NTUC Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster and SPRING Singapore strengthen Singaporean core in food services and retail sectors

The National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC) Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster and SPRING Singapore joined hands to strengthen the Singaporean Core in local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in both the food services and retail sectors. With funding support committed over three years, the Core Executive Programme for Food Services and Retail Sectors aims to attract, place and train Singaporean professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) to fill supervisory and managerial positions in these sectors. Some 500 Singaporean fresh graduates and PMEs with no more than three years of working experience can expect to earn progressive wages and better career prospects, upon completion of this new programme that was launched today. About 50 SMEs from both sectors will be participating in this programme.    

Strengthen Singaporean Core in Food Services and Retail Sectors

To maintain the competitiveness and sustainability of food services and retail sectors, companies need to continue to attract and retain locals to take on supervisory and managerial roles. There are Singaporeans and PRs who aspire to develop a career in these sectors, but due to a lack of knowledge of career development and progression opportunities, many do not join these sectors.

Core Executive Programme for Food Services and Retail Sectors

To attract more Singaporean PMEs into the food services and retail sectors, the Cluster and SPRING will jointly promote supervisory and managerial positions to prospective Singaporean job seekers, from fresh polytechnic and university graduates to PMEs with not more than three years of accumulated full-time working experience.

The Cluster and SPRING will identify, match and place suitable PMEs into a pilot pool of participating SMEs that are prepared to employ diploma-holders on full-time employment terms with at least a monthly salary of S$2,000 and degree-holders with at least S$2,500; commit them to a 12-month training and development programme - Core Executive Programme for Food Services and Retail Sectors; as well as promote them to supervisory and managerial roles, upon completion of the programme. The Cluster and SPRING aim to place and train 500 PMEs over three years, in the first phase of this partnership. See Annex 1 for details of eligibility criteria.

Under the programme, the new hire will attend a suite of accredited training and development courses that aim to build his or her core industry skills. The courses will be coordinated by NTUC LearningHub as the training aggregator, which will rope in the Singapore Institute of Retail Studies (SIRS) and Nanyang Polytechnic as training partners. The programme comprises three parts:

1. Internal On-the-job training;
2. External training on industry skills and an overseas study trip to one or more food services or retail chains in the region to learn best industry practices; and
3. A one-time completion bonus of S$5,000 for degree-holders and S$4,000 for diploma-holders upon successful completion.

Progressive Wages for Food Services and Retail Sectors

The new hire who has undergone the accelerated training and development, under the Core Executive Programme for Food Services and Retail Sectors, can expect progressive wages as he/she moves up the career ladder to become a Manager, upon completion of the programme.

Diagram 1: Progressive Wages for the Food Services and Retail Sectors

(Source: NTUC Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster)

In July, the Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster unveiled its Progressive Wage Model for the hotel sector to strengthen the Singaporean Core at the supervisory and managerial levels. “The food services and retail sectors face similar challenges in attracting Singaporeans to fill supervisory and managerial jobs. Most fresh graduates perceive there is a lack of structured learning programme and clear career development pathways in these sectors. However, there are good job and training opportunities in the sectors for our graduates and PMEs. The new Core Executive Programme will narrow the gaps in their job expectations and help to strengthen the Singaporean Core in the sectors,” said Cluster Lead, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang.

“SPRING Singapore is happy to partner NTUC on this Core Executive Programme to support local enterprises in the food services and retail sectors,” said Mr Png Cheong Boon, Chief Executive of SPRING Singapore. “It helps companies put in place a structured approach to attract and develop critical talents that will help fuel their business growth both locally and globally.”

“Progressive wage and career development in the food services and retail sectors are realised through the intervention of a structured training scheme like the Core Executive Programme. We hope to see more Singaporean supervisors and executives motivated to join these two sectors through this initiative,” commented Mr Tan Hock Soon, Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster Chairman.

The Core Executive Programme for Food Services and Retail Sectors was announced by Guest of Honour, NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Heng Chee How during the visit to Jay Gee Melwani Group’s retail outlets at Bugis+ with special guest, NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say and Mr Png Cheong Boon, Chief Executive of SPRING Singapore, led by Mr R Dhinakaran, Managing Director of Jay Gee.   Jay Gee Melwani Group, one of the participating SMEs, represents and markets some of the leading international names of lifestyle and apparel in Singapore and across South East Asia.

In summary, what this means for:

The Food Services and Retail sectors

1. A good start to strengthening the Singaporean Core as more Singaporean PMEs flow in to fill future supervisory or managerial roles in these sectors in the pilot phase.

The Employer

1. strengthen the capabilities and customer service skills of his/her employee through structured and funded training.
2. enhance his/her business’ competitiveness and sustainability.

The Employee

1. good starting salaries of at least S$2,000 to S$2,500 per month, which may  progressively increase with good performance.
2. structured training and development, which can lead to higher wages and job positions for him/her.
3. accelerated career pathways with the fast track Core Executive Programme.

Annex 1 

Factsheet on Core Executive Programme for Food Services and Retail Sectors

Objective

To attract, place and train 500 Singaporean/Permanent Resident fresh graduates and PMEs with no more than three years of working experience into the Food Services & Retail sectors over three years.  This will form the core pool who could assume future management and supervisory positions in these two sectors.

Overview

Source, Match & Place

NTUC and SPRING will work closely with the career offices of local Insitutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to highlight career development opportunities at participating SMEs.  Profiling platforms may include career fairs, case studies,competitions, as well as classroom engagement through faculty partners. NTUC and SPRING will also work through partners like e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) to attract and promote career opportunities to PMEs with no more than three years of working experience. 

Training & Development

Participating SMEs will receive funding support from SPRING.

Funding support for training and development of up to S$21,000 for each degree hire and S$15,000 for each diploma hire. The support is divided into three components: (1) Internal On-Job-Training (OJT), (2) External Training, and (3) Completion Bonus.

(1)   Internal OJT: Defrays additional resources committed by the participating SME to train and develop a new hire. The participating SME will have to provide training and development over a period of 12 months, quantifying the number of in-house training man-days committed.

(2)   External Training: Supports new hire’s training on core industry skills from accredited  courses managed by training aggregator, NTUC LearningHub.   New hires will also attend a regional study mission on food services or retail industry to learn about industry best practices.

(3)   Completion Bonus:   Supports a one-time milestone bonus that is paid to the new hire upon successful completion of the training and development programme. This is equivalent to two months of the recommended starting salary. 

Under CEP, each participating SME will be able to hire up to 10 new hires, or 10% of total full-time staff strength, whichever is lower.

Criteria

Company

The company must be:

1. An SME* with a minimum annual sales turnover of S$10 million
2. Prepared to pay a starting salary of at least S$2,500 and S$2,000 for degree and diploma holders, respectively
3. Committed to provide structured training with mentorship, preferably from senior management

* At least 30% local (Singaporean or Singapore Permanent Resident) shareholdings & company group annual sales turnover of not more than S$100 million OR company group employment size of not more than 200 workers.

Candidate

The candidate must be:

1. A Singaporean or Singapore Permanent Resident
2. Has less than three years of accumulated working experience (exclude Internship, NS and Part-time)
3. A graduate with a degree or diploma from NTU, NUS, SMU, UniSIM, SUTD, SIT, SP, NYP, RP, TP or NP

Interested companies or candidates can apply to or register with:

Mr Raven Lee

Cluster Specialist

NTUC Hospitality and Consumer Business Cluster

leehhan@ntuc.org.sg