTCs resulted in tangible training outcomes for workers. Setsco embarked on an Operation and Technology Roadmap (OTR) to reshape its business model and workforce with the use of technology. This helped Setsco identify fatigue testing as a potential area for service expansion. Setsco also leveraged NTUC CTC Grant to procure a fatigue testing machine. In doing so, they expanded their service offerings and paved the way for creation of new jobs. The new direction enabled Setsco to develop a Career Development Plan for their employees, who have since benefitted from training and will receive a wage increment in addition to its regular wage increment cycle. Refer to Annex A on the case studies for CTC and CTC Grant.

While CTCs have helped to drive training for workers and lead to better outcomes for workers’ wages, welfare and prospects, findings from EWMC revealed an urgent need to provide greater support for workers’ training needs.

Gaps in training: Key findings from #EveryWorkerMatters Conversations

EWMC key findings revealed that workers across all age groups recognised the importance of upskilling for career development. They also agreed that training is a meaningful use of time to develop their skills, have better career progression or earn higher wages. Mid-career workers further acknowledged that training helps with their career transition.

However, there is a gap between the awareness of training benefits and the number of workers who attended training. EWMC findings showed that the proportion of workers who attended training in the last 12 months declined with age.

EWMC also identified four key barriers that mid-career workers faced to attend training. They include: (i) lack of financial resources to fund self-initiated training, (ii) lack of understanding on the type of training needed to remain relevant, (iii) lack of time to attend training and (iv) lack of support from employers for self-initiated training. Refer to Annex B for the details on the key findings.

NTUC announces key recommendations to support workers

In response to the EWMC findings, NTUC feels that more can be done to address the barriers to training that workers faced and has made several recommendations by calling on employers and the Government to support and enhance Singapore's training ecosystem for workers. These collaborative efforts would help workers overcome their barriers to training and shape their attitudes towards training, resulting in favourable training behaviours and contributing to a more robust lifelong learning environment.

For employers

To address these barriers to training, NTUC wants to work closer with employers to implement strategies aimed at encouraging workers to go for training, which would result in win-win outcomes for both companies and workers. These include:

a) Offering a skills allowance for workers who attend training
NTUC encourages employers to motivate workers to attend training with a skills allowance. A skills allowance helps serve as a recognition for employees who invest time and effort in pursuing training to help plug their skill gaps. By strengthening the link between training and work-related outcomes, this can help influence workers’ attitudes and action towards training and result in improved work performance, higher productivity and greater job satisfaction.

b) Providing protected time-off for self-initiated training
NTUC calls on employers to introduce protected training time for workers to attend training courses for their own learning and development, beyond company-mandated training ² . A protected time-off policy is valuable for rank-and-file workers or individuals working in operational roles and have fewer leave days as they face the practical challenge of being unable to afford time to attend training. This will provide assurance to workers that their salary or leave days are not impacted when they attend training.

Other EWMC recommendations for employers include introducing inclusive training opportunities for older workers, to build a resilient and sustainable workforce in Singapore.

For Government

The Government can also lend support through making policy changes to support the nation’s efforts in fostering a culture of training and lifelong learning within companies and among workers:

a) Providing training allowance for acquisition of deep skillsets
NTUC propose for the Government to consider providing a training allowance
to enable all workers to undergo deep skilling. The training allowance can be tied to a percentage of their salary and help cover their living expenses and alleviate their monetary concerns as they pursue long-term training.

b) Expanding subsidies for workers to pursue a second degree or diploma
Building on the current SkillsFuture training ecosystem, NTUC suggests that the Government can consider expanding the range of courses subsidised to include a second degree or diploma. This will enable workers to pursue training to develop new areas of expertise in addition to their first field of study, allow them to keep pace with the demands of new and emerging sectors or facilitate a career transition.

c) Advocating short-term unemployment support for involuntarily displaced workers
NTUC has called for the Government to provide short-term unemployment support for workers who were involuntarily unemployed, supplemented by active labour market policy ³ . During the National Day Rally 2023, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong shared that the Government would roll out a temporary financial support scheme as part of Forward Singapore, to support workers who lost their jobs involuntarily and are upgrading their skills.

The EWMC recommendations also called for a lowering of the eligibility age for use of SkillsFuture Credits to support youths in bridging their transition from school to work.

With the recommendations above, NTUC will continue partnering employers and the Government to build a strong and supportive work culture that promotes training for workers of diverse age groups, industries and sectors.

NTUC continues to focus on forming CTCs to deliver impactful outcomes for companies and workers

Since the launch of CTCs in 2019, 1,600 CTCs have trained over 100,000 workers across various sectors. The NTUC CTC Grant, administered by NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), has also funded projects to raise productivity, redesign jobs and upskill workers. NTUC remains steadfast towards its commitment to set up 2,500 CTCs by 2025 and drive training initiatives through CTCs to achieve improved outcomes for both workers and businesses.

For more information on the NTUC CTC Symposium, please refer to Annex C.