Comrade John De Payva, President of NTUC,
Central Committee members,
Presidents, General Secretaries and Executive committee members of our affiliated unions,
CEOs and management of Cooperatives,
SkillsSave account holders from the co-operatives
Ladies and Gentleman,
Good afternoon to you all!
Today I am here to join all of you to witness the signing ceremony of SkillsSave by three of our co-operatives. On this occasion, we formally launch the SkillsSave scheme.
The genesis of the concept of a portable learning account for each individual worker goes back many years. The labour movement has for long advocated the setting up of an individual learning account for each worker. Conceptually, the individual learning account can be accumulated from contributions of employees, employers and top-ups from government. Workers can then use the money for training of their choice.
With the support of Singapore Labour Foundation, the labour movement will implement a pilot project on Individual Learning Account within the NTUC co-operatives. We call these accounts “SkillsSave” account. The pilot project involves up to 7500 staff in 3 of our co-operatives, namely NTUC Childcare, NTUC Income and NTUC FairPrice. To date, more than 4000 accounts have already been opened.
With globalization, our economy has been restructuring. As the pace of change quickens, for many people the concept of life long employment is outmoded. A worker cannot rely completely on his employer to chart and meet his training needs to ensure continual employment. We can no longer expect to stay with one employer for life.
As a labour movement, we have to help workers develop the ability to adapt and change. We break new ground as we pilot SkillsSave. With this, we hope to effect a paradigm shift in our perspectives on training.
A necessary shift in paradigm due to restructuring of economy
The most recent Labour Force Report (2004) noted that the number of employees with tenure of less than one year in their current job grew by 6.5% per annum while those with at least ten years tenure declined at the rate of 1.7% per annum over the period from 2002 to 2004. Consequently, the share of employees with long job tenure of at least 10 years dropped from 25% to 23%, while those with tenure of less than a year rose from 20% to 22%. The tenure of employment with each employer is getting shorter! The reduction in the tenure with one employer could be due to many factors, including keener competition and more volatile economic conditions. This would mean that each worker will now move through more jobs in his work-life, and he would need to be equipped with the skills to take on the new jobs.
Let me put this in another way. In the 1980s, several analysts projected that on average, each person would change jobs 3 times in his lifetime. By the 1990s, analysts were projecting 5 job changes. That was happening elsewhere in the world. We cannot remain unaffected since our economy is plugged into the global economy.
Today, the training of workers is largely employer-based. Various schemes available for support training are also funded mainly through the employers. The employers decide on the training courses for employees. There are some enlightened employers who are prepared to train their workers in skills beyond the needs of current jobs. However, most employers would still focus training to meet the current needs. What happens when they no longer need their employees? The redundant employees would not be nimble and flexible enough to switch to other jobs.
We see many retrenched workers feeling lost. Their natural inclination is to find a similar job with another employer. The sad truth is that the jobs they have lost are gone forever. If you ask them to go for retraining, they feel apprehensive. They feel this way because they have not developed the habit of continuous upgrading.
Instead of waiting for his employer to send him for training, the worker should look after himself. He should not hold on to the outmoded thinking that his employer will plan and chart his future.
Barriers to training
It is not going to be easy for employees to make this paradigm shift. There are real barriers preventing them to go for training. We need to help people to make the first step!
The UK Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) carried out a study on what holds people back. It produced a report that outlined the key factors that motivate people to learn, the barriers that prevent them from doing so and strategies that can be adopted to attract the reluctant, the disengaged and the disenchanted. The report shows that new ways of motivating adults to become active learners are needed if the goal of getting more people involved in education or training is to be achieved.
The study has identified some factors as main barriers to learning for adults. These include:
- Negative attitudes towards education, often gained through poor experiences at school.
- A lack of confidence and motivation to go for training.
- Limitations by financial problems.
- Anxieties about large institutions and the way in which learning is provided
The study shows the critical need to tackle issues of perception about learning and the importance of finding ways to motivate people to go for training. All of us like to stay in our comfort zone, the old and familiar. After having left school for a long time, it is a frightening for most adult workers to return to a rigorous schedule of learning. It is also a huge commitment.
We have traditionally relied on financial incentives to encourage people to go for certain training classified traditionally as employability enhancing. Financial incentives are important but they are not enough to get people started.
The LSDA study shows that it is important to create learning opportunities in a way that fits into people's lives. We need to understand what they want and what motivate them to take the first step to overcome the perception about learning. What will stimulate their demand for learning? There is a need to link learning with goals that really matter to people’s lives and understand that priorities and motivators may vary from individual to individual. For some people they may be instrumental - getting a job or promotion, for instance. For others they may be social.
That is why the SkillsSave has a wide range of courses and more will be added on. We hope that with this large selection, that will be something for everyone, and will help everyone to make the first step to acquaint with the skills of learning, and build his confidence. We want to eventually get him into the habit of constant skills upgrading.
The key point is to make learning more attractive so as to encourage potential learners to take the first, crucial step into training.
Cultivating the habit of constant skills upgrading
Therefore the purpose of SkillsSave is to encourage the individual to take responsibility for his own upgrading, and to make continuous learning a habit. Then he will be nimble and flexible, able to cope with changes.
We also need to encourage people to take the first step towards learning. A learning culture must be at the core of a successful and thriving economy. One of the objectives of the account is to promote life-long learning beyond traditionally defined “employability” enhancing training programmes. In interpreting learning in the broadest sense, we hope to help overcome barriers for those who might otherwise find learning intimidating.
Some might view such non-traditional learning as “wastage” as they are not in line with the traditional definition of training. But it is a mindset that we are aiming to change and a learning culture that we are aiming to promote to all segments of the working population. One has to acquire the skills of learning so that he can build his confidence and take one step further in developing the habit of upgrading his skills constantly.
Is it a waste of funds when a childcare teacher attends a karaoke training programme at a community club? I don’t think so. The skills she picks up would enable her to enrich her teaching of music.
Is it a waste of funds for a supermarket staff to take up flower arrangement at a community club? Surely the development of a better sense of aesthetics will lead to better store presentation that attracts customers!
But what is important is that the individual takes charge of his own training. He takes the first step, he chooses the course, and he develops a habit of attending courses. The individual is responsible for the use of the money in his SkillsSave account, his training and his employability.
Training and skills upgrading must be a life-long pursuit. What we have put in place is a structure for the scheme, and the financial support to get this started. What is most crucial is for an account holder to take the first step and use this account for his learning.
I urge all of you today with a SkillsSave account to use it for some form of learning.
Thank you!
