While the 23 Industry Transformation Maps launched by the Government detailed skills frameworks, new initiatives as well as future opportunities to guide various industries towards the job creation and output targets have been set.
The Labour Movement has been working with our network of partners to come up with relevant ways to operationalise the ITMs. The approaches vary from industry to industry, but outcomes intend to enable workers to transition towards better jobs, earn better salaries and ultimately enjoy better lives.
The Labour Movement has identified seven sectors where proactive action has been translated into tangible efforts to help workers and companies adapt and grow under their respective ITMs. They are Healthcare, Environmental Services, Energy & Chemicals, Security, Financial Services, Precision Engineering and Electronics.
The approach taken was to identify the challenges in the respective industries, devise strategies for progress, improve existing jobs, highlight new jobs that will be created and the required skills workers will need to transition and thrive in the future.
Healthcare: Leveraging Our Network to Move Ahead
The Challenges
An ageing population is placing huge demands on healthcare workers in the industry. While it means growth, the scale and scope of work has grown significantly in both acute and community hospitals. New opportunities in the intermediate and long-term care make it essential that healthcare workers leverage technology fast to improve productivity and pick up new skills to remain relevant and able to cope with the new demands.
Key Efforts
Collaboration has been at the heart of the NTUC’s Healthcare Cluster’s efforts to help healthcare workers get a good sense of the changing trends and the necessary training that will benefit them in the future.
Through numerous engagements, the Healthcare cluster and its partners also got to better understand the issues on the ground and find ways to better support workers as their jobs evolve, pick up new skills and get familiar with technology.
In an expanded Labour Movement effort, the cluster, together with partners from NTUC U Associate, NTUC Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit (U FSE), NTUC LearningHub and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) worked with NTUC’s Future Jobs, Skills and Training (FJST) capability to identify in-demand jobs, freelance positions and skills in the healthcare sector. Employers, too, played a key role in identifying different ways in which jobs can be redesigned to enable workers to upskill, take on higher-value roles and earn better salaries.
As the healthcare needs of Singaporeans evolve, the Healthcare Services Employees’ Union (HSEU) formalised an alliance with the Association of Psychotherapists and Counsellors (Singapore) to better represent healthcare workers and equip members with the necessary skills to cope with the emotional demands of their roles.
The unions have also partnered training institutions such as NTUC LearningHub to develop training frameworks and short bite-sized courses to help workers learn on the go and get used to learning on the job.
At the same time, NTUC Health has been leading the way in transforming the industry by supporting jobseekers with training so that they can enjoy more meaningful careers in the industry. The social enterprise has also been proactive with innovation, making use of initiatives such as the Workforce Assignment and Mobility systems and Telerehabilitation for better productivity.
Environmental Services: Leading the Way with Technology and Productivity
The Challenges
What the Environmental Services ITM aims to do hinges on the efforts of companies and workers to work in tandem to adopt technology as a means to better productivity. Besides changing the way things are done, efforts must be made to develop a ready talent pool that is equipped with the relevant skills and knowledge.
Key Efforts
With the aim of spreading awareness about the ITM amongst workers in the sector, the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees’ Union (BATU) has been working together with Young NTUC and partners like the National Environment Agency to showcase how technology can make work easier and more efficient through efforts such as the Green Jobs Symposium held on 9 February 2018.
BATU also keeps a lookout for resources that can help its management partners transform their workforce. For instance, unionised companies were encouraged to join SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) Skills Framework for Environmental Services workshop. Understanding the purpose and components of the Skills Framework could lead to better HR practices, organisational performance, and business outcomes. NTUC’s U Care Centre (UCC) has also been playing an active role in educating stakeholders on fairer procurement practices.
Through the Inclusive Growth Programme, NTUC’s e2i was able to help Weishen Industrial Services invest in technology to enjoy better productivity. The company’s workers got to enjoy wage increments as a result and pick up newer, higher-value skills. NTUC Club, the service buyer, was also supportive of the initiative.
Energy & Chemicals: Future-proofing Workers
The Challenge
The key challenge is in change the mindsets of workers in so that they can and will embrace the need to upgrade themselves to stay relevant to seize new opportunities. The idea is to future-proof workers as technology shapes the way businesses operate in a volatile and highly competitive energy and chemicals sector.
Key Efforts
Advocacy and engagement has been at the heart of the NTUC’s Oil, Petroleum, Energy and Chemicals (OPEC) cluster of unions as they collaborated with e2i to organise the inaugural OPEC Month in June 2017. Besides communicating information about the challenges in the industry, knowledge about how technology can be leveraged for greater productivity was also shared.
To help union members better equip themselves with new skills, familiarise with digitalisation and tap into the new opportunities that will come with industry transformation, the OPEC cluster has been collaborating with e2i, training institutions such as NTUC LearningHub, and institutes of higher learning such as Singapore Polytechnic to develop courses and certification. Two such courses are the “SkillsFuture for the Digital Workplace” and the “Certificate in Analytical Instrumentation and Laboratory Techniques".
The collective desire to help workers keep up with the brisk momentum of change in Singapore’s energy and chemicals sector saw the cluster also formalise an alliance with four NTUC U Associates on 26 October 2017. The alliance will see all parties work together to develop and enhance the professional standards of process technicians and engineers, and improve safety standards. The four U Associates are the Institution of Chemical Engineers Singapore, Institution of Engineers Singapore, Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore and Singapore Institution of Safety Officers.
Security: Making Procurement Practices More Progressive
The Challenge
A key challenge is in raising standards for fair and equitable service contracts between service buyers and service providers in the security industry. As service providers innovate, security workers can pick up new skills and leverage technology to be more productive and take on higher value roles.
Key Efforts
Together with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Union of Security Employees (USE) provided inputs to and walked the ground to explore ways to help service buyers adopt outcome-based contracts where security risk assessments are conducted prior to procuring security technology solutions and manpower. As part of the Security ITM Tripartite Committee, USE partnered employer associations, the Security Association Singapore (SAS) and Association of Certified Security Agencies (ACSA), to lead a workgroup on buyers’ engagements.
UCC also launched a Smart Sourcing Initiative (SSI) in 2018 to encourage service buyers to adopt more progressive procurement practices and make use of technology for greater productivity and security outcomes. UCC had reached out to building owners and managing agents to educate service buyers on outcome-based contracting and the various technology-enabled solutions available today. Under the SSI, early adopters of best sourcing can receive funding support of up to 20 per cent of the total contract price, capped at $100,000 per contract.
UCC was also key in the push to have a Progressive Wage Model (PWM) for the security industry. Overcoming initial resistance from employers and buyers, UCC advocated for further enhancements to the Security PWM salary ranges to ensure salaries progressed with the times. This was successfully revised on 23 November 2017.
Financial Services: Equipping the Workforce for Emerging Roles
The Challenge
Technological innovation is disrupting the financial services industry, with new types of jobs being created in the many growth areas. Therefore, working professionals have to do what it takes to remain relevant in an increasingly global and competitive sector.
Key Efforts
Working with partners, FJST had been able to identify and subsequently encourage workers to keep an active watch on identified trending technologies to stay abreast of the changes. One example is the forecast in demand for expertise in data analytics, compliance, cybersecurity and fintech network and infrastructure in the coming years and this presents an opportunity to take pre-emptive steps to transit into these emerging roles.
To help financial professionals transit into fintech roles, the Singapore FinTech Association and NTUC had co-developed the FinTech Talent Programme to offer workers a glimpse into the fintech industry will also be rolled out in the coming months.
Four U Associates – Financial Planning Association of Singapore, Financial Women’s Association Singapore, Insurance and Financial Practitioners Association of Singapore and SFA – also highlighted collaborations with the Financial and Professional Services Cluster of unions to create more platforms and equip professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) with the necessary skillsets to tackle industry disruptions.
Together with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, NTUC’s Financial and Professional Services Cluster formed the Financial Industry Career Advisory Centre (FiCAC) in April 2016 with the support from the Association of Banks in Singapore and the Institute of Banking and Finance. FiCAC has successfully helped more than 240 jobseekers gain employment and reached out to over 3,100 PMEs to date.
Precision Engineering & Electronics: Making Inroads into Industry 4.0
The Challenge
Industry 4.0 is turning manufacturing on its head. Traditional processes are being replaced by machines and cyber-physical systems. The onus is on workers to stay ahead of these changes by remaining relevant with new skills and knowledge as technology becomes an integral part of their industry.
Key Efforts
Learning journeys were held by the Metal Industries Workers’ Union (MIWU) and the United Workers of Electronics and Electrical Industries (UWEEI) to learn how smart factories operated in other countries. A particular focus was how cyber-physical systems, data and analytics play a part in streamlining factory operations. Insights gathered from the learning journey were then shared with fellow union leaders at a dialogue session organised by the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute (OTCi).
Partnerships, such as the Step-up Industry 4.0 Programme between e2i and the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry in November 2017 provided holistic support throughout the transformation process and aimed to connect small- and medium-sized enterprises to technology enablers and training providers.
To ensure workers have the right skillsets to tackle tomorrow’s challenges, NTUC’s Electronics & Precision & Machinery Engineering (EPME) cluster of unions and e2i will build on the success of its EPME Symposium engagements in 2017 to give insights into emerging technologies such as augmented and virtual reality.
Bite-sized digital training for technicians and operators is also being developed. Commitment from companies, institutes of higher learning together with e2i and the EPME cluster will see more training initiatives being developed for workers.
