With the support of NTUC U SME, some 10 employment agencies under the Association of Employment Agencies Singapore (AEAS) will embark on several areas of workforce improvement initiatives over the next three years.
This comes after the association completed its Sectoral Operation & Technology Roadmap (SOTR) on 27 September 2021.
AEAS President Jayaprema K. will be driving the transformation programme, which has been named New Opportunities, New Norms: Employment Agencies Transformation Programme.
NTUC U SME Director Yeo Wan Ling said that NTUC is delighted to partner AEAS, helping them to uplift their workforce.
“With progressive partners like AEAS, we can look forward to professionalising this sector to make employment agencies a growing sector with attractive and progressive prospects for job seekers,” she said.
Working with NTUC Industry Training and Transformation (NTUC IT&T), AEAS has identified several areas of improvements for the employment agencies.
They include enhancing workers with skills to improve business productivity, and empowering employees to contribute through digital upskilling and adoption of management skills.
Mr Jayaprema said: “After joining NTUC U SME on the SME Digital Reboot earlier, we realised the need to identify and chart term goals for the association to complement the employment agencies’ efforts to upskill during the pandemic.
“The Sectoral OTR’s facilitators from NTUC IT&T have provided our members with a platform to share and generate ideas and possible solutions.”
At the final roadmap presentation, AEAS shared some of the ideas generated by participants, which the association will now examine further for possible implementation.
For one, the association’s members felt that more could be done to address gaps in customer service and managing migrant domestic workers (MDWs).
Some suggestions included implementing better outreach activities to attract customers, and multi-language courses to improve communication with MDWs. AEAS will explore outreach efforts to employers and MDWs, in consultation with the Centre for Domestic Employees.
Second, to ensure a professional workforce in the sector, participants agreed that AEAS should independently establish a framework to provide accreditation to local employment agencies.
Third, to ensure that Singapore remains a prospective working destination for MDWs amid stricter border controls, AEAS will take a proactive approach to research and pursue new ways to develop partnerships with foreign employment agencies.
AEAS will also partner NTUC Women and Family and NTUC LearningHub as part of NTUC’s Training and Placement Ecosystem, to research and create potential learning programmes.
