Invest in human capital for successful business transformation
Workforce Singapore
Workforce Singapore (WSG) promotes the development, competitiveness, inclusiveness, and employability of the workforce.
Placing people at the heart of operations is key to business transformation. A business is only able to grow if we put our employees first by growing a pool of highly engaged and skilled talents. This is more critical now than ever, as businesses operate in an ever-changing environment.?
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At Workforce Singapore, we strongly believe in this; we work closely with the Ministry of Manpower, sectoral agencies, and Trade Association Chambers to develop Jobs Transformation Maps (JTMs) for businesses and employees to prepare themselves for the future of work as the industries evolve and technology becomes more pervasive.?
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These reports are in-depth studies conducted by human capital experts that allow businesses to:?
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Deep dives into the skill sets of each and every industry-related job were made with practical recommendations for businesses and employees to adopt, to ensure that the sector and its workforce remain competitive and adaptable.?
While the reports are contextualised for individual sectors, the message is clear. Investing in human capital is pivotal for successful business transformation.?
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Take the JTM for the retail industry, which was launched on Jun 1, for example. Nine emerging positions have been identified as being increasingly important for the retail industry, including sustainability specialist, digital marketer, UI/UX designer and customer experience manager.?
On the other hand, a total of 16 job roles such as sales associates and merchandising executives are expected to be redesigned, with certain duties being substituted or combined with the use of technology.
We are encouraged by the efforts of the 50 retailers that had made use of the downtime during the pandemic to reskill some 600 workers in the sector through WSG’s career conversion programme (CCP) for the retail industry.
One such employer, Wing Tai Holdings, took the opportunity to integrate digital innovation into its retail business, leveraging digital tools and data-driven decision-making to improve productivity in its retail store operations.
To maximise employees’ potential, the company took up WSG’s CCP and Support for Job Redesign under Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG-JR) in 2020 and 2022 respectively, to redesign jobs and equip its employees with relevant skills for this digitalisation journey. Close to 90 retail employees were trained and reskilled under the programmes.
One such employee was Louis Ong, 42, a senior district operations manager who has been with Wing Tai for more than seven years. Before the job redesign initiative under the PSG-JR, he was responsible for the daily operations of the shops under his care, including store performance, customer service, staff management and inventory.
Following the job redesign initiative, Ong now leverages data to determine market trends for sales forecasting and works closely with the company headquarters to plan and set strategies for retail store operations.
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He also works closely with the company’s e-commerce team to enhance omni-channel customer experience in-store through their digital concierge service, where customers can access a wider collection of products online even when shopping in physical stores.
This value-added service enables customers to collect their purchases at stores or have them delivered to their designated addresses, enhancing their shopping experience with Wing Tai.
The retail sector will continue to face headwinds from intensified global competition, the drive for enhanced productivity, and the need to attract and retain retail talents.
Retail firms that require more support can reach out to the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), the appointed Jobs Skills Integrator – Retail (JSIT-R).
The JSIT-R is a dedicated intermediary to provide end-to-end solutions for workforce transformation by providing job redesign advisory and curating relevant training, based on the skills gaps to reskill existing workers.
Apart from working with companies, the JSIT-R will also raise awareness on the enhanced roles within the industry while providing employment facilitation between individuals and companies.
Retail businesses can also tap the relevant CCPs such as retail industry, sustainability professionals, and internationalisation professionals to upskill or reskill their workers, to ride on current trends and receive up to 90 per cent salary support for the duration of their on-the-job training. They may also tap the PSG-JR to work with a dedicated consultant to implement job-redesign projects.
The JTMs are valuable tools that enable companies to navigate the evolving business landscape. By studying the JTMs and adopting their recommendations, businesses can better ensure that they have the right talent, skills and capabilities to thrive in the future.
We urge businesses to make use of the JTMs launched in 15 sectors, such as logistics, food services and wholesale trade, for their workforce transformation needs. Besides the JTMs, WSG also offers close to 100 CCPs in around 30 sectors. Businesses should reach out to WSG to kick-start their workforce transformation journey.
To succeed, the onus is on companies to bring employees along on the transformation journey to ensure that they are equipped with the necessary skills to keep pace with digitalisation and automation, or risk losing out. After all, employees are among a business’s most precious resources.
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Julia Ng Lee Hoon , Assistant Chief Executive, Workforce Singapore?
This article first appeared on Business Times on 29 June 2023