Leverage upskilling measures as a catalyst

GIVEN the ongoing disruptive impact of emerging technologies, official support for upskilling Singaporeans featured prominently once again in this year’s parliamentary Budget debate.

And for all the right reasons; after all, wide-scale investment in upskilling has the potential to boost South-east Asia’s economic output by 4 per cent or US$250 billion, thereby unlocking up to 676,000 new jobs by 2030 as highlighted in PwC’s report, Upskilling for shared prosperity in South-east Asia.

The impact of technology on Singapore’s workforce was discussed widely among MPs, with consensual endorsement of strategies to provide additional support to ensure that workers who need it the most can remain employable in a tech-enabled future.

Compared to many countries near and far, Singapore has been incredibly progressive in seeking to understand the impact of technology on the workforce, and in exercising influence in the form of policies or subsidies to encourage upskilling of workers in an ongoing effort to enhance their employability. With the right response from employers across the private sector, the support that the Singapore government provides around upskilling will work as a phenomenal catalyst.

This begs the question: what else can employers do on their end to unleash the catalyst effect of the government’s measures around upskilling? Three things for business leaders in Singapore to reflect on:

Apply a skills-based approach

Sceptics would typically raise concerns about the return on investment of public spending in upskilling. Is the SkillsFuture credit for Singaporeans, for instance, really supporting the development of critical skills needed across industries in Singapore?

And this goes beyond the monetary support the government provides via the SkillsFuture credit; many companies are investing heavily in upskilling programmes and are keen to understand the return on these investments.

For employers, they can start safeguarding their return on investment in upskilling by taking a hard and holistic look at the skills they need to drive the right future outcomes. These include assessing both technical skills (such as green skills and digital skills) and transferable skills or skills that cannot be easily automated (such as critical thinking, leadership and management skills), as well as understanding the skills gaps that need to be plugged.

There are great examples of organisations in Singapore that are applying a skills-based lens to their strategic workforce planning – by understanding the skills they currently possess across their workforce, the skills they further need to remain relevant in the future, and identifying and facilitating learning pathways for employees to develop those critical skills for the future.

Applying a skills-based or skills-first lens to strategic workforce planning across sectors and industries would certainly increase the return on investment in upskilling.

Equality in upskilling

Research from PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2023 indicates that workers who have access to upskilling opportunities have a better grasp of what skills are important in the future and how to develop those skills. The opposite is also true. It is heartening to see how the Singapore government is making an effort year in, year out in subsidising upskilling to support the groups that need it most, notably mid-career workers.

Organisations could be more mindful of the impact of inequality around access to upskilling initiatives, for instance in conducting their corporate planning and workforce planning activities.

It is important to take into account different learning styles and varied interests. Furthermore, teaming skills are necessary to navigate a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world. And certainly there are limitations to a pure digital training format and a cookie-cutter approach. Involving more diverse viewpoints in planning and applying a more holistic mindset in reviewing skills in demand and skills at risk will help in seeking out less obvious groups that could slip under the radar when it comes to upskilling and reskilling initiatives.

There are also nuances in the learning styles of certain groups (for instance, comfort level with online training). And not least, especially for the “less obvious” groups, it is important to better understand the hidden and/or soft skills and experiences the employees might possess.

Supportive culture and leadership

Another impressive measure taken by the Singapore government this year as part of the Budget is the S$2 billion top-up to the National Productivity Fund to enhance productivity and innovation. This measure goes hand in hand with the other upskilling measures, underscoring that an organisation’s ability to innovate affords opportunities to try new and different things.

There is another important reflection point for business leaders. In a world where employees are expected to develop new skills and try new things, we need to create the right environment for people to experiment and take risks.

PwC’s Hopes and Fears Survey research, however, shows that only one in three Singaporeans believe their manager tolerates small-scale failures.

Consider this a clarion call for business leaders to put more effort into nurturing a psychologically safe environment and organisational culture where people feel comfortable to make mistakes and learn from them. Not only would this support the ongoing endeavour to get employees to continually upskill, it also enables a high-performing culture that encourages continuous learning and purposeful application of new skills.

Altogether, this reinforces the value of investing in upskilling and helps with enhancing the learning experience of employees.

The writer is workforce transformation leader at PwC South East Asia Consulting