With taking care of the well-being of migrant workers on its mind, local small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) TS Group established its business in 2009.
The company initially went into the food supply business that served the needs of migrant workers. After a while, the company realised they needed to do more to be able to serve these workers better.
“We couldn’t get access to many dormitories and companies where these migrant workers lived and worked. That was why we decided to expand and build our dormitories so we could serve these workers directly,” said TS Group Chief Operating Officer Tome Oh.
Today, the company runs one of the biggest migrant worker dormitories in Singapore – The Tuas View Dormitory, which boasts 16,800 beds. And since 2015, the company has also worked with the Migrant Workers’ Centre as a partner who helps shelter migrant workers in need.
The main mission of the company is to be able to serve the under-served market such as migrant workers.
One step at a time, the company also hopes to expand its services to create living spaces for foreign domestic workers, the elderly and young foreign professionals looking for a place to stay.
The company has about 60 full-time staff and believes it can help make their jobs faster, easier and safer.
For example, they launched a Smart Management System a few years ago that digitalised and automated work processes, which resulted in cutting down on labour a few years ago.
The system includes digitisation of monthly reports and invoices, reducing the time taken for accountants to generate information.
“We are looking to improve productivity further. Training and upskilling are also important aspects of what we can do for our workers.
“For example, the company employs many cleaning aunties, and we are now thinking of how we can best upskill and upgrade their jobs for them. Our middle management staff is also a group we need to upskill and train. We’re currently looking into this,” said Tome.
TS Group has also been a strong supporter of the Labour Movement. It is one of the pioneer partners of NTUC U SME.
According to Tome, having U SME in the picture is important as SMEs need a platform to come together and pull resources as many face similar challenges.
“There’s technology disruption today. It is also harder for SMEs to attract talent. I think, our main challenge is how we can attract talent. Many SMEs don’t have a nice office, we don’t have the best office locations, and we may not be able to offer the best pay. Human capital remains the biggest challenge SMEs must address,” said Tome.
Tome believes that one important role U SME plays is to help SMEs come together through their various initiatives and activities.
“Many SMEs are working independently to solve their issues. There must be an organisation on a higher level that will help facilitate this to find solutions to our issues, and I believe U SME has been playing that role so far,” said Tome.
